Motorways: Safety

(asked on 16th May 2019) - View Source

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many extra emergency refuge areas have been added to existing stretches of all lane running motorways.


Answered by
Jesse Norman Portrait
Jesse Norman
This question was answered on 23rd May 2019

Reviews of the first two schemes to be designed to the all lane running standard, both on the M25, shows they are performing well and in line with expectations; successfully increasing capacity and improving journeys for motorists. These reviews found that the M25 schemes delivered an overall 27% safety improvement.

Nevertheless, to help drivers feel more confident they can find a place to stop in an emergency, Highways England have committed to reducing the maximum spacing of emergency areas which is currently about every mile and a half (about 90 seconds at 60mph), to around every mile (about every minute at 60mph). This will take place on new schemes being constructed from 2020 onwards.

Currently the average spacing on all lane running sections is just over a mile.

In addition, in the next twelve months construction work will commence to install 10 additional emergency refuge areas on the M25.

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