"They reduce the disruption and environmental destruction which would otherwise be needed to widen our busiest roads. When activated, vehicles can use the hard shoulder as a running lane. As of 2019, smart motorways are mainly found in Great Britain, although the concept is also becoming common in The traffic management technique, including hard shoulder running, was first used in its full specification in the UK on the A £2 billion contract was announced to extend the scheme to sections of the M1, M4, M5, M6, M60 and M62 in February 2010In early 2018, the contracts previously awarded to Carillion were taken on by The map to the right visually represents the operational and under construction elements of the UK's smart motorway system as of June 2017.In 2007 it was estimated that ATM could be introduced within two years at a cost of around The M42 scheme was initially run as an experiment and a Highways Agency report into the first six months of the scheme showed a reduction in variability journey times of up to 27%.The scheme has attracted criticism from motoring organisations such as the A campaign "Smart Motorways Kill" was set up in 2019 after the death of Jason Mercer and Alexandru Murgeanu on the In January 2020, it was announced that a review was planned after In January 2020, all Smart Motorways were put under review to address safety concerns and determine an action plan. "In a written statement to parliament, Mr Shapps added that smart motorways had helped the country cope with a 23% rise in traffic since 2000. Under RIS2 Variable speed limits with the hard shoulder selectively opened as a running lane during periods when traffic levels are too high for only three lanes of running traffic. "We need to tackle the public perception of, and public confidence in, the safety of smart motorways as much as the reality." "Many do not know exactly what a smart motorway is, and are not aware of when they are on one or not. Existing gantries are upgraded to support signals capable of displaying a mandatory speed limit and speed cameras. An 18-point plan to tackle the safety of smart motorways has been announced by the UK government, including abolishing “dynamic” hard shoulders, speeding … This paper looks at another perspective of using hard shoulders and proposes dynamic hard shoulder running (D-HSR) for traffic incident management. They have most often been installed where a motorway has previously been widened but with a discontinuous hard shoulder to incorporate existing bridges, therefore using the hard shoulder as a running lane is ruled out. Studies have shown that many users struggle to understand the complex signs and signals, which gave rise to plans in the mid-to-late 2020s to change the dynamic hard shoulder into a permanent running lane, thereby making these schemes all lane running. On the 12th March 2020, the review and action plan was published. "They save motorists thousands of hours sitting in jams," he wrote. These methods include using the hard shoulder as a running lane and using variable speed limits to control the flow of traffic. "I have therefore developed new measures to further improve safety. For other countries, see A hard shoulder is always identified by a solid white unbroken line - if there’s no speed limit displayed above it or a Red X is displayed, do not use it except in emergency. Government to abolish 'dynamic hard shoulder' smart motorways as part of 18-point action plan Dynamic hard shoulder running on smart motorways to be phased out March 12, 2020 Chris Tindall ‘Dynamic’ hard shoulder running on smart motorways is to be brought to an end after analysis found it caused confusion and increased the risk of accidents. abolishing "dynamic hard shoulder" smart motorways, where the hard shoulder is opened up for flowing traffic during busy periods after concerns they confuse drivers Highways England to install "stopped vehicle detection" technology within the next 36 months, so vehicles can be detected and lanes closed more quickly; Variable speed limits with the hard shoulder removed and converted to a permanent running lane.


The M4 is one of six British motorways where the hard shoulder is used at busy times but not the rest of the timeTransport Secretary Grant Shapps announced the 18-point action plan to MPs Highways England (previously the Highways Agency) developed smart motorways to manage traffic in a way that minimises environmental impact, cost and time to construct by avoiding the need to build additional lanes. Variable speed limits with the hard shoulder selectively opened as a running lane during periods when traffic levels are too high for only three lanes of running traffic. All lanes are limited to a maximum of 60 mph, but these can be lowered further. M r O'Sullivan told MPs that drivers on dynamic smart motorways are often confused about when they can use the hard shoulder and when it is closed to non-emergency traffic.. Dynamic hard shoulder A section of motorway with dynamic hard shoulder on the M42 in the West Midlands. No new Smart Motorways would open until this review was published. It stated changes to the standards for new smart motorways (ones which had not started construction) such as a reduction from upto 1.5 miles to 1 mile between Emergency refuge areas (or other qualifying areas) and Stranded vehicle detection radars to be installed as part of the project. Other actions it required to be taken is for all Dynamic Hard Shoulder Motorways to be converted into All-Lane-Running by March 2025, Stranded Vehicle Detection radars to be installed on all Smart Motorways within 36 months & a potential national programme to install more ERAs on current smart motorways.Early systems used dot matrix signs on gantries to display short text messages, with smaller variable signs above each lane and to the sides of the carriageway.
This article is about a motorway scheme used mainly in the UK. Hard shoulder running (HSR), used in many large cities for reducing peak hour recurring congestion, has been proved effective. "Overall, the evidence shows that in most ways smart motorways are as safe or safer than conventional ones, but they are not in every way," he told MPs.