M6 junction 13 to junction 15 smart motorway

Latest updates

• 11 August 2022

  Upgraded motorway now open

  Today we lifted the final restriction on a major motorway upgrade to a 17 mile stretch of the M6 between junction 13 at Stafford and junction 15 near Newcastle under Lyme and Stoke on Trent. This means you can now drive at the national speed limit along this route.

  If you’ve been using the road recently, you’ll know that a new fourth lane was opened earlier this year. Drivers were kept at a lower maximum speed limit of 60mph while we calibrated the technology which detects stopped vehicles. Our testing shows the system is performing satisfactorily so we have increased the maximum speed to the national speed limit of 70mph along the stretch which carries on average 127,000 vehicles a day.

  We’d like to say thank you to everyone for their co-operation and understanding while this work was carried out.

  All motorways, with or without a hard shoulder, are designed and operated with drivers in mind, to be easy and straightforward to drive on. On motorways where the hard shoulder has been converted to a traffic lane, there’s a whole system of inter-related features, working together to help keep traffic moving safely. They include:

  • variable speed limits to help keep traffic moving, reducing frustrating stop-start traffic and making journeys quicker
  • clearly signed and orange-coloured emergency areas set back from the road and with telephones linking directly to our control rooms
  • detection systems to monitor traffic for changes in flows and speeds
  • CCTV cameras that our operators are able to move and zoom to monitor and manage congestion and incidents, where notified. The system has the ability to see 100% of the carriageway
  • signs and signals to provide better information, and that can alert drivers to hazards ahead and display Red X signals to close lanes to other traffic when a stopped vehicle is identified
  • enforcement cameras to deter the minority who break speed limits and ignore Red X signals

  To further enhance safety, on all lane running smart motorways we are continuing to roll out technology which will allow us to detect stopped vehicles. The stopped vehicle detection (SVD) system automatically identifies stopped vehicles and provides an alert to our control rooms. Our operators can then close lanes with a Red X signal, display speed limits and deploy traffic officers.

  The system of inter-related features is all overseen and joined up by our dedicated National Highways teams, both in control rooms and on road, who are here to help 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

  In taking forward the Transport Committee’s recommendations, £390m has been allocated to design and build more than 150 additional emergency areas during the second Road Investment Strategy, on all lane running motorways in operation and construction. A decision on whether to retrofit across the remainder of all lane running smart motorways will be considered as part of the formulation of the third Road Investment Strategy, based on evidence of safety benefits.

  The M6 J13-15 is the first smart motorway upgrade to open with additional emergency areas – five in addition to the originally planned 21 – to give drivers more places to stop in an emergency. Drivers will be able to use one of 26 emergency areas if they need to stop in an emergency, with a place to stop or leave the motorway every 0.99 miles on average.