Smart UK motorway scheme

The first smart motorway scheme in the UK’s south-west has been officially launched, covering 11km of motorway around the Almondsbury interchange and including junctions 19-20 on the M4 and junctions 15-17 on the M5. It is designed to help reduce congestion and improve safety and journey times by introducing variable speed limits and opening the hard shoulder during busy traffic periods. The improvements to the M4 and M5 use a range of technologies and operational systems to reduce congestion and smooth t
February 19, 2014 Read time: 2 mins
The M4/M5 project included installation of 33 new gantries, refurbishing seven existing ones, resurfacing over 22km of carriageway, laying over 48km of fibre optic cabling and constructing six emergency refuge areas
The first smart motorway scheme in the UK’s south-west has been officially launched, covering 11km of motorway around the Almondsbury interchange and including junctions 19-20 on the M4 and junctions 15-17 on the M5.

It is designed to help reduce congestion and improve safety and journey times by introducing variable speed limits and opening the hard shoulder during busy traffic periods. The improvements to the M4 and M5 use a range of technologies and operational systems to reduce congestion and smooth the flow of traffic. During busy periods, traffic officers in the regional control centre at Avonmouth will set overhead message signs to inform drivers they can use the hard shoulder as an extra lane and at what speed to drive.

2309 Highways Agency senior project manager Paul Unwin said: “The M4 and M5 scheme demonstrates how a smart and efficient solution can deliver improvements that road users need – more capacity and better management of traffic to reduce congestion and make journey times more reliable.”

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Highways Agency rebrands as part of its first five-year plan
    December 10, 2014
    The UK’s Highways Agency will rebrand as part of the organisation’s first five-year Strategic Business Plan to maintain England’s motorways and major A roads up to 2020. The plan for England’s strategic road network was developed response to the Road Investment Strategy published in early December. The UK government is getting set to make deliver the largest investment in roads since the 1970s and wants to make sure it gets value for money as well as nearly US$1.9 billion (£1.2 billion) of efficiency savin
    Read More
  • New traffic solutions for the UK
    July 15, 2015
    Two major developments being introduced will help optimise traffic flow on routes carrying high volumes of vehicles/day. An installation of Flexicon’s flexible conduit will help keep the traffic flowing on one of the busiest sections of the M6 motorway through Birmingham by protecting power and data cabling for overhead gantries and CCTV cameras. On behalf of Highways England, who is implementing a hard shoulder running scheme between junctions 5 and 8, contractor’s Carillion is using the 63mm diameter L
    Read More
  • Traffic control solution manufacturers win key project works
    September 26, 2013
    Traffic control system manufacturers have recently supplied some of their cutting-edge technology to major projects in Europe. Meanwhile, in southern Asia, another leading firm in the sector is helping reduce chronic traffic congestion in Indonesia’s capital, Jakarta. Guy Woodford reports Solutions supplied by Siemens Mobility & Logistics (M&L) are helping the Rijkswaterstaat improve traffic conditions at the Coentunnel in Amsterdam, one of the most heavily used traffic arteries in the Netherlands, used
    Read More
  • Show me the money at Australian Summit
    September 4, 2012
    The question of how to finance and fund major road infrastructure projects in Australia – including the potential role of user-pays charging as a funding solution – was top of mind at the recent Roads Australia National Summit in Sydney. The two-day summit, organised by peak national body Roads Australia, is the largest and most influential annual gathering of industry decision-makers in the country. This year’s summit was held against a backdrop of concern over the future of a raft of major road projects t
    Read More

Highlighted Content