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M62 - Your Local History

A lot of finds were uncovered during the archaeological evaluation carried out for the M62 Junction 6 Improvement scheme so we thought it would be nice to provide an interactive website so you can see what we found.

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Better information for your journey

The National Traffic Control Centre collects real-time information on road conditions

Quick Links

Don't Cross or Walk Along Motorways

The Highways Agency aims to make more people aware of the dangers of walking or crossing our motorway. We have launched a poster and radio campaign aimed at 16-25yr olds. Hopefully with our hard hitting posters, our message will come across.

Educating tomorrow's drivers

See how we are driving through key messages about safety on our network for the drivers of tomorrow.

Meet the Ancestors

Find out about the history of roads and the work the Agency does to preserve archaeological remains.

See when traffic will be lightest

Our traffic forecaster can help get you there quicker

Variable Message Signs (Electronic Message Signs)

Variable Message Signs (VMS) are located at key decision points on the motorway and trunk road network. They are used by the Highways Agency (HA) to help manage the network by providing advanced warning to drivers of emergencies and incidents. VMS are also used to warn drivers of events that may cause delays in the future such as road works and major events.

There are currently around 2,800 VMS on the Highways Agency network. Of these 459 are located at key decision points around the network i.e. before major junctions such as the M5/M6 link.

Messages displayed on VMS are limited to those that help drivers complete their journey safely and efficiently. VMS cannot be used for advertising or any other unnecessary information.

There are a number of types of VMS in use on the Agency's network and they provide the capability to display a wide range of warnings, messages and other traffic information.

The Highways Agency is responsible for setting all the VMS on the strategic road network.  Messages are set in one of three ways;

  1. Regional Control Centres (RCCs) - There are 7 RCCs which are responsible for the setting of tactical messages within their allocated region.
  2. National Traffic Control Centre (NTCC) - This single control room is responsible for the strategic operation of the HA road network.  This includes setting messages for long distance diversion routes and also campaign messages.
  3. Automatic Signaling such as Motorway Incident Detection and Automated Signalling (MIDAS).

VMS are an essential requirement in allowing the HA to operate the network. Without VMS new initiatives such as Managed Motorways would not be possible.

To see VMS messages currently being displayed to drivers, please go to the Traffic England website.

For further information about VMS please follow the links on the right hand side of this page.