National Highways has begun opening the new all-lane running (ALR) motorway on the M6, making it the last smart motorway scheme to be completed. The upgrade cost £260m and started back in 2021.
A new lane will be created in both directions between junctions 21a and 26 of the motorway, covering 10 miles in total. The new lanes will run with 50mph limits while interim safety measures remain in place, before being restored to the 70mph limit once fully opened.
The project was one of only two ALR schemes that weren’t either paused or cancelled last year, due to it being over three-quarters of the way to completion. The other scheme to escape cancellation, between junctions five to eight of the M56, was completed in June last year.
This follows the controversial revelation that National Highways currently has no accurate system for monitoring drivers’ compliance with “Red X” signs on smart motorways. The operator states that compliance is above 90%, but it can’t provide accurate data as it’s between systems following a technology upgrade.
Results from the last testing period to provide accurate data suggest that tens of thousands of vehicles drove through closed Red X lanes each month.
National Highways acknowledged the importance of compliance data in improving road safety: “As part of this effort, a previous proof of concept project developed a tool to monitor Red X compliance on smart motorways. The tool was designed to read data from the traffic management control system in use at that time.
“However, as new systems have been implemented, our ability to analyse compliance using this tool has decreased. The most recent data, from September 2023, covers the East and Southeast regions, the only areas still using the older system.
“National Highways has now initiated work to transform this proof of concept into an operational tool that will regularly provide Red X compliance data across smart motorways. Data from the new tool will be used to guide future compliance-improving activities, including targeted campaigns in partnership with the police.”
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