Following pressure from campaigners and MPs, Road Chiefs have stopped plans for converting a part of M3 to a smart motorway.
Balfour Beatty was ready to begin phase one of the £140million project to turn the hard shoulder into a permanent fourth lane between Eastleigh and Winchester.
National Highways stopped the company from proceeding, as it had built work compound in Hampshire for this project. According to the company, it claims that the 10-mile improvement is temporarily being delayed.
Claire Mercer (pictured), whose husband died on a section of the M1 with no hard shoulder, said: ‘I’m sincerely hoping this will mean no more new all-lane running smart motorways’
Following an investigation by Daily Mail, the Daily Mail discovered a number of problems in smart motorway technology. This included broken CCTV cameras as well as a flawed radar system.
The Commons transport committee used our exposé to write a scathing report calling for the scheme to be halted until more safety data was available.
National Highways still wants to make smart segments of M1, M6 & M4. This is despite emergency shelters sometimes being more than 1.5 miles away.
It is in violation of guidelines set by Grant Shapps, Transport Secretary. The distance should not exceed a mile.
Jack Gallowtree and Ms. Mercer protested smart motorways. They carried a cardboard coffin that said’smart roads kill’, to the Houses of Parliament in early February.
MPs and the relatives of victims killed on smart motorways welcomed the M3 news but warned the ‘war to reinstate the hard shoulder is far from over’.
Former roads minister Sir Mike Penning said: ‘Now National Highways needs to address the concerns we’ve been raising for years over these lethal roads and get rid of them.’
Claire Mercer, whose husband Jason died on a section of the M1 with no hard shoulder, said: ‘I’m sincerely hoping this will mean no more new all-lane running smart motorways.’
Labour’s Jim McMahon called on Mr Shapps to pause the rollout of smart motorways right across the country.
David Bray, of National Highways, said the works had been ‘paused’ to consider the MPs’ recommendations.