Highways Agency - Safe roads, Reliable journeys, Informed travellers

Update

The 2010 Spending Review announced that the M6 Junctions 5 - 8 Managed Motorways scheme will be prepared for start of construction before 2015, subject to the outcome of statutory processes. It is now confirmed that this scheme will commence in April 2012. For more information please visit our Future Delivery Programme page.

Public Information Exhibitions

We have recently held an exhibition in the area of the scheme to publicise the forthcoming start of works and to answer any questions. The display boards on view at the exhibition can be viewed under our Publications page, along with the Exhibition leaflet.

Background

In January 2009 the Government announced that hard shoulder running would be extended to some of the busiest parts of the Highways Agency's major road network and this initiated the Managed Motorways Programme.  The Managed Motorway concept builds upon the success of the Active Traffic Management Pilot on the M42 where dynamic use of the hard shoulder has produced the following results after 12 months operation:

• The number of accidents has decreased from an average of 5.1 a month to 1.8 a month;
• Drivers ability to predict their weekday journey times has improved by up to 27%;
• There has been a reduction in fuel consumption by 4%;
• There has been a reduction in vehicle emissions by up to 10%;
• Travellers feel better informed with 68% of people saying that they felt more informed about traffic conditions.

The Birmingham Box Managed Motorways scheme is an innovative approach to the strategic management of our road network, it brings together a number of tools from the Managed Motorways 'toolbox' and highlights how they can be used to maximise benefits. The aim is to tackle congestion through the introduction of new technology and innovative solutions to make best use of the existing road space whilst maintaining and, where possible, improving current safety standards.

The Birmingham Box Phase 3 Managed Motorways project (BB3MM) will be implemented across the M6 Junctions 5 to 8, including M5 link roads. The objective of this phase is to provide an operational solution through dynamic use of the carriageway to improve the safety of road users, alleviate congestion and as a result improve journey time reliability.

BB3MM will contribute towards:

• Reliable Journeys
• Reduced Congestion
• Enhanced Information to drivers
• Quicker response times to incidents

BB3MM is a pro-active approach to the strategic management of our road network. This will allow us to better fulfill the Highways Agency's role as Network Operator by:

• Providing targeted solutions to specific problems
• Providing additional capacity for vehicles
• Piloting new and innovative concepts
• Helping to alleviate congestion
• Improving the detection of incidents
• Improving the response to incidents
• Reducing delays caused by incidents or congestion

 The Appraisal Summary Table, summarising the key consequences relating to the environmental, economic and social impacts of this project, has been produced and is available to be viewed on our Publications page.