Plans for making new smart motorways in the UK called off

The government has declared that the construction of all new smart motorways is being dropped over cost and safety concerns.

Some 14 designed schemes, including 11 already on halt and three set for construction, will be discarded due to finances and low public trust.

Smart motorways are a stretch of lanes where technology controls traffic flow and reduces congestion.

They even use the hard shoulder as an extra road for traffic, which analysts claim has led to road accidents.

Also read: Jeremy Hunt says the economy of the UK is back

Current smart motorways – making up 10% of England’s motorway network – will remain and undergo an earlier announced safety refit to make 150 more emergency stopping places and improved technology.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak – who vowed to outlaw smart motorways during his leadership campaign – said, “All drivers deserve to have faith in the roads they use to get around the nation.”

The Department for Transport said the new plans would have cost around £1bn, and cancelling them would let time to track public confidence in smart motorways over a more extended time.

What is a smart motorway?

There are three main types:

• Controlled has an enduring hard shoulder but uses technology such as variable speed limitations to adapt traffic flows.
• Dynamic, where the hard shoulder can be opened up at prime times and operated as an extra lane; when this occurs, the speed limit is lowered to 60mph.
• All-lane driving, where the hard shoulder has been permanently removed to provide an additional lane, emergency refuge places are offered regularly for cars that get into trouble.