Skip to main content

Improved safety information in M55 signs upgrade

A US$567,000 (£450,000) Highways England project to provide drivers using the M55 in Lancashire with better warnings about congestion, incidents and bad weather has been completed. Five of the latest electronic variable message signs, which can display pictorial as well as text messages, have been installed along the eastern end of the motorway between junction 1 at Broughton and the interchange with junction 32 of the M6. The new signs will allow Highways England traffic officers at the North West Re
December 12, 2016 Read time: 2 mins
A US$567,000 (£450,000) 8101 Highways England project to provide drivers using the M55 in Lancashire with better warnings about congestion, incidents and bad weather has been completed.

Five of the latest electronic variable message signs, which can display pictorial as well as text messages, have been installed along the eastern end of the motorway between junction 1 at Broughton and the interchange with junction 32 of the M6.

The new signs will allow Highways England traffic officers at the North West Regional Control Centre at Newton-le-Willows and colleagues at the National Traffic Operation Centre in Birmingham, to give clearer information – with the internationally-recognised symbols helping to warn drivers of dangers ahead including accidents, congestion, snow and ice, high winds or an increased skid risk.

The signs will operate traditionally, using only text messaging, until the spring when a programmed national software update will take place, allowing pictograms to be used as well.

Related Content

  • Traffic signals turn red to stop speeding drivers
    March 15, 2012
    David Crawford is encouraged by the spread of 'soft' speed policing 
  • Mexico’s Durango-Mazatlan highway sets tunnel safety standard
    September 14, 2016
    Mauro Nogarin looks at the management of the longer tunnels on Mexico’s Durango-Mazatlan highway. In recent years the National Infrastructure Fund of Mexico has increased investment in the installation of ITS systems on selected highways to increase road safety. One such major investment is the 230km long Durango-Mazatlan highway which is 12m in width and has an average speed of 110km/h.
  • Cloud keeps UK traffic on the move
    November 23, 2021
    Sopra Steria is introducing the new digital infrastructure for National Highways' NTIS
  • Over US$2.3 billion of investment awarded to upgrade motorways in England
    July 23, 2015
    Highways England has appointed six joint-venture companies to design and build ten smart motorways across England as part of a US$2.3 billion investment. Three of these projects will start in autumn this year: two in the Midlands on the M1 J19 to J16 in Northamptonshire and the M5 J4a to J6 in Worcestershire, and one in the north-west on the M6 J16 to J19 near Stoke-on-Trent. The smart motorway schemes, part of the US$23 billion government investment Highways England is delivering between now and 2021