Smart motorways are already in operation across the country and Highways England are now going ahead with more major motorway schemes in the South East which will be worth over £350million.

These will take place between now and June of this year, with work already starting on the M20 (J10) in Kent by Vinci Construction and smart motorway upgrades in Kent and Surrey.

The M23 near Gatwick Airport in Surrey will have an 11 mile upgrade between J8 (Merstham) and J10 (Copthorne) costing around £160m.  Whilst in Kent, the M20 J3-5 is expected to cost £90m.  Kier will be conducting both of these upgrades independently from April, following the collapse of Carillion.

The upgrades will assist with the long term traffic congestion problems and add new technology and safety features.  This will ease the driver’s journey as motorways are converted into “smart motorways”, adding an extra 50 miles of new lanes and keeping drivers informed of traffic ahead.  Smart motorways are seeing the benefit from fewer traffic collisions, more effective traffic flow equating in more reliable journey times and also reducing noise and harmful vehicle emissions.

BBS Barriers can assist with the productivity of the smart motorway process by providing a CE marked, in-situ, vehicle restraint system that can prevent vehicle crossovers on major motorway networks.  The barriers also have the benefit of being virtually maintenance free for 50 years, aiding to the roadworkers safety.

Consultations are also to take place in the first part of 2018 for both the improvement of J9 (Winchester) on the M3 and also the M25’s interchange with the A3 being improved.