Drivers in the United Kingdom have a new smart motorway to use, the latest in a series of Highways England projects aimed at managing congestion and improving travel times. The latest upgrade is a 13.4-mile stretch of motorway on the M3 between the M25 and Farnborough in Surrey and Hampshire that now includes an all-lane running scheme and cutting-edge technology, like the Wavetronix SmartSensor HD. The technology is designed to set speed limits to match conditions, spot queuing traffic and inform drivers about conditions ahead.
“This is a significant upgrade for the M3 and will deliver real benefits for the 130,000 drivers who use it every day,” says Shaun Pidcock, director of Highways England’s smart motorway program. “Smart motorways create vital extra capacity, improve journey times and maintain our high levels of safety across the network.”
According to Highways England, smart motorways are designed to be intuitive. The M3 scheme includes 55 SmartSensor HD radar detectors, 45 video cameras, 12 overhead gantries and 113 electronic signs and signals; the detectors and cameras will monitor traffic, and information will be shared with drivers via the signs and signals. If lanes need to be closed for any reason, those lanes will be marked by a large red X located on the overhead gantries.
Normal motorway rules apply: drivers should keep to the left unless passing; they should drive within posted speed limits, which will vary based on current traffic conditions; and they should never drive in a closed lane. The normal maximum posted speed limit for this section of the M3 will be 70 mph.
“New technology will make the road more resilient to disruption,” Pidcock says, “improving journeys by using variable speed limits that will help tackle frustrating stop-start traffic.” The object is to help drivers make better decisions by giving them “better information on conditions ahead.”
In addition to the technological upgrades, Highways England has also initiated an all-lanes running scheme on this section of the M3. The hard shoulder has been converted to a new fourth lane in each direction, which Highways England claims will boost capacity by a third on the route between London and the southwest.
These permanent fourth lanes add roughly 26 miles of new lane to the route, but all-lane running schemes have their critics; in 2016, England’s Transport Select Committee recommended the government suspend deployment of all-lane running schemes until they can be proven to be safe. To address some of these concerns, Highways England has put safe places to stop approximately every 75 seconds of driving, so even without a hard shoulder, drivers will have a safe place to pull out in case of accident or mechanical failure.
The £174 million (229 million USD) M3 upgrade began in November 2014, with most of the work completed in June 2017. Drivers had limited access to the motorway while officials tested the system to make sure the technology was working properly; it officially opened to drivers in August 2017.
“I would like to thank the drivers for their cooperation and understanding while we’ve been building this new improved road and hope they enjoy the improved journeys between London and the south coast,” Pidcock says.
In addition to the smart motorway upgrade, Highways England also took the opportunity to give the route a facelift. ‘We have also been carrying out the most extensive maintenance on the M3 since it was first built in 1971,” says Pidcock, “fully resurfacing the motorway and its slip roads and restoring it to an ‘as new’ condition.”
“Smart motorways create vital extra capacity, improve journey times and maintain our high levels of safety across the network.” — SHAUN PIDCOCK, DIRECTOR OF HIGHWAYS ENGLAND’S SMART MOTORWAY PROGRAM
Since its creation in April 2015, Highways England has completed 16 major projects, including the smart motorway all-lanes running scheme on the M6; an additional 15 upgrades are due start or be completed by spring 2018. Future projects will include a smart motorway upgrade between junctions three and five on the M20 near Maidstone, and on the M6 around Coventry; a current project on parts of the M60 and M62 in Greater Manchester should open to traffic around the same time.
