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.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Cost benefit: just $25 boosts pedestrian safety in Florida
    April 29, 2019
    A relatively straightforward change to the way that pedestrians cross the street in a Florida city has made a significant safety improvement. And what’s more, it was cheap, finds David Crawford Installing a lead pedestrian interval (LPI) system at 25 central business district signalised intersections in the Florida city of Lakeland has cut numbers of incidents involving pedestrians by some 60% - at a cost of US$25 for 30 minutes' work, according to traffic operations manager Angelo Rao.
  • Australia highway to receive smart tech 
    October 12, 2021
    Smart motorway tech will be installed between Pine River and Caloundra Road
  • Measuring alertness to avert drowsy driver incidents
    December 21, 2015
    Falling asleep at the wheel is the primary cause in thousands of deaths on American and other roads, with truck drivers the most at-risk group. David Crawford investigates measures to counter drowsy driving.
  • B&C Transit modernises Miami-Dade Metrorail’s control systems
    June 1, 2016
    Jason Gomez and Daniel Mondesir describe how passenger disruption was minimised during a major upgrading of the control room of Miami-Dade’s Metrorail. In 1984 when the Miami-Dade Department of Transportation and Public Works’ (DTPW) Metrorail system was launched in southern Florida, trains ran 18km along a single line and stopped at 10 stations.