Drivers, business owners and local residents are invited to find
out more about the plans, which will add an extra lane in each
direction to the M23 near Gatwick Airport, between junction 8 for
Merstham and junction 10 at Copthorne, to upgrade it to an all
lane running smart motorway. New technology will help to manage
traffic to reduce delays and give drivers up to date information
about conditions on the road ahead.
Public information events are being held this weekend (Friday 29
and Saturday 30 September, and again next weekend (Friday 6
October and Saturday 7 October), where people can find out more
about the plans and put any questions directly to the project
team. Highways England project manager Miguel Machado said:
This new stretch of smart motorway will tackle congestion and
improve journey times not only for the tens of thousands of
drivers who use the M23 every day, but also for business
travellers and holiday makers using Gatwick Airport, as well as
residents and businesses based in the area.
Smart motorways are central to our ambitious plans for
modernising the motorway network and will add 120 miles of new
lanes to motorways in the South East by 2020. They add vital
extra capacity, improve journey times and maintain high levels of
safety. Drivers will also see better information about conditions
through new smart motorway technology which helps us to manage
incidents, smooth traffic flow and make journeys more reliable. I
encourage anyone interested in the upgrade of the M23 to a smart
motorway to come to meet the project team at one of the
information events to find out more.
The M23 is a key strategic road which connects Crawley and
Gatwick Airport to the M25 motorway, routes into London and the
rest of the UK.
This stretch of the M23 is heavily used by traffic travelling to
and from Gatwick Airport and between Brighton and London,
especially during UK holiday periods. The upgrade to a smart
motorway will add a third extra capacity on this section, and
will improve safety, ease congestion make journey times more
reliable. Junction 9 on the M23 is also the main access for
traffic travelling to and from Gatwick Airport, and currently
experiences heavy congestion on a daily basis.
Under the plans, the hard shoulder will be permanently converted
into a live running lane between junctions 8 and 10 in both
directions. New signs and signals will be used to vary the speed
limit to reduce congestion at busy times, and to control traffic
if there is an obstruction on the road ahead.
Work is scheduled to start in March 2018, with the smart motorway
being fully operational in early 2020.
