The Transport Select Committee has launched an inquiry into the effectiveness of all-lane running on England’s motorways.
Several all-lane running motorway schemes in sections of the M1, M4, M5, M6, M42 and M62 are in operation either as part of a managed motorway, or with the hard shoulder used as a full-time lane.
The committee said the use of all-lane running looks set to expand and it would therefore like to evaluate the evidence generated to date on the experiences of road users.
It particularly wants to hear from road users about safety aspects of all-lane running; effectiveness in managing capacity and congestion on the Strategic Road Network; management of incidents; and future how future policy should be shaped.
The deadline for written submissions to the inquiry is 31 January.
Highways England said last year that it planned to transform the SRN over the next decade. This included the creation of more than 400 miles of smart motorways with hard-shoulder running and the transformation of the country’s busiest A-roads into ‘Expressways’ with modernised junctions, emergency refuge areas and advanced technology to help improve traffic flows.
