A phased opening of Manchester’s new smart motorway is
due to start this autumn, tackling congestion and improving journey
times for tens of thousands of drivers.
The £208 million Highways England scheme will provide more
technology to help keep traffic flowing more smoothly and more
capacity, meaning journeys will be more reliable.
The first sections to complete will be along a 5 mile stretch of
the M62 near Rochdale and on a 2 mile stretch of the M60 near the
Trafford Centre.
A similar smart motorway scheme on a stretch of the M62 in West
Yorkshire, which was completed in 2013, has resulted in commuters
saving around 30 minutes each week.
Jon Stokes, Senior Project Manager at Highways England, said:
We will be able to begin a phased opening of the new smart
motorway scheme this autumn – benefiting the 180,000 drivers
who use the route every day.
When the smart motorway is complete, drivers will be able to
travel in an extra lane on the M62 and variable speed limits
will keep traffic moving at a steady speed – tackling the
stop/start conditions and tailbacks caused by sudden braking.
Nearly 600 people are currently working to complete the project
and we will open each section along the route as soon as
possible.
The scheme is Highways England’s most complex smart motorway
project, affecting the second busiest motorway in the country and
covering 13 junctions – an average of one junction every 1.4
miles.
The full scheme stretches between junction 8 of the M60 near Sale
and junction 20 of the M62 near Rochdale.
The phased opening over the next few months will see the removal
of the temporary narrow lanes on the M62 starting in October, and
between junctions 8 and 10 on the M60 later in the autumn.
The new technology will then be tested to ensure the 100 traffic
sensors which have been installed along the 17-mile route are
working effectively, before the new electronic variable speed
limit signs are switched on from junctions 8 to 10 on the M60 and
junctions 18 to 20 on the M62 by the end of the year.
The extra lanes on the M62 are also due to open in time for the
Christmas getaway – increasing capacity on the stretch of
motorway between Greater Manchester and Yorkshire by a third.
To keep disruption as minimal as possible during the
construction, Highways England has worked hard to keep all of the
lanes open in each direction during the day. This has meant major
construction work could only be carried out overnight, affecting
the overall duration of the project.
Other issues such as needing to relocate unrecorded utility pipes
and carrying out additional maintenance work has meant that part
of the scheme will need to continue into 2018.
The temporary narrow lanes are due to be removed between
junctions 15 and 18 on the M60 in early 2018, and from the final
section of roadworks – on a 5 mile stretch of the M60 between
junctions 10 and 15 – in spring 2018. The new variable speed
limit signs are due to be switched on between junctions 10 and 18
by summer 2018.
When the smart motorway is complete, traffic sensors will
automatically monitor vehicle numbers and adjust the speed limit
accordingly. A total of 50 CCTV cameras will also provide 100%
coverage of the route, and allow Highways England’s traffic
officers and the emergency services to respond quickly to
incidents.
For more information, go to the scheme
website.
