Highways England pilots project to reduce congestion along M62

8101 Highways England (HE) has begun piloting a £7 million ($9 million) project to reduce congestion at the Croft Interchange – where junction 21a of the M6 meets junction 10 of the M62, near Warrington, Cheshire. The project aims to provide drivers with smoother and more reliable journey times.

Once the testing is completed in December / January, electronic information signs and variable mandatory speed limits on the M62 will combine with traffic lights on the motorway link roads from the M6.

In the first phase of the motorway to motorway system, drivers travelling between Junction 9 and Junction 11 of the Eastbound M62 will see the electronic variable message signs in operation, which will display mandatory variable speed limits and other information such as warnings of congestion.

Phase two will see the traffic lights switched on at the end of the link roads onto the eastbound M62. Traffic leaving the M6 will be monitored, and the lights will be controlled to minimise queuing onto the M6.

Money for the project is coming from a £150 million ($114 million) innovation fund, part of the £15 billion ($11 million) allocated to HE in the Government’s 2015 to 2020 Road Investment Strategy.

Andy Withington, HE’s programme delivery manager for the North West, said: “The key aim of the project is to test the novel technology introduced through this pilot project and tackle congestion at peak travel times, especially during the morning rush hour. The link road traffic lights won’t be on all of the time, being limited to the morning peak, but the variable speed limit signs on the M62 eastbound will be working all the time when traffic conditions dictate.

Therefore, when the system is operating, drivers will be expected to obey the traffic lights on the link roads and variable mandatory speed limits displayed on the new M62 electronic signs.”