Lights out on sections of UK motorway network

Motorway lighting along a section of the M6 in Lancashire in the UK will be switched off between midnight and 5am in a move to reduce energy costs, carbon emissions, and light pollution, the Highways Agency has announced.
January 31, 2012 Read time: 2 mins

Motorway lighting along a section of the M6 in Lancashire in the UK will be switched off between midnight and 5am in a move to reduce energy costs, carbon emissions, and light pollution, the 503 Highways Agency has announced. The motorway junctions and their approaches will remain lit.

This stretch of the motorway has a good safety record and a low traffic flow between midnight and 5am which is why it has been chosen as the latest site for the Highways Agency's national programme of switch-offs.

Targeted switch-offs have been successfully delivered in other parts of the country including along stretches of the motorway network in Kent, Berkshire, Hampshire, Devon and Avon and Somerset.
"This is the seventh site in England and we expect it to work as successfully as everywhere else, achieving up to a 40 per cent saving in carbon emissions and energy use as well as giving local communities reduced light pollution of the night sky,” said Andy Withington, the Highways Agency's performance manager for south Lancashire.

Timing devices at the roadside will control when the lights switch off and on again. The Highways Agency's Regional Control Centre near Junction 23 of the M6 at Newton-le-Willows, can override the mechanism if needed.

Related Content

  • Dynamic charging boosts electric vehicles’ potential
    December 16, 2014
    With an increasing need to use electric vehicles in city centres to reduce pollution, David Crawford looks at various solutions to power delivery. The UN’s September 2014 Climate Summit has added fresh momentum to the drive to increase urban electric vehicle (EV) takeup. It has launched the Urban Electric Mobility Initiative, which wants to see EVs accounting for 30% of all urban travel by 2030, and make cities worldwide more friendly to their use. Encouragingly, the plan is being well supported by commerci
    Read More
  • EU support for rail improvements in the UK to bring faster travel times
    December 12, 2012
    The European Union is to co-finance a project to electrify a 58 km section of British rail infrastructure with US$6.5 million from the TEN-T Programme. The project, which was selected for funding under the 2011 TEN-T Annual Call, is part of the Railway/road axis Ireland/United Kingdom/continental Europe TEN-T Priority Project 26, and will bring considerable benefits to rail traffic in the area. The project consists of the works necessary to install a 25kV AC overhead electrification line on a 58 km single
    Read More
  • From coast to coast: US states embrace automated enforcement for safer roads, says Verra Mobility
    September 12, 2023
    The concept of Vision Zero has hit a pothole in the US – but there is hope for a safer future, says Jon Baldwin, executive vice president, government solutions, at Verra Mobility
    Read More
  • IAM calls for greater education for smart motorway users
    April 14, 2015
    As smart motorways reach their first birthday in the UK this week, the Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM) has expressed concern that widespread confusion still exists amongst motorway users on how best to use them. Smart motorways were officially introduced this time last year to replace Managed Motorways as the solution to the nation’s congested motorways but concerns have been raised over their safety. England’s first all-lane running motorway, i.e. without a hard shoulder, opened on the 2.5 km
    Read More

Highlighted Content