MPs call for the construction of new all-lane running motorways to be stopped.

The new Transport Select Committee report concludes that there is not enough safety and economic data to justify continuing with the Government’s plans. It follows a previous select committee direction to pause smart motorway construction. Coroner statements highlighting fatal issues, public campaigns and media investigation have all added to the campaign for greater safety design.

The government plans to roll out an additional 300 miles of all-lane running motorway by 2025.

The wrong lane

The new report says Government plan to remove the hard shoulder from all future smart motorways and use the lane for live traffic is “premature”.

It states: “The Government and National Highways should pause the rollout of new all-lane running schemes until five years of safety and economic data is available for every all-lane running scheme introduced before 2020 and the implementation of the safety improvements in the Government’s action plan has been independently evaluated.”

Alongside the publication of the report, demonstrators carried 38 cardboard coffins to the Houses of Parliament. These represent those killed on smart motorways since 2014. They are protesting Government motorway plans, which were first announced in March last year.

Standing traffic

The Department for Transport said it would consider the recommendations.

‘Smart’ or ‘all-lane running’ (ALR) motorways have been under the microscope since 2019. It revealed that National Highways (formerly Highways England) had not fully investigated the dangers of removing the hard shoulder. Construction may also have failed to follow original plans and guidelines about where and how they are built.

Media investigations have found that live cameras to monitor traffic and incidents often don’t work or have not actually been out in place. Furthermore, the appropriate radar technology and emergency reaction controls have not been incorporated.

There are also issues over the distance between and, number of, emergency refuges on smart motorways.

More evidence needed

The Office of Road and Rail (ORR) published a Progress Report backing claims by National Highways that smart motorways are the safest roads in the country in terms of fatalities.

‘Smart’ or ‘all-lane running’ (ALR) motorways have been under the microscope since 2019. It has been revealed that National Highways (formerly Highways England) has not fully investigated the dangers of removing the hard shoulder. Modelling in the report was regarded as less than compelling, leading to the Transport Secretary ,Grant Schapps, called for more analysis.

‘Smart’ or ‘all-lane running’ (ALR) motorways have been under the microscope since 2019, when it was revealed that National Highways (formerly Highways England) had not fully investigated the dangers of removing the hard shoulder.

The full ORR report ‘Quality Assurance of All Lane Running Motorway data’ can be viewed here.