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Improving journeys on older smart motorways In this section What's happening National Highways is delivering a series of enhancements to sections of dynamic hard shoulder motorways across the country. ‘Dynamic hard shoulder’ (DHS) is an older form of motorway where the hard shoulder is turned on and off as a traffic lane in response to traffic flow. On 15 April 2023 the Government announced that plans for new smart motorways would be cancelled in recognition of the lack of public confidence…

We’re building additional emergency areas to our all lane running smart motorways in the South East. Start date 2024 End date Spring 2025 Cost £390 million national programme Latest updates Overview Documents The safety and confidence of people travelling on England’s motorways and major A-roads is our highest priority. We’ve been listening to your concerns and have developed a programme to create additional emergency areas on sections of all lane running (ALR) smart motorway across the …

Subscribe to traffic information about incidents on National Highways' road network via RSS feeds These feeds contain all current and future planned events for the main regions and roads across our network. A more detailed list of incidents is available from the 'My Preferences' area of the traffic information services page. Regional RSS feeds All current incidents planned roadworks all events North West current incidents planned roadworks all events North East current incidents pl…

We’re building additional emergency areas on our all lane running smart motorways in the Midlands. Start date April 2024 End date Spring 2025 Cost £390 million national programme Overview Documents Project information The safety and confidence of people travelling on England’s motorways and major A-roads is our highest priority. We listened to your concerns and developed a programme to create additional emergency areas on sections of all lane running (ALR) smart motorway across the count…

We’re replacing the footbridge which carries footpath 184 over the M3 connecting Whitmoor Road, Bagshot and Lightwater Country Park. Start date Winter 2024 End date August 2025 Cost TBC Latest updates Overview Documents Latest updates 19 September 2025 Bridge protection works - 24 - 26 September 2025 We will be installing some vehicle bollards at either end of the new bridge to protect it from unintended vehicle access.  During these minor works the bridge will remain open at all time…

Adding more places to stop in an emergency In this section What's happening At National Highways safety is our top priority.  We have listened to drivers' concerns about being able to find a safe place to stop in an emergency on all lane running smart motorways and have delivered a programme to create additional emergency areas on sections of all lane running (ALR) motorway across the country. In its response to the Transport Select Committee’s report The roll out and safety of smart motorw…

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This scheme will provide an improved link between the M54 and the M6. Currently, there's no direct motorway link from the M54 to the M6 north. This means high volumes of both long distance and local traffic use the local roads to travel this route. Start date TBC End date TBC Cost TBC Latest updates Overview Documents Related road projects Latest updates 18 September 2025 Survey Work - Autumn 2025 Since the Secretary of State granted our Development Consent Order (DCO) in April 2022, …

In this section Needing to stop, or being forced to stop, in an emergency on a live traffic lane is very rare. It can of course happen on any road but on high-speed roads it is more frightening, and help needs to be at hand quickly.  In March 2020, the Secretary of State for Transport published the Smart motorway evidence stocktake and action plan. The plan committed to implementing a range of measures to help drivers feel safe and be even safer in moving traffic. This included commitments to …

Back Published 12 September 2024 Press Release A host of volunteers have rolled up their sleeves and dug in to help progress the £4.1m Stafford Brooks biodiversity scheme enabling wildlife and nature to flourish in the town. Extensive work has already been completed by Staffordshire Wildlife Trust on the scheme enhancing grasslands and sites alongside the River Sow including creating new pools and creating wildflower meadows. But the next phase can’t be carried out with the usual heavy pla…