Skip to main content

McCann participates in M1 smart motorway scheme

Civil and electrical engineering firm McCann will help upgrade a 7.5 mile stretch of a major Midlands route as part of the M1 junction 23a – 25 smart motorway scheme. The project stems from an agreement with Highways England and is intended to reduce congestion and smooth the flow of traffic to improve travel times. Carl Lancaster, operations director for McCann, says: “The finished project will also help to minimise environmental impacts and maximise the capacity of the motorway while ensuring continued
July 16, 2018 Read time: 2 mins
Civil and electrical engineering firm McCann will help upgrade a 7.5 mile stretch of a major Midlands route as part of the M1 junction 23a – 25 smart motorway scheme. The project stems from an agreement with 8101 Highways England and is intended to reduce congestion and smooth the flow of traffic to improve travel times.


Carl Lancaster, operations director for McCann, says: “The finished project will also help to minimise environmental impacts and maximise the capacity of the motorway while ensuring continued driver safety.”

McCann will install 500 lighting columns, 100,000m of lighting cable, 12,000m of lighting duct infrastructure, 40,000m of communication cable and 230 communication cabinets. The company will also install relevant technology to 27 new gantries as well as 13 existing gantries.

The project includes the conversion of the hard shoulder to create a fourth lane between junctions 24 and 25 as well as alterations to accommodate the new lane. Variable speed limits and associated smart motorway systems, CCTV systems and electronic signage, a hardened central reservation and a queue detection system to control congestion will also be implemented.  

McCann will work alongside technology construction companies 2002 Costain and Galliford Try. The project is scheduled to be completed in late 2018.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Active traffic management - challenges and benefits
    April 12, 2013
    Minnesota DoT has built one of the most intensive Active Traffic Management (ATM) systems on the road today. Like many ITS deployments, the state has gained benefits but also faces many challenges, as Pete Goldin reports. Smart Lanes is the brand name of Minnesota Department of Transportation’s (MnDoT) ATM system on I-35W in the Twin Cities Metro Area. The original system covered 16 miles of I-35W south of Minneapolis starting in 2009, and was extended by two miles in 2011. Additional ATM equipment was inst
  • Consortium wins US$648 million highway project
    May 27, 2015
    I-77 Mobility Partners, a consortium led by Cintra Infraestructuras, a subsidiary of Ferrovial, has finalised a US$648 million contract with the North Carolina Department of Transportation. The group will design and construct 26 miles of toll lanes on Interstate 77 in North Carolina.
  • New Mersey crossing ends Halton’s congestion misery
    December 5, 2017
    Plagued by intolerable congestion but denied government funding for its solution, tiny Halton Borough Council relentlessly pursued its vision and achieved what many believed impossible. Halton may be a small local authority in north west England, but it had a big traffic problem. However, as the road, or more particularly the bridge, involved was not deemed a strategic route, central government would not commission or even fund a solution - a problem that many other local authorities will recognise.
  • Plug and play approach unifies workzone ITS
    July 18, 2012
    Caltrans District 7 is finalising a ConOps document which will detail a plug-and-play to work zone ITS operation. The organisation's Allen Z. Chen elaborates. Before August is out, on current planning, the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) District 7 (which covers Los Angeles and Ventura Counties, with a combined population of close to 11 million people) intends to have finalised a Concept of Operations (ConOps) document dealing with Work Zone Transportation Management Systems (WZTMS). The