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Fourteen planned smart highways are removed Around 10% of England's motorway network is made up of smart motorways Construction of new smart highways is canceled as Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has acknowledged concerns about their safety and cost.
Fourteen planned smart highways, including 11 already on pause and three slated for construction, will be dropped from government highway construction plans due to financial pressures and in recognition of a lack of public confidence.
The Department for Transport said the projects would have cost more than £1bn.
Last year I made a commitment to stop building new smart highways, and today I am keeping that commitment.
But the department added that construction of two sections of the smart motorway, at junctions 6-8 of the M56 and 21a-26 of the M6, will continue as these projects are now more than three-quarters complete.
The existing sections will remain, but will undergo a safety redevelopment to have an additional 150 emergency stops on the network.
Around 10% of the motorway network in England is made up of smart motorways.
These are various measures to manage traffic flow, such as turning the shoulder into a fast traffic lane and the use of variable speed limits.
But there have long been concerns about their safety, following fatal incidents in which vehicles stopped in traffic lanes on roads with no shoulders were struck from behind.
In January 2022, the government suspended the expansion of roads where the shoulder is used as a permanent traffic lane. This was to collect five years of data to assess whether concerns about driver safety are justified.
During his Conservative leadership campaign last summer, Sunak pledged to ban smart highways.
“All drivers deserve to have confidence in the roads they use to move around the country,” the prime minister said on Saturday. “That's why last year I made a commitment to stop building new smart highways and today I'm keeping that promise.
"So many people across the country rely on driving to get to work, take their children to school and go about their daily lives, and I want them to be able to do so with the confidence that the roads we provide are safe." .
Transport Secretary Mark Harper said: “We want the public to know that this government is listening to their concerns.
"Today's announcement means no new smart highways will be built, given the lack of public confidence felt by drivers and the cost pressures of inflation."
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