Skip to main content

UK’s M6 to get VMS to boost safety

Four of the latest variable message signs (VMS) are to be installed around junction 35 of the M6 motorway at Carnforth, giving drivers better warnings of incidents and other information about the motorway such as weather conditions. As part of the work, new CCTV cameras will be mounted on the VMS signs and standalone masts, allowing Highways Agency traffic officers at the North West Regional Control Centre at Newton-le-Willows to monitor and manage motorway incidents more effectively. A similar, US$2
November 18, 2014 Read time: 2 mins
Four of the latest variable message signs (VMS) are to be installed around junction 35 of the M6 motorway at Carnforth, giving drivers better warnings of incidents and other information about the motorway such as weather conditions.

As part of the work, new CCTV cameras will be mounted on the VMS signs and standalone masts, allowing 503 Highways Agency traffic officers at the North West Regional Control Centre at Newton-le-Willows to monitor and manage motorway incidents more effectively.

A similar, US$2.6 million project to provide new VMS and CCTV cameras around junction 33 of the M6 at Galgate was delivered earlier this year.

Highways Agency project manager Dan Foster said: “This significant investment in technology along this section of the M6 in Lancashire is being delivered through the Government’s pinch point programme and will boost the amount and frequency of information we can give to motorway users, helping to provide safer and more reliable journeys.

“The better intelligence provided by the additional cameras will also make it easier for Highways Agency traffic officers and partners like the police to respond to and manage incidents – again boosting safety and journey reliability.”

The new signs and cameras will be placed a mile and half a mile in each direction from junction 35 with two more cameras erected on standalone masts.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Reversible express lanes and open road tolling combat congestion
    March 2, 2012
    Teri England, Diamond Consulting Services, details the construction of construction of a world first - reversible express lanes with cashless multi-lane ORT - on the Tampa Hillsborough Expressway
  • ITS upgrade for George Washington Bridge
    June 29, 2015
    The electronic highway signage system and field devices that provide real-time travel information for the 300,000 daily users of New York’s George Washington Bridge are to undergo a major overhaul in a US$65.1 millio0n project. The Port Authority of New York has approved the project to replace the intelligent transportation system (ITS) which includes the upgrade and replacement of 11 existing variable message signs and the installation of seven new ones; the installation of a new overhead sign structure
  • Substantial savings from smarter street lighting
    February 25, 2015
    As authorities strive to reduce expenditure and carbon emissions, Colin Sowman looks at some of the smart ways of managing street lighting while containing costs and maintaining safety. Street lighting can account for 40% of an authority’s energy consumption. So, faced with the need to reduce outgoings, some authorities are looking for smart ways of managing street lighting or even turning off swathes of street lights in the small hours. Back in 2008 the E-street Initiative report concluded that authorities
  • When speed compliance becomes a safety issue
    March 29, 2017
    David Crawford finds that softly, softly can be safely, safely when it comes to speed enforcement. Comedians and controversial TV presenters have long made jokes about having to watch the speedometer so closely as they pass speed camera after speed camera that they mow down bus queues. But the joke may have some factual basis according to a study by researchers from the University of Western Australia.