Yahoo News Where are the UK's smart motorways and which ones are being scrapped?
The building of new smart motorways in the UK is being cancelled over concerns about safety and cost, the government has said.
There are 14 schemes, including 11 that had already been paused and three earmarked for construction, that will be cancelled because of a lack of public trust and financial pressures.
However, campaigners have called for all existing smart motorways to also be banned.
What is a smart motorway?
Smart motorways are a section of road that uses traffic management technology designed to increase capacity and reduce congestion in busy areas.
Variable speed limits are shown on screens up on the gantries and enforced by cameras if there is congestion or a hazard up ahead, while a red X can be displayed to close a lane in the event of an accident or breakdown.
Another function is to turn the hard shoulder into an extra lane at peak times. "Controlled" smart motorways do have a permanent hard shoulder, while "dynamic" types open them up when needed and reduce the speed limit to 60mph as a condition.
There are also "all-lane running" smart motorways, where the hard shoulder has been permanently removed and turned into an extra lane, although there are emergency refuge areas at regular intervals.
Where are the UK's smart motorways?
There are 44 stretches of smart motorway in operation or under construction in England that account for about 10% of the country's motorway network.
They are mostly around London, the West Midlands and the North West, concentrated in particular on the M1, M6 and M25, but 14 motorways in total have some form of smart motorway section.
About 375 miles of smart motorway are currently in use, 235 miles of which are all-lane running roads and do not have a hard shoulder at all, relying on a network of sensors and cameras to deal with breakdowns.
In January last year the government announced a pause of its rollout of all-running lane motorways over safety concerns. This was to enable five years of data to be collected to assess whether they are safe for drivers.
Watch: Smart motorway rollout halted over safety concerns
Operational and planned Smart Motorway network (National Highways map in full)
What has the government just announced?
Prime minister Rishi Sunak has banned the building of new smart motorways.
Fourteen planned smart motorways – including 11 that are already paused and three earmarked for construction – will be removed from government road building plans.
The Department for Transport said the construction of these schemes would have cost more than £1 billion.
Campaigners welcomed the move, but demanded the government now return the hard shoulder on existing conversions.
Sunak vowed to ban smart motorways in his Tory leadership campaign last summer.
“All drivers deserve to have confidence in the roads they use to get around the country,” he said on Sunday.
“That’s why last year I pledged to stop the building of all new smart motorways, and today I’m making good on that promise."
Which smart motorways are being scrapped and which ones will remain?
The following smart motorway schemes were in the pipeline but have been cancelled:
M1 North Leicestershire
M1 junctions 35A-39 Sheffield to Wakefield
M6 junctions 19- 21A Knutsford to Croft
The following road sections will no longer become new all-lane running smart motorways:
M3 junction 9-14
M40/M42 interchange
M62 junction 20-25
M25 junction 10-16
The following stretches were earmarked to be converted to all-lane-running, but will remain dynamic smart motorways:
M1 junction 10-13
M4-M5 interchange (M4 junction 19-20 and M5 junction 15-17)
M6 junction 4-5
M6 junction 5-8
M6 junction 8-10a
M42 junction 3a-7
M62 junction 25-30
The government said the construction of two stretches of smart motorway at junctions six to eight of the M56 and 21a to 26 of the M6 will continue as they are already more than three quarters complete.
Existing stretches of smart motorway will remain but be subjected to a safety refit so there are 150 more emergency stopping places across the network.
What did campaigners say?
Campaigner Claire Mercer, whose husband Jason was killed on a smart motorway in South Yorkshire, welcomed the government’s move but pledged to continue pushing for the hard shoulder to return on every road.
“I’m particularly happy that it’s been confirmed that the routes that are in planning, in progress, have also been cancelled. I didn’t think they’d do that," she said.
“So it’s good news, but obviously it’s the existing ones that are killing us. And I’m not settling for more emergency refuge areas.
“So it’s half the battle, but we’ve still got half the battle to go.”
Jason Mercer and another man, Alexandru Murgeanu, died in 2019 when they were hit by a lorry on the M1 near Sheffield after they stopped on the inside lane of the smart motorway section following a minor collision.
AA president Edmund King said: “We have had enough coroners passing down their deadly and heart-breaking judgments where the lack of a hard shoulder has contributed to deaths.
“At last the government has listened and we are delighted to see the rollout of ‘smart’ motorways scrapped.
“We would also like to see the hard shoulder reinstated on existing stretches in due course.”
RAC road safety spokesman Simon Williams said: “Our research shows all-lane running smart motorways are deeply unpopular with drivers so we’re pleased the government has finally arrived at the same conclusion.
“It’s now vitally important that plans are made for making the hundreds of existing miles of these types of motorway as safe as possible.”
What are the disadvantages of smart motorways?
Smart motorways have divided opinion ever since they were formally introduced in 2014, with safety campaigners arguing they put lives at risk.
One of their central arguments is that without a hard shoulder to pull into in the event of an emergency or breakdown, drivers could find themselves stuck in a vulnerable position in a live lane of traffic.
A system failure in February shut down signs, signals and stopped vehicle detection, which AA president Edmund King said made “sitting ducks” of drivers stuck in broken down vehicles.
Official figures show that 38 people were killed on smart motorways between 2014 and 2019, with more people having died since. In March this year, Labour MP Sarah Champion told the Commons the number had risen to 79.
A 2020 survey commissioned by road safety charity Brake and breakdown recovery firm Green Flag found just 48% know how to use smart motorways.
Motorway 60mph speed limits remain - despite no evidence that they work (Telegraph, 3 mins)
Earlier this month, a coroner ruled that two pensioners who died in a crash on a smart motorway would not have been killed if there had been a hard shoulder.
Derek Jacobs, 83, was killed after stopping his van in the inside lane of the M1 near Sheffield in March 2019 after his tyre blew out. A Ford Ka smashed into his van, and the front seat passenger of the car, Charles Scripps, 78, died in hospital two months later.
The red car, driven by Mr Scripps’s wife Jean, was shown on dashcam footage flipping over in the carriageway and ending up on its side before it was hit by a coach.
On Wednesday, assistant coroner Susan Evans made it clear that "had there been a hard shoulder, this incident would not have occurred", as Jacobs would have had a safe place to pull over.
Why do people support smart motorways?
In May 2022, the agency which manages motorways in England, announced a major upgrade to its safety equipment, including automatic detection of anyone ignoring the red X signs. It published in-depth analysis claiming in terms of serious or fatal casualties, "smart motorways are the safest roads".
The report found that while the proportion of stopped vehicle collisions was significantly higher for all-lane running motorways – 5.26% of crashes, compared to 2.99% for conventional motorways – these types of accidents are very rare.
National Highways said that the risk of a collision involving moving vehicles – which are far more common – is much lower.
The financial impacts of congestion on motorways and A roads are estimated to cost £2bn per year, according to the Institution of Civil Engineers, which is another major reason why people support making the network more efficient using smart motorways.
