M1 WIDENING COULD MAKE WAY FOR HARD-SHOULDER PLAN Submitted
by: 05 Mar, 2008
Plans to widen the M1 through Leicestershire could be scrapped
in favour of opening up its hard shoulder to traffic.
The Department for Transport (DFT) has told the Leicester
Mercury it would be a cheaper, quicker and greener option
than adding extra lanes.
Drivers could be using the hard shoulder in peak periods
within two years, whereas work to widen the M1 would not be
complete until 2019 at the earliest.
A new DFT report said the motorway south and north of Leicester
is already suitable for "active traffic management"
- the system under which hard shoulders are opened to traffic
when motorways are busy.
Now civil servants will work until December to see if a seamless
active traffic management scheme could be introduced for the
entire length of the M1 in Leicestershire. If that was agreed,
the next step would be to dump widening plans.
Transport Minister Ruth Kelly made the announcement yesterday,
following a successful trial of the scheme on the M42 near
Birmingham.
She said the hard shoulders of the country's busiest motorways
should act as extra lanes, and the speed limit dropped to
50mph on sections of the motorway where active traffic management
was operating.
Screens would be added to the sign gantries which already
run over the roads to show the lanes which are open, and the
speed limit.
New lay-bys would be built for use by broken-down vehicles.
A spokesman for the DFT said: "It would give roads such
as the M1 extra capacity and could be much cheaper, quicker
and greener than widening.
"This is much more cost effective than buying land,
quicker than building extra lanes and also avoiding long public
inquiries.
"It would not be fair to say the widening scheme is
being scrapped, but active traffic management is being looked
at as an alternative and we have already identified areas
where we think it will work."
Ms Kelly said another option could be to open the hard shoulder
to give people the chance to overtake jams - if they paid
for the privilege. The system would be used as an alternative
to congestion charging, as people could choose to stay put
for free or pay to queue jump.
If the widening scheme is scrapped, it is not clear what
will happen to plans to build a new link road between the
M1 and M69 south of Leicester Forest East. The county council
still insists that the road should be built, and said it will
be asking for assurances about the M69 link and the Kegworth
bypass close to junction 24, which is also tied in with the
widening scheme.
County council highways spokesman Coun Nicholas Rushton said:
"The M69 link is crucial for safety and we would also
be very disappointed if the Kegworth bypass did not happen."
A Highways Agency worker said at a meeting in Hinckley last
month that work on the planned widening of the M1 work was
likely to be delayed until 2016, four years later than planned,
because of budget pressures.
Source Leicester
Mercury 05 March 2008
M1 widening plans may be dumped
PLANS to widen the most clogged sections of South Yorkshire's
motorway network are on the verge of being ditched, the Government
revealed today.
Transport minister Rosie Winterton said the Government is
considering allowing motorists to use the hard shoulder as
an alternative to adding extra lanes.
This means long-awaited proposals to widen the M1 between
junction 30, near Chesterfield, to junction 42, south of Leeds,
are now under threat.
The stretch of congested motorway, which runs between Sheffield
and Rotherham and past Barnsley, has been highlighted as a
"potential priority location" for the hard shoulder
to be used as an alternative to widening.
Do you think the plans should go ahead or are the new suggestions
a good enough substitute? Add your comment below.
A study into the South Yorkshire proposals has been launched
following a successful trial on the M42 motorway near Birmingham.
During busy periods, sensors detect traffic build-up, which
trigger signs telling drivers to slow down and use the hard
shoulder.
If accidents happen, messages appear telling drivers the
lane is closed, allowing emergency services to get through.
A feasibility report published today has made it clear the
hard shoulder option is considerably cheaper than building
new lanes to tackle congestion.
It costs £6 million per kilometre to adapt a motorway
to "hard shoulder running", compared to £20
million per kilometre to build an extra lane.
Ms Winterton, MP for Doncaster Central, told The Star: "It
is vital that given that we have this report which shows that
this can work, that we do consider whether hard shoulder running
will achieve more benefits from existing budgets.
"If it shows that it can be delivered quickly, efficiently
and in some cases more cheaply, then it is only right that
we look at the whole department profile in terms of budget
and say, 'well does this give us a better deal?'"
The Government is also looking at whether the hard shoulder
could be used between junction 30 of the M1 and junction 21,
near Leicester, as well as stretches of the M62 in West Yorkshire
between junctions 25 and 28 and clogged sections of the M6
between junctions 11a and 19.
She stressed the study may find that in some areas using
the hard shoulder would not be an alternative to building
extra lanes.
The study is due to be completed by the end of the year.
If given the green light, drivers would be allowed to use
the hard shoulder with a 60mph speed when the motorway is
congested. Emergency lay-bys would be provided every 800 metres.
Figures released in today's report make it clear that the
hard shoulder would be in operation for the majority of the
day.
Spiralling traffic growth would mean that by 2015 the hard
shoulder would need to be used for 12 hours a day during weekdays
on the M1.
