By Stephen Slominski
Drivers on the M27 smart motorway will finally see the addition of missing emergency areas, following a two-year wait after the initial opening fell short of safety recommendations.
The announcement by National Highways comes as part of a wider national effort to improve safety on smart motorways, with the government having already paused the rollout of new schemes due to safety concerns.
The M27 smart motorway section between junctions 4 and 11 opened in February 2022 meaning a 15 mile stretch of one of the busiest roads in the South no longer had a breakdown lane. There are currently 13 emergency areas on the M27, but this falls short of the government’s recommendations. As reported by Eastleigh News the initial spacing between emergency areas exceeded the government’s recommended maximum, increasing the risk for stranded vehicles on live traffic lanes. To address this shortfall, two new emergency areas are planned for the M27.
Although the Department of Transport have said that smart motorways are the safest stretches of road in the network some coroners have linked motorway deaths directly to the lack of a hard shoulder. Driver surveys also indicate a strong preference for hard shoulders, leading to a public perception of smart motorways as being less safe.
National Highways has confirmed that construction of the new emergency areas will take place over the summer, likely causing some disruption for drivers. They say they are working to minimise this by coordinating with other ongoing motorway improvements.