Sign installation aimed at easing jams to shut M62 for 12 hours

A STRETCH of the M62 in West Yorkshire, one of the country’s busiest motorways, is to close for 12 hours this weekend as massive overhead gantries are installed.

The steel structures, some weighing over 30 tonnes, are being put in as part of a new congestion-easing scheme for 25km of the motorway between junctions 25, Brighouse, and 30, Rothwell.

They will hold signs informing motorists about lane availability and speed limits.

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The “managed motorway” scheme will see hard shoulders opened to drivers at peak times, reduced speed limits to ease congestion and the creation of emergency refuges for breakdowns.

Experts say the changes should improve journey times by a few minutes as well as reduce accidents. A similar scheme on the M42 saw a cut in crashes and journey times cut by an average of two minutes.

The complex job of lowering the huge gantries into place will mean the closure of the M62 tomorrow from 8pm until 8am the following day between junction 27, Gildersome, and 28 at Tingley.

The closure will affect thousands of drivers, who will be re-directed via the A650.

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More overnight closures will be needed between now and November, although the dates have yet to be decided.

A total of 36 new overhead gantries will be required along the new managed motorway section and a further 16 existing gantries are being upgraded to take new signs.

A Highways Agency spokesman said: “The £150m managed motorway scheme will cut congestion, make journey times more reliable and improve safety through the use of variable mandatory speed limits and by opening the hard shoulder as an extra running lane.”

It is scheduled to be completed towards the end of next year. The first gantries are due to go up either side of Birkby Brow Bridge near Morley over the weekend.

They have been assembled in a 70,000 square foot warehouse in Hunslet, Leeds.