Highways England is installing around 170 of the innovative LED
road studs at one of England’s busiest motorway junctions – used
by over 90,000 vehicles every day.
The intelligent cat’s eyes are being introduced as part of a £3
million project to improve journeys and safety at Switch Island
in Merseyside, where the M57, M58 and 3 A roads all join
together.
The LED road studs light up when traffic lights turn green so
drivers can clearly see which lane they should follow. Cables
under the road surface connect them to traffic lights through a
nearby automatic controller unit.
The studs can be visible up to 1,000 metres away – far greater
than traditional reflective cat’s eyes – and have been proven to
help stop drivers drifting between lanes, reducing the risk of
collisions.
Highways England has already installed the LED studs at Hindhead
Tunnel in Surrey to guide drivers through the tunnel but the
Switch Island scheme will be the first time they have been linked
to traffic lights at a motorway junction.
Phil Tyrrell, Project Manager at Highways England, said:
We’re always looking for new ways to further improve journeys
and safety for drivers, and I hope the new intelligent cat’s
eyes will help better guide drivers around Switch Island.
The innovative light-up road studs along with the other
improvements we’re introducing will make it much easier to
navigate the junction, benefitting the tens of thousands of
drivers who travel through it every day.
Construction work on the Switch Island scheme, which is being
funded by the government’s £220 million congestion relief
programme, is due to start on Monday 5 February and is expected
to take around a year to complete.
The scheme is designed to improve the flow of traffic and enhance
safety, following 49 collisions at the junction in the past two
years – an average of one every fortnight. New traffic lights
will be installed at a height of over 5 metres – higher than HGVs
and double-decker buses – so that drivers approaching the
junction can clearly see when the lights are changing.
Other improvements will include changes to the road layout and
lane markings, new barriers between carriageways, coloured high
friction surfaces and better signs. And a new 400 metre shared
cycle path will be created through the junction, which will link
up with the existing cycle path alongside the A5036 Dunnings
Bridge Road.
Jerry McConkey, Sefton Council’s Transportation and Highway
Infrastructure Service Manager, said:
We have worked closely with Highways England and Merseyside
Police to look at the issues at Switch Island and develop
improvement proposals.
As a result, we are delighted that these important safety
measures are about to be introduced with Highways England
implementing the latest technology solutions. This will further
improve safety and give drivers a much higher level of
confidence when negotiating this busy junction.
The new intelligent cat’s eyes which are being installed at
Switch Island were designed by Oxfordshire-based company
Clearview Intelligence.
Managing Director Nick Lanigan said:
The introduction of intelligent road studs, reacting to traffic
light changes on a busy roundabout is a continuation of the
traditional cat’s eye legacy but takes advantage of new
technology available. The new studs have been proven to reduce
lane transgression by over 50% in certain conditions so it’s a
great way to help improve the safety for all road users.
Cat’s eyes were invented by Percy Shaw in 1933 after he was
driving down a steep winding road in West Yorkshire and noticed
his headlights reflect in the eyes of a cat. He realised the
potential of improving road safety if he could create a
reflecting device that could be fitted to road surfaces and came
up with his cat’s eye invention.
