UK’s M3 motorway gets first orange emergency area

The first of a new-style smart motorway emergency stop area is being trialled on the M3 in England. The redesigned emergency area has a highly visible orange road surface and better signs to improve its visibility, according to Highways England, the wholly government-owned company responsible for modernising, maintaining and operating England’s motorways and major A roads.
August 1, 2017 Read time: 2 mins
Safer with an orange: Emergency Refuge Areas using QMS Type 1 HyperGrip system

The first of a new-style smart motorway emergency stop area is being trialled on the M3 in England.

The redesigned emergency area has a highly visible orange road surface and better signs to improve its visibility, according to 8100 Highways England, the wholly government-owned company responsible for modernising, maintaining and operating England’s motorways and major A roads.

Work on the officially-called Emergency Refuge Areas is being done by 8037 WJ in collaboration with maintenance contractors 1146 Balfour Beatty and 184 Colas.

Smart motorways relieve congestion and improve journey times by making the hard shoulder available for use at busy periods. On some schemes, it is permanently converted into a traffic lane, known as All Lane Running.

Spaced emergency refuge areas - ERA - are provided roughly every 2.5km and are clearly marked with blue signs featuring an orange SOS telephone symbol.

This safety upgrade, using QMS Type 1 HyperGrip system, has been delivered on the 21.5km smart motorway scheme, which covers the M3 from junctions 2-4a in Hampshire and Surrey counties. Two emergency refuge areas were completed as z trial and now all ERA’s on the scheme will be afforded the same enhancement.

It is planned now to apply this coloured system on all ERA’s throughout the scheme with other smart motorway contracts expressing interest.

The change is part of an ongoing review into the design and spacing of emergency areas on smart motorways, said Jim O’Sullivan, Highways England chief executive.

Quality Marking Services
%$Linker: 2 External <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary /> 0 0 0 oLinkExternal www.qmarkings.co.uk Quality Marking Services Website Link false http://www.qmarkings.co.uk/ false false%>

Road Markings, Barriers & Workzone Protection

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • JCB emissions compliant engines to launch in wheeled loaders
    February 8, 2013
    JCB will launch 427 and 437 wheeled loaders at Bauma, powered by Stage IIIB/Tier 4 Interim Cummins engines. First seen in prototype form at last year’s Intermat show, the two loaders are powered by the Cummins QSB6.7 engine, which offers a 9.4% increase in torque over the previous model. This drives through a lock-up converter and customers can choose a standard four-speed or optional five-speed transmission, which delivers a 16% drop in fuel consumption. In-cab noise levels have been reduced to just 68dB(A
    Read More
  • A good I-Deed
    January 6, 2017
    The CESAR Home Office approved construction equipment security scheme will be showcased at Intermat 2012. Delivered by Datatag ID, CESAR scheme registered machines are said to be four times less likely to be stolen and six times more likely to be recovered than unregistered equipment.
    Read More
  • A good I-Deed
    February 17, 2012
    The CESAR Home Office approved construction equipment security scheme will be showcased at Intermat 2012. Delivered by Datatag ID, CESAR scheme registered machines are said to be four times less likely to be stolen and six times more likely to be recovered than unregistered equipment.
    Read More
  • Show of Strength for Asphaltica-Samoter 2014
    May 14, 2014
    This year’s 50th anniversary of the first edition of Samoter in Verona, Italy, could mark the start of a construction equipment sales’ renaissance for a nation with a rich construction equipment manufacturing heritage. Guy Woodford reports It’s been a tough few years for the Italian construction equipment manufacturing industry. A difficult domestic and wider European sales market coupled with a challenging European economic climate has created something of a perfect storm. But many Italian and other Eur
    Read More

Highlighted Content