Drivers face 18 months of work in £150m bid to ease M62 jams

Initial works will begin next week on Yorkshire’s first managed motorway scheme on a 15.5 mile stretch of the motorway in West Yorkshire between Junction 25, at Brighouse and Junction 30, at Rothwell, near Leeds.

At present that stretch of the motorway is used by an estimated 140,000 vehicles a day and the M62 is one of the most congested routes in the UK. The project will allow motorists to use the hard shoulder and use a variety of other methods to control the traffic.

Highways Agency project manager David Pilsworth said: “This scheme will provide much needed additional capacity on the M62, and our experience elsewhere shows that managed motorways deliver significant safety benefits and more reliable journey times.”

Initial work will start on the £150m project on Monday, putting in place traffic management.

The hard shoulder will be closed between Junction 27, at Gildersome and Junction 28 at Tingley but three lanes will be kept open in both directions.

A 50mph speed limit will also be in place.

It is expected that construction work will begin in full in October and the scheme will be completed in 2013-14. Three lanes will be kept open at peak times but the work will cause disruption for motorists.

Highways Agency assistant project manager Paul Hampson said: “Unfortunately whenever we do roadworks there’s an element of disruption but I liken it to a short-term pain for long-term gain because we all know how bad this road is.”

He said reducing tailbacks on the country’s major route between the east and west, which is used by a high percentage of lorries moving goods, would bolster the local economy.

It is estimated that congestion on England’s motorways and major routes costs an estimated £3bn a year.

The project will allow the motorway to be controlled by a variety of measures including variable speeds which will be flashed on electronic signs on gantries above the motorway to prevent stop and start conditions familiar to users of the route.

Sensors will also be placed in the road to measure traffic levels and speeds, which will be monitored. CCTV will also be used.

The M62 scheme will also see:

The hard shoulder will become a permanent traffic lane, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, in both directions between junctions 25 and 26 and westbound between junctions 30 and 29;

The hard shoulder will be opened as an additional lane during busy periods in both directions between junctions 26 and 28 and eastbound between junctions 29 and 30;

As the M62 is four lanes in both directions between junctions 28 and 29 the hard shoulder will not be used as an additional traffic lane.

Highways chiefs say the scheme is flexible so that they can respond to the conditions – a move which should mean journey times are no longer unpredictable. A similar scheme has also been introduced on part of the M42, in the West Midlands, and that has seen an improvement in safety with personal injury accidents halved.

Highways bosses will also use the gantries to let drivers know when the hard shoulder is open.

The works, the first stretch of which are expected to be opened in May 2013, will see the hard shoulder strengthened. Emergency bays will also be built, for those who break down and drivers will pass one approximately every 30 seconds.

The electronic traffic signals will be used to help the emergency services reach accidents.

An exhibition about the scheme is being held at Cleckheaton Library, Whitcliffe Road, Cleckheaton, today, between 11am and 4pm.