Kentish Express Ashford & District
Smart motorway won’t open until it’s made safe M20 barrier finally lifted
Safety review will affect county’s £92 million road scheme
A £92 million stretch of motorway will not open to drivers until after a government safety review, the transport secretary has announced.
MP Grant Shapps told Aylesford MP Tracey Crouch the M20 smart motorway will not open until the assessment is complete.
A report by the all-party parliamentary group for roadside rescue and recovery claimed smart motorways are a “death trap”.
Research found 38 people have died on them, in England, in the past five years.
Smart motorway sections do not have hard shoulders and some of the deaths happened when cars came to a stop in one of the live lanes.
Kent was set to get its first smart motorway in March, on a 6.5-mile stretch between Junction 3 for the M26/Borough Green and Junction 5 for Aylesford near Maidstone.
Motorists have endured 50mph speed limits since roadworks began two years ago.
Tracey Crouch raised concerns the scheme could open without any stopped vehicle detection - technology which spots stranded drivers and sends alerts via gantries.
Speaking in parliament, she said: “I appreciate it will be frustrating for those using it to continue to have cones and low speed limits, but does he agree, given the concerns about safety on all-lane-running motorways, it should not open until all those measures have been put in place?”
Mr Shapps replied: “That stretch of the M20, and all other stretches currently being worked on, will not be opened until we have the outcome of the stock take.”
Mr Shapps added the government was nearly there in completing its review, which was announced in October. At that time he said he wanted to ensure all motorways are ‘as safe as they can possibly be.’
Work to remove a barrier on the M20, installed as part of preparations for a no-deal Brexit, was completed just in time for Britain’s exit from the European Union.
The Operation Brock contraflow saw the carriageway between Junction 9 for Ashford and Junction 8 for Maidstone restricted to two lanes for almost a year, at a cost of more than £35 million to the taxpayer.
The steel barrier had been in place on a 15-mile section of the London-bound stretch since February 2019, and reflected the risk of potential traffic disruption during negotiations with Brussels.
Frustrated drivers were also restricted to a speed limit of 50mph throughout the area.
However, engineers completed its removal last Friday and three lanes in both directions are now available, and the national speed limit restored.
The removal of the barrier started on January 13.