Call for halt to smart motorway schemes
MPs raise fears over lack of evidence to support rollout of all-lane projects
Fresh doubts have been cast over the future of smart motorway schemes after MPs raised concerns over a lack of information about their safety.
A report, released on Tuesday by the Government’s Transport Committee, said the rollout of ‘all-lane running’ schemes – which operate without a hard shoulder – should stop until five years of safety data has been collected about the risks to drivers.
MP Huw Merriman, who chairs the transport committee, said: “Looking at the available evidence, smart motorways do appear to be safer than conventional motorways even once the hard shoulder is removed.
“However, this evidence is also open to question.
“Only 29 miles of these all-lane running smart motorways have operated for over five years.
“It therefore feels too soon, and uncertain, to use this as an evidence base to remove the hard shoulder from swathes of our motorway network.”
The stretch of M4 covering Maidenhead and surrounding areas is one of the country’s motorways where work is being carried out to permanently convert the hard shoulder into a live traffic lane.
Work has been taking place for more than three years and motorists have experienced disruption including weekend closures and 50mph speed limits.
The Department for Transport said it couldn’t speculate on how the committee’s findings will impact ongoing schemes, such as the M4, but it was reflecting on the committee’s report.
The Transport Committee said the scale of safety measures needed to mitigate the risks of permanently removing the hard shoulder has been underestimated by the Department for Transport (DfT) and National Highways.
It is now calling for the following safety measures:
■ Retrofit emergency refuge areas to existing all-lane running smart motorways to make them a maximum of one mile apart, and 0.75 miles where possible
■ Insert an emergency corridor manoeuvre to help emergency services access incidents when traffic is congested
■ Commission the Office for Rail and Road to conduct an independent evaluation of the effectiveness and operation of stopped vehicle technology
■ Starting September 2022, task the Office for Rail and Road with evaluating the DfT’s progress, particularly response times for live lane breakdowns and educating drivers on what to do.
Re-introducing the hard shoulder on existing smart motorway schemes is not the answer, the Transport Committee’s report added.
A spokesman for the DfT said it remains ‘absolutely committed’ to making smart motorways as safe as possible and has committed £500million on upgrades and the rolled out of stopped vehicle detection technology.
A statement said: “We’re pleased that the Transport Select Committee recognises that reinstating the hard shoulder on all all-lane running motorways could put more drivers and passengers at risk of death and serious injury and that we’re right to focus on upgrading their safety, as the Secretary of State committed to doing when he became Transport Secretary.”