31-08-2006, 09:34 AM
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#5 (permalink)
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Senior Member
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: Welwyn Hatfield (Herts.)
Posts: 1,878
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Sky News tells us a bit more.
Quote:
A new way to ease congestion on motorways is being introduced as a cheap alternative to road widening.
A pilot scheme on an 11-mile stretch of the M42 will allow motorists to drive on the hard shoulder when queues start to build up.
The Times said the cost of converting the hard shoulder would be £100m rather than the £500m an extra lane would cost.
It could also be implemented within two years instead of the 10 years it takes to plan and construct additional lanes, the paper says.
New lay-bys would be constructed every 500 metres as refuges for any vehicle that breaks down.
The scheme will work by means of sensors installed under the road surface which will detect when congestion is building up.
The speed limit on all carriageways will be reduced to 50mph once the hard shoulder is in use, The Times says.
The pilot scheme will be introduced next month southeast of Birmingham and the Highways Agency is said to be considering widening it to other motorways if successful.
However, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents is worried drivers will be confused by the new system.
"Experience of motorway driving demonstrates that many drivers are ignorant of many signs or choose to ignore them in an attempt to get to the front of the queue," the organisation said.
And Paul Watters of the AA Motoring Trust said: "We are concerned that drivers will develop the habit of using the hard shoulder and fail to notice when it is closed."
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