Smart Motorways
Posted: Sat Apr 15, 2023 8:02 pm
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Re: Smart Motorways
Posted: Sat Apr 15, 2023 9:00 pm
Fucking dumb from the start. It’s like the person who had the idea had never drove on a motorway
Re: Smart Motorways
Posted: Sat Apr 15, 2023 9:04 pm
Yay. Can they bin the gantry cameras too 
Re: Smart Motorways
Posted: Sat Apr 15, 2023 10:02 pm
I'm sure it'll be the wrong decision and end up costing more, as sure as I am that people will think this means the scrapping of all smart motorways already in existence.
Re: Smart Motorways
Posted: Sun Apr 16, 2023 11:55 pm
Good decision. if only they'd bin the existing ones as well.
The cheapest way of saving face would simply be to keep the dynamic speed control and reinstate the hard shoulders. Minimal cost as it's just reinstating a solid line (sort of).
The cheapest way of saving face would simply be to keep the dynamic speed control and reinstate the hard shoulders. Minimal cost as it's just reinstating a solid line (sort of).
Re: Smart Motorways
Posted: Mon Apr 17, 2023 8:13 am
Yeah, it's not as simple as that though. Where the M25 clockwise joins the M3 southbound the junction lane joins the M3 where the old hard shoulder was and becomes the left lane. You'd lose a lot of junction space if you reinstated the HS.
I'm sure that's not the only example.
I'm sure that's not the only example.
Re: Smart Motorways
Posted: Mon Apr 17, 2023 8:47 am
There were always a few places on the motorway network without a hard shoulder before - they were the exception, but it wouldn't be a big leap to retain the merge area without a hard shoulder. Of more interest is how they will then drop a lane when the carriageway reverts to having a hard shoulder.
Re: Smart Motorways
Posted: Mon Apr 17, 2023 9:37 am
It would just merge in further on. You'd just have a relatively short section without hard shoulder.Simon wrote: Mon Apr 17, 2023 8:13 am Yeah, it's not as simple as that though. Where the M25 clockwise joins the M3 southbound the junction lane joins the M3 where the hold hard shoulder was and becomes the left lane. You'd lose a lot of junction space if you reinstated the HS.
I'm sure that's not the only example.
Re: Smart Motorways
Posted: Thu May 04, 2023 8:04 am
Really good article here about the future of Smart Motorways: https://www.roads.org.uk/blog/not-so-smart
TLDR version: the cancellation of Smart Motorways only relates to future projects. Existing Smart Motorways are not going to be re-lined to have a hard shoulder again. The best we can hope for, it appears, is more CCTV, more Stopped Vehicle Detection and more refuge lay-bys to be installed on them.
I learnt something else from the article; it appears the vague 'Report of Obstruction' messages on the smart signs are automatically triggered by Stopped Vehicle Detection. Since they're so undescriptive, I assumed they were manually triggered after someone calls in an object which is in a live lane; I think 'Report of Stopped Vehicle' or similar would be far more useful.
TLDR version: the cancellation of Smart Motorways only relates to future projects. Existing Smart Motorways are not going to be re-lined to have a hard shoulder again. The best we can hope for, it appears, is more CCTV, more Stopped Vehicle Detection and more refuge lay-bys to be installed on them.
I learnt something else from the article; it appears the vague 'Report of Obstruction' messages on the smart signs are automatically triggered by Stopped Vehicle Detection. Since they're so undescriptive, I assumed they were manually triggered after someone calls in an object which is in a live lane; I think 'Report of Stopped Vehicle' or similar would be far more useful.