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Where is the support for smart motorways?

The photograph (right) used to illustrate the news story “Sunak axes all future smart motorway projects” (NCE, last month) fortuitously also illustrates the reason that all lane-running smart motorways are unsafe.

​​It shows vehicle barriers on both verges set unnecessarily close to the running lane, leaving insufficient space to get a car out of harm’s way. Ironically, it is the safety barriers that make them unsafe.

The solution is simple and cheap. Move the barriers back.

Stephen Riley (M), srileyuk1@gmail.com

I read a daily newspaper [The i] that I trust to give a balanced view of issues it reports on, so I am surprised by the apparent lack of support for smart motorways. Surely organisations like the National Highways and ICE would have leapt to their defence. I had a look back through the last few editions of NCE and found nothing.

How are newspapers like mine and other media outlets supposed to hear the other side of the arguments? Where is the outcry from transport and highway engineers; or are they conceding that these motorways are in fact too dangerous?

It seems as though a collective decision has been made to just abandon the whole enterprise, despite the billions of pounds spent and the benefits that have been delivered.

Jim O’Rourke (M), jimor68@gmail.com

Editor’s note: NCE has reported on the ongoing issues around smart motorways and the last issue contained a report of the latest decision to cancel new smart motorways, along with detail on the projects affected by the decision.

The Editor, New Civil Engineer,
​Telephone House, 69-77 Paul Street, London, EC2A 4NQ
​Email: nceedit@emap.com

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