A shoulder to lean on
Lawrence Vos, of the Highways Agency, explains how the new Active Traffic Management system should allay disabled motorists’ fears of
being left vulnerable on motorways with no hard shoulder.
If you are one of 125,000 motorists who travel daily on the M42 in the West Midlands between junctions 3a and 7, you may have noticed some physical changes to the surroundings, including new gantries and areas cut away to
the left of the hard shoulder.
This is all part of a Highways Agency pilot project called Active Traffic Management, offering a variety of cutting edge traffic management tools to make this stretch of motorway the most advanced in the world.
Chosen because the 17km stretch from Junction 3a and 7 includes access to Birmingham International Airport, the
National Exhibition Centre and Solihull, the project aims to make journey times more reliable and reduce congestion at
peak times.
Active Traffic Management draws from a number of high-tech tools, ranging from the latest variable message signs, containing both text and pictures, to closed-circuit television cameras capable of monitoring the entire stretch.
Perhaps the most significant change you as a motorist will experience when driving through Active Traffic Management will be the use of the hard shoulder as a fourth running lane to
reduce congestion, but this will only happen under controlled conditions, meaning a 50 mph maximum speed.
Brand new gantries situated approximately every 500 metres will contain highly visible message signs over each lane depicting the maximum permitted speed limit if the lane is available and a red X if the lane is unavailable.
“But what if I break down during four-lane running?” I hear you ask.
Well this is a scenario Active Traffic Management will manage in a variety of ways.
Firstly, emergency refuge areas, situated every 500 metres north and south throughout the Active Traffic Management pilot will offer you, the motorist, a safe haven away from the
traffic. Each emergency refuge area is approximately 100 metres in length and is wider than the hard shoulder itself.
Upon driving into an emergency refuge area, detection loops built into the road will trigger an alarm at the regional
control centre, alerting an operator who can then monitor the vehicle on a closedcircuit television monitor.
Each emergency refuge area will also contain new lighting, and one of the new generation multi-lingual emergency
roadside telephones. Alongside these will be a ramped area to give greater disabled access and a paved walkway.
Each and every motorist who enters an emergency refuge area will be monitored, 24 hours a day, ensuring that you
are being seen and action is being taken to safely remove you from the motorway as soon as possible.
If you are able to safely reach an emergency roadside telephone on the Active Traffic Management then you will be transferred to a member of the Highways Agency Traffic Officer service who will help arrange recovery of you and your vehicle.
However, if you are unable to reach an emergency roadside telephone or are without a mobile phone, hold tight, as a
Highways Agency Traffic Officer crew will be despatched directly to you.
Highways Agency Traffic Officers, launched in the West Midlands in April this year, are a uniformed service patrolling
the West Midlands motorway network to help to reduce congestion, help motorists in need and supporting the police, freeing them to concentrate on catching criminals on the motorway.
Working alongside the police, Traffic Officers will soon have the power to stop and direct traffic, leaving all enforcement
activity to the police, instead supporting the management of incidents.
Those people who decide to ignore the signs and signals depicting available running lanes, and the speed limits
within them, will be easier to detect on the Active Traffic Management stretch of road, thanks to the installation of digital safety cameras on the new gantries.
Motorway Incident Detection Automatic Signalling, or MIDAS as it is better known, will monitor road conditions, and information about or an incident that has occurred will be relayed automatically to road users through message signs.
The flexibility of the Active Traffic Management pilot project will mean quicker access to incidents for both emergency services and roadside recovery vehicles, as they can gain access quickly through lanes closed to normal traffic.
Timescales for the Active Traffic Management pilot include:
• Completion of construction work in Spring 2005
• Advisory three-lane variable speed limits in Spring 2005
• Mandatory three-lane variable speed limits in Summer 2005
• Four-lane variable speed limits in Winter 2006
Active Traffic Management is the first stretch of motorway in England to incorporate this level of technology, it is also
the first in the world to trial the idea.
The project is saving tax-payers money by costing just one-fifth of traditional lane widening.
n For any further information about Active Traffic Management in England please ring the Highways Agency
Information Line on 08457 504030 or visit the website
www.highways.gov.uk
DDMC welcomes scheme
In June 2003 I highlighted the fact that plans were afoot to utilise the hard shoulder of certain motorways as an extra lane in peak periods, writes Ed Passant, DDMC Chief Executive. I expressed the concerns of many disabled
motorists who cannot easily get out of their vehicle in the event of a breakdown.
The prospect of being stuck in your vehicle with lorries bearing down on you seemed pretty terrifying.
I'm delighted therefore that the pilot section of the M42 looks like being, in reality, a far safer place for disabled motorists than any other trunk route in Britain. Constant monitoring, computer linked signage, immediate lane closures and refuges every 500 metres add up to an impressive array of systems to try and ease congestion – and should mean, if you are in difficulty, that the response is rapid.
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