National Highways will begin work in June to add 12 emergency areas (EAs) on an all lane running (ALR) smart motorway stretch of the M1 in South Yorkshire.
The government-owned company said it is more than doubling the number of EAs on the M1 between Junction 32 at Thurcroft and Junction 35A at Stocksbridge, with the 12 new areas being added to the existing eight.
The upgrade is part of National Highways’ commitment to build more than 150 new EAs between 2020 – 2025, which has so far added just 13.
The company said work on this section is expected to be complete by winter 2024.
Project sponsor Felicity Clayton said: ‘We have listened to drivers' concerns about being able to find a safe place to stop in an emergency on motorways which don’t have a permanent hard shoulder and have been developing a programme to roll out even more emergency areas on all lane running smart motorways, in operation and construction.
‘This investment in extra emergency areas will help increase road users’ confidence.’
The Government has cancelled plans for all new smart motorways and committed to spending £900m, including the EA retrofit programme, to improve safety and driver confidence on existing stretches of smart motorway.
National Highways said that to help engineers carry out the upgrade safely, the left-hand lane – i.e. the former hard shoulder – will be closed throughout construction. Lanes two, three and four will remain open with a 50mph speed limit in place.
A spokesperson told Highways that the work will be carried out in two phases, starting on the section between junctions 33 and 35a (in both directions) and then on the section between junctions 32 and 33 but that the two phases are expected to overlap for a period this winter
All existing emergency areas on the M1 will remain open wherever possible throughout construction. At limited locations where it is necessary to temporarily close an emergency area, a new temporary emergency area will be provided nearby and clearly signed.
As Highways has reported, National Highways' initial report on the third Road Investment Strategy rows back on ministers’ previous pledge to retrofit EAs on existing ALR schemes to achieve a spacing of three-quarters of a mile where possible, which would have seen a further 200 added by 2030.
