Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many additional smart motorway emergency refuges have (a) been constructed and (b) have entered the design phase since the publication of his Department's report entitled Smart Motorway Evidence Stocktake and Action Plan, published on 12 March 2020.

Since 12 March 2020, 10 additional emergency areas have been installed on the M25, in line with Action 5 of the Smart Motorway Evidence Stocktake and Action Plan. A further 27 emergency areas have been built as part of new upgrades currently in construction and which come into use as those projects open to traffic.

In March 2020, there were 23.86 miles of smart motorway covered by stopped vehicle detection (SVD) technology. At the end of December 2020, there will be 36.78 miles. This is in line with Highways England’s programme to install SVD on all existing all lane running (ALR) sections of the motorway network, by March 2023, which it is on course to achieve.