Skip to main content

Barnshaws’ curved steel post aids motorway traffic flow

UK company Barnshaws Metal Bending is supplying curved steel posts as part of a motorway sign designed to improve traffic flow on the UK’s new smart motorways. Smart motorways enable the hard shoulder to be used at peak times, creating a temporary fourth lane. Variable message signs (MS4) attached to the curved tubular steel post developed by Barnshaws display information for motorists, including when the hard shoulder is available for use. The design has resulted in faster installation of the signs
August 1, 2014 Read time: 1 min
UK company Barnshaws Metal Bending is supplying curved steel posts as part of a motorway sign designed to improve traffic flow on the UK’s new smart motorways.


Smart motorways enable the hard shoulder to be used at peak times, creating a temporary fourth lane.  Variable message signs (MS4) attached to the curved tubular steel post developed by Barnshaws display information for motorists, including when the hard shoulder is available for use.

The design has resulted in faster installation of the signs and less disruption to traffic during installation and maintenance.

Related Content

  • Ford demonstrates talking vehicles using LTE
    April 25, 2012
    Ford has demonstrated its latest advancements in vehicle-to-vehicle communications at the final CoCarX (Co-operative Cars Extended) research project presentation, further highlighting the viability of improving road safety and traffic management through the use of intelligent vehicles.
  • TomTom traffic index shows increase in UK congestion
    April 1, 2015
    TomTom’s today 5th annual Traffic Index, the barometer of traffic congestion in over 200 cities worldwide, reveals rising congestion levels around the globe In addition, for the first time, the Index took an in-depth look at the true impact of rush hour traffic on the work week, uncovering that evening rush hour nearly doubles the journey time for car commuters. The analysis of 12 trillion pieces of traffic data worldwide revealed that the evening rush hour is the most congested time of day. Traffic co
  • TomTom provides flexibility for Riyadh
    June 1, 2016
    With five years of traffic disruption ahead and an inadequate traffic monitoring system, the authorities in Riyadh needed a solution – and quickly. In preparation for embarking on what is currently the world’s largest metro construction project, the Arriyadh Development Authority (ADA) in Riyadh needed to put in place measures to minimise the additional congestion and travel delays the five-year project would inevitably cause.
  • ‘Free’ power for signs, shelters and so much more
    March 17, 2016
    David Crawford looks at the sunny side of the street. Solar power has been relatively slow in entering the transport sector, but a current blossoming of activity bodes well for the large-scale harnessing of an alternative energy that is zero-emission at source and, in practical terms, infinitely renewable. Traffic management and traveller information systems, and actual vehicles, are all emerging as areas for deployment. Meanwhile roads themselves are being viewed as new-style, fossil fuel-free ‘power stati