UK motorway gets first ‘orange’ smart motorway emergency area

The first new-style smart motorway emergency area, where drivers can stop in an emergency, is being trialled on the M3 motorway in Surrey. Highways England is trialling the redesigned emergency area in response to public concern about smart motorways. It has a highly visible orange road surface and better signs to help improve its visibility make it more obvious to drivers on smart motorways. It is also hoped that it will encourage drivers to only use them in emergency situations. The first of the new emerg
July 17, 2017 Read time: 2 mins
The first new-style smart motorway emergency area, where drivers can stop in an emergency, is being trialled on the M3 motorway in Surrey.


8101 Highways England is trialling the redesigned emergency area in response to public concern about smart motorways. It has a highly visible orange road surface and better signs to help improve its visibility make it more obvious to drivers on smart motorways. It is also hoped that it will encourage drivers to only use them in emergency situations.

The first of the new emergency areas went live late last week. More upgrades are planned should the trial be successful. This change is part of an ongoing review into the design and spacing of emergency areas on smart motorways that is due to report in the autumn.

Smart motorways use variable speed limits to manage traffic and tackle congestion, new technology to give drivers better information on road conditions ahead and, in smart motorway upgrades delivered since 2004, convert the hard shoulder into an extra traffic lane. Highways England says evidence shows that smart motorways are successfully adding extra capacity, improving journey times and are just as safe as conventional motorways.

If the redesigned emergency areas are successful and drivers find the changes beneficial, more orange emergency areas will be introduced across England’s network of smart motorways.

Urban Traffic Control

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • A revisited framework for ITS in Europe
    November 9, 2023
    Following the newly-adopted European Directive on ITS, Joost Vantomme of Ertico – ITS Europe, shares his insights on the legislation and its opportunities for the entire industry
    Read More
  • Venkat Sumantran: ‘Smart cities are more hype than reality’
    November 23, 2018
    For all the talk of smart cities, investment in systems lags significantly behind organic expansion in most places. Andrew Stone talks to Venkat Sumantran, who has been looking at how to create a coherent framework which could help authorities answer multiple mobility questions Two megatrends are posing unprecedented challenges to those trying to keep people moving around the world’s urban areas now - and in the years and decades to come. The first is rapid urbanisation. One in six of us lived in urban a
    Read More
  • Data goldmines offer rich pickings
    May 31, 2013
    Astronomical is not too grand a term to describe the current rate of growth in transportation-related data. Massive amounts of traffic related information, such as speed, volume, incidents and weather are being generated every second by road operators and users alike. Big data’ derives its name from the sheer amount and complexity of available raw data. Its potential value is starting to emerge among the intelligent transportation systems community. A gold rush is taking place to capture this value, with da
    Read More
  • Report shows Oslo, London and Amsterdam lead ‘green’ cities ranking
    April 28, 2017
    London-based Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) has presented its ranking of 35 ‘green’ cities, sponsored by smartphone chip maker Qualcomm. The report ranks 35 global cities based on their level of progress towards achieving this goal, finding that:
    Read More

Highlighted Content