smart motorway

22/04/2021

Highways England has pledged to accelerate safety improvements on smart motorways in its first progress report since a national 'stocktake' of the controversial schemes, though critics say change is not happening fast enough.

04/02/2021

Highways England has confirmed that a new stretch of all lane running smart motorway in the North West will have key safety elements and will follow the recommendations in the Government’s recent stocktake and action plan.

08/07/2020

'One weekend closure. 400 tonnes of steelwork. One River Thames diversion. One stunning sunrise. One bridge widened: the M4 smart motorway upgrade has reached its halfway point with its most complex work yet.'

31/03/2020

15/10/2019

Only one in 10 drivers say they feel safer on all lane running (ALR) smart motorway schemes compared to a traditional motorway, according to a study by the AA.

09/04/2019

Highways England has completed a £265m project to add extra lanes and new technology to a 19-mile stretch of the M6, which it called the most significant change since the motorway first opened in Cheshire in 1963.

12/12/2018

Highways England has launched the procurement process for a smart motorways alliance with an estimated value of £7bn, over a 10 year period.

23/08/2018

Highways England has outlined key information about its Smart Motorways Alliance (SMA) plans - potentially worth up to £6bn over 10 years - which reflects a radical new direction for contractual arrangements on the strategic road network.

05/10/2016

Operatives working on the M60/62 smart motorway project in Greater Manchester got together to raise awareness about road worker health, safety and wellbeing.

06/09/2016

The proposed upgrade of the M4 from junctions 3 (Hayes) to 12 (Theale) to a smart motorway has been given development consent by the Department for Transport.

14/06/2016

Highways England has started work to upgrade 56 overhead gantries on the 17-mile smart motorway route between the M60 and M62 in Manchester.

03/05/2016

The first of eight ‘superspan’ gantries crossing whole sections of the M60 and M62 Manchester smart motorway project will be installed later this week.

12/04/2016

The number of people using the M62 smart motorway is increasing with drivers saving up to 30 minutes each week.

04/04/2016

The final phase of a £205 million upgrade of the M1 to a smart motorway between the East Midlands and South Yorkshire has gone live.

18/02/2016

Work to upgrade a 20-mile stretch of the M6 in Cheshire to a smart motorway will start later this month.  

08/02/2016

A £100 million upgrade to convert a stretch of the M6 in the Midlands into a smart motorway has been completed.

01/02/2016

The final phase of a new £120 million smart motorway has gone live on the M1 near Wakefield.    

10/12/2015

Large numbers of great crested newts have been found on the M1 smart motorway scheme.

25/11/2015

Drivers will be able to use an extra lane on a section of the M1 near Wakefield ahead of a new smart motorway going live next month.

10/11/2015

Specialist 500 tonne cranes will be used to remove three overhead gantries from the M62 near Rochdale in order to allow a smart motorway upgrade to continue.