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

  • BOMAG offers new compaction technology at Conexpo 2014
    January 6, 2017
    BOMAG is now offering its tandem rollers for asphalt applications with a novel tangential oscillation system. This technology is being rolled out to the North American market on the new BW 161 ADO-4 tandem roller. This innovative exciter system now offers increased compaction productivity. According to the firm, co-ordination of the exciter system to drum weight ratios is the key to BOMAG’s tangential oscillation system and this technology can be used on bridge structures, in close proximity to buildings,
    Read More
  • BOMAG offers new compaction technology at Conexpo 2014
    January 28, 2014
    BOMAG is now offering its tandem rollers for asphalt applications with a novel tangential oscillation system. This technology is being rolled out to the North American market on the new BW 161 ADO-4 tandem roller. This innovative exciter system now offers increased compaction productivity. According to the firm, co-ordination of the exciter system to drum weight ratios is the key to BOMAG’s tangential oscillation system and this technology can be used on bridge structures, in close proximity to buildings,
    Read More
  • England’s new Sunderland Bridge renamed Northern Spire
    December 12, 2017
    The new Sunderland Bridge - on track to open in the spring - was officially named Northern Spire during a recent event on the bridge. The official naming followed a week-long public vote in which 10,000 people chose their favourite name from an official list of three names. Northern Spire received almost half of the votes, according to bridge officials. The other names were Lumen Point (34% of votes) and The Prism which received 17%. The two-span cable-stayed bridge across the River Wear in northeast
    Read More
  • Wirtgen now builds two planers in China for the local market
    January 6, 2017
    Wirtgen is now offering two compact milling machines that are configured for Chinese customers. Built in China at the firm’s plant in Langfang, the W100H and W130H share several features such as a similar chassis design and the 153kW power unit. However the W100H is equipped with a 1m wide drum while the W130H has a 1.3m wide drum. Both machines offer cutting depths from 0-180mm.
    Read More

Highlighted Content