All new smart motorways scrapped

The Government has confirmed that new smart motorways will be removed from road-building plans due to financial pressures and lack of confidence felt by drivers.

Making the announcement on 15 April, prime minister Rishi Sunak said “all drivers deserve to have confidence in the roads they use to get around the country”.

Mr Sunak added: “Last year I pledged to stop the building of all new smart motorways, and today I’m making good on that promise.

“Many people across the country rely on driving to get to work, to take their children to school and go about their daily lives and I want them to be able to do so with full confidence that the roads they drive on are safe.”

The Government and National Highways will continue to invest £900 million in further safety improvements on existing smart motorways.

How have we got here?
Smart motorways, which use variable speed limits and hard shoulder running to manage traffic and tackle stop-start congestion, have existed in England since 2002.

The most common type in the UK, all-lane-running (ALR), was introduced in 2014 and involves opening the hard shoulder permanently to drivers.

Smart motorways have long polarised opinion – despite repeated assurances that they are as safe as the wider motorway network.

Critics point towards the dangers drivers face in the event of a breakdown.

In January 2022, the Government announced that the rollout of new smart motorway schemes would be paused until five years’ worth of safety data became available for schemes introduced before 2020.

However, while campaigning to become prime minister later in the year, Rishi Sunak pledged to cancel plans for new smart motorways.

He has now delivered on that promise.

New smart motorways – including the 11 already paused from the second Road Investment Strategy (2020 to 2025) and the three earmarked for construction during the third Road Investment Strategy (2025 to 2030) – will be removed from Government road-building plans.

The Government says initial estimations suggest constructing future smart motorway schemes would have cost more than £1 billion and cancelling these will allow more time to track public confidence in smart motorways over a longer period.

Stakeholders welcome “watershed announcement”
The RAC has been among those who have long campaigned against smart motorways.

Simon Williams, RAC road safety spokesman, said: “This is a watershed announcement and a victory for everyone who has campaigned against these motorways that, by their design, put drivers in more danger should they be unlucky enough to break down on one.

“Our research shows all-lane running smart motorways are deeply unpopular with drivers so we’re pleased the Government has finally arrived at the same conclusion.”

The announcement has also been welcomed by independent road safety campaigner, Meera Naran, whose eight-year-old son Dev, died in a motorway collision on the M6 in 2018.

She said: “Since successfully campaigning for the 18-point action plan, £900 million commitment and the pause in the roll out in January 2022, there has been a lot of joined up thinking in mutually coming to this decision.

“I thank ministers and executives for inviting me to work alongside them in memory of Dev, towards a mutual goal and for their commitment over the years.”

What next for existing smart motorways?
The Government and National Highways will continue to invest £900 million in further safety improvements on existing smart motorways.

This includes progressing plans on installing 150 extra emergency areas across the network, as well as further improving the performance of stopped vehicle detection technology on every all lane running smart motorway.

The Government says it will also continue to give motorists clear advice when using existing smart motorways.

While no new stretches of road will be converted into smart motorways, the M56 J6-8 and M6 J21a-26 will be completed given they are already over three quarters constructed.

Simon Williams added: “It’s now vitally important that plans are made for making the hundreds of existing miles of these types of motorway as safe as possible.

“The possibility of converting all lane running stretches to the ‘dynamic hard shoulder’ configuration, where the hard shoulder is open and closed depending on the levels of traffic, could be one option the Government considers.”

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