Rishi Sunak to ban new good motorways – discover out if one in your space has been cancelled

The constructing of latest good motorways is being cancelled following considerations over security and prices.

Fourteen deliberate good motorways – together with 11 which are already paused and three earmarked for development – will probably be faraway from authorities road-building plans, Downing Street has confirmed.

Existing stretches will stay however be subjected to a security refit so there are extra emergency stopping locations.

Read extra: What are good motorways?

About 10% of England’s motorway community is made up of good motorways. They contain numerous strategies to handle the movement of visitors, together with changing the arduous shoulder right into a stay lane.

They had been launched in England in 2014 to ease congestion – and there are 375 miles of good motorway, together with 235 miles with no arduous shoulder.

But there have been longstanding fears following deadly accidents involving autos pressured to cease in stay lanes, and not using a arduous shoulder, solely to be hit from behind.

Earlier this month, an inquest heard a crash on a sensible motorway that killed two pensioners wouldn’t have occurred if there had been a tough shoulder.

Derek Jacobs, 83, died when his van was hit by a automotive on the M1 close to Sheffield in 2019.

He had stopped within the stay inside lane after a blown tyre, and had remained stationary there for 3 minutes and 34 seconds earlier than his automobile was hit by a pink Ford KA, pushed by Jean Scripps. Her husband died in hospital two months after the collision.

The highway to scrapping good motorways

Plans for as much as lots of of miles of good motorways had been first introduced in 2019, with the federal government aiming to roll out 400 miles throughout England by 2025.

But two years later, the proposals had been shelved.

At the time, ministers stated the coverage was “paused” till 5 years of security information for schemes launched earlier than 2020 had been collected. But in his Tory management marketing campaign final summer time, Rishi Sunak vowed to ban them completely.

Campaigners have lengthy known as for them to be scrapped.

Jason Mercer died in 2019 whereas driving to work. He had a shunt with a van on a stretch of the M1 close to Sheffield that had been transformed to a sensible motorway.

After each autos stopped, they had been hit by a lorry. Claire Mercer says her husband would nonetheless be alive had there been a tough shoulder.

Ms Mercer based Smart Motorways Kill and has been campaigning for the abolishment of the motorways completely.

Rishi Sunak’s marketing campaign promise

“All drivers deserve to have confidence in the roads they use to get around the country,” The Telegraph quoted Mr Sunak as saying.

“That’s why last year I pledged to stop the building of all new smart motorways, and today I’m making good on that promise.

“Many individuals throughout the nation depend on driving to get to work, to take their youngsters to highschool and go about their each day lives, and I would like them to have the ability to achieve this with full confidence that the roads they drive on are secure.”

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RAC road safety spokesman Simon Williams said: “This is a watershed announcement and a victory for everybody who has campaigned towards these motorways that, by their design, put drivers in additional hazard ought to they be unfortunate sufficient to interrupt down on one.

“Our research shows all lane-running smart motorways are deeply unpopular with drivers so we’re pleased the government has finally arrived at the same conclusion. It’s now vitally important that plans are made for making the hundreds of existing miles of these types of motorway as safe as possible.

“The risk of changing all lane working stretches to the ‘dynamic arduous shoulder’ configuration, the place the arduous shoulder is open and closed relying on the degrees of visitors, may very well be one choice the federal government considers.”