Smart motorways in England are being switched off this week – see full listing
Smart motorways across England are set to go offline. But no that’s not years of road works and expense down the drain, it’s actually to allow for a crucial tech update.
If you’re hitting the road over the next few days, it’s probably a good idea you check whether your journey will be affected by the temporary switch off.
Motorists across the country might notice car-detection software and variable speed limit signs being out of action.
Following an initial planned update on smart motorways last night, National Highways has confirmed extensive work will be carried out on several motorways from Monday to Wednesday.
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Starting tomorrow, the M23 from J10 to J8 and the M25 from J12 to J14 will be affected, with disruptions lasting from 10am to 2pm and 3pm respectively. The M25 will then be impacted in the opposite direction from J14 to J13 on Tuesday.
(Image: PA)
All motorways in the East region will be affected from 9am to noon. A spokesperson for National Highways stated: “As a result of essential technology maintenance, Smart Motorway stopped vehicle detection and/or the ability to reset electronic signs and signals will not be in operation along some sections of the above motorways for periods during these times.”
“There are no road closures planned for this work.”, reports Birmingham Live.
While no closures have been reported, smart motorway users are being advised to familiarise themselves with the changes and plan their journeys accordingly as we approach the end of the year.
The spokesperson for National Highways highlighted the organisation’s preparedness, saying: “Where required, we have well-rehearsed plans and mitigations including extra Traffic Officer patrols, increased CCTV monitoring and reduced speed limits in locations that require these measures to be put in place.”
The smart motorway network, which spans about 300 miles across the UK, consists of three types. Vehicles that come to a halt on these roadways are detected using CCTV cameras and a traffic-flow monitoring system called MIDAS, which senses when traffic begins to slow due to an incident.
On some segments of ‘all lane running’ smart motorways, more advanced radar technology known as ‘stationary vehicle detection’ (SVD) is deployed to automatically detect a stationary vehicle, which can pinpoint such incidents up to 16 minutes faster than camera-based systems.
A report from Highways England disclosed that just 18% of all-lane running motorways are equipped with SVD — a statistic that has led the RAC to call for its widescale deployment across the entire smart motorway network.
