Scrap all existing smart motorways, says AA

The AA has joined activists in calling for the scrapping of all existing smart highways.

It comes after the government canceled construction of all new smart highways over cost and safety concerns.

Smart highways are a stretch of road that uses technology to regulate the flow of traffic and relieve congestion.

They also use the hard shoulder as an extra lane, which critics say has resulted in road fatalities.

Some 14 planned projects, 11 of which are already on hold and three under construction, are being scrapped due to finances and low public confidence.

AA President Edmund King told the BBC he welcomed the government’s move but needed to go further and restore a permanent hard shoulder on 375 miles of existing smart motorways.

“Drivers basically do not trust [smart motorways], the technology isn’t foolproof, and 37% of smart highway breakdowns happen under voltage. And basically these drivers are sitting ducks.”

The RAC, meanwhile, said existing smart motorways – which make up around 10% of the UK motorway network – now need to be made “as safe as possible”.

“The ability to convert all lanes to the ‘dynamic hard shoulder’ configuration, where the hard shoulder opens and closes depending on traffic levels, could be an option the government is considering,” said RAC road safety spokesman Simon Williams .

Under the government’s plan, existing smart highways will be preserved and undergo a previously announced safety overhaul to create 150 more emergency stops and enhanced technology.

Conservative Party leader Greg Hands told the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg program: “We will not approve any new smart motorways, clearly due to public and safety concerns. And we will be keeping a close eye on the situation with the existing Smart Autobahns.”

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak – who pledged to ban smart highways during his leadership campaign – said “all drivers deserve to have confidence in the roads they travel on around the country”.

The Department for Transport said the new plans had cost more than £1billion and their cancellation would give time to track public confidence in smart motorways over a longer period.

There are three main types:

All three models use overhead bridges to direct riders. Variable speed limits are introduced to control the flow of traffic in advance in the event of congestion or danger. These borders are monitored by speed cameras.

Seven of the 14 canceled projects were intended to convert stretches of freeway into “all-lane” roads, with the hard shoulder permanently removed.

They will now remain as “dynamic” intelligent highways, where the hard shoulder can be opened up as an additional lane at peak times.

Construction of two sections of the smart motorway from junctions 6 to 8 on the M56 and from 21a to 26 on the M6 ​​continues as they are more than three quarters complete.

Smart highways are designed to add more capacity and reduce road congestion without spending money and disrupting the construction of new highways.

However, they have faced criticism from MPs and road safety bodies including the AA and RAC.

Claire Mercer, whose husband died on a South Yorkshire smart motorway in 2019, welcomed the move but vowed to remain committed to the return of hard shoulder on every road.

Ms Mercer said: “I am particularly pleased that it has been confirmed that the planned and ongoing routes have also been cancelled. I didn’t think they would do that.

“So it’s good news, but obviously it’s the existing ones that are killing us. And I won’t settle for more shelters.”

A spokesman for the Liberal Democrats said the elimination of more intelligent highways was “long overdue”.

Labor Transport Secretary Louise Haigh MP said: “We know that smart motorways combined with inadequate safety systems are inappropriate and put lives at risk”, adding that ministers “should restore hard shoulders to existing smart motorways”.

These highway sections will no longer become new full-lane smart highways:

The following routes should be converted to full-gauge traffic, but remain dynamic Smart Autobahns:

Plans for the following highways were in the pipeline but were cancelled:

Meera Naran, whose eight-year-old son was killed on a smart highway in 2018 when the stationary car he was in was hit by a truck, said the government’s announcement was a “great achievement” but she will continue campaigning.

She said smart highways and regular highways “have very different benefits and risks” and suggested merging both models.

Speaking on BBC One’s breakfast programme, Ms Naran said she would advocate for so-called ‘controlled motorways’, which use smart motorway technology with the benefits of a hard shoulder.

In 2020, a BBC Panorama inquiry found that 38 people had died on smart highways in the last five years.