News | Smartmotorway


downsmail.co.uk A ‘smart’way to keep traffic


WORK is to be escalated this month on the scheme to turn a 6.5-mile stretch of the M20 into a ‘smartmotorway’.


Preliminary works have already


begun between junctions three and five of the motorway, from the Aylesford turn-off to theM26. Work will begin to change the


central reservation and ready the hard shoulder for full traffic use. The scheme means that the mo-


torway will be widened to four lanes, but the hard shoulderwill be removed, and there will be five emergency areas put in place in case of breakdowns. The planswere exhibited to resi-


dents in four nearby villages dur- ing early May, and received a mixed reception. Project manager Kaluba Kam-


pandilawas on hand to talk to res- idents at the exhibitions, and he explained that the scheme will im- prove congestion problems. He said: “Itmeans that therewill


be less congested than there was before and increased reliability in terms of journey times. “It will increase the capacity of


the motorway between junctions three and five without acquiring


Projectmanager Kaluba Kam- pandila, fourth fromleft, at one of the local exhi- bitions explaining how the smart motorway scheme for the M20 will work


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Smartmotorway |News on themove?


Safety first, as speed limits are enforced


DRIVERS are facing a period of long delays while the M20 smart motorway work is carried out. Speed limits between the two


junctions will be reduced to 50 miles an hour during the works, and this will be the case until the work is completed, which is esti- mated to be in 2020. Lanes will be narrowed during


more land. “In terms of journey reliability,


the statistics show that this is one of the hotspots in terms of being an areawhere there is no reliability in howlong it takes. “We are hoping with extra ca-


pacity added to the network the M20 will be able to contain the extra forecasted traffic and there will be a reliability in how long it takes to move between those junc- tions.” While that does not necessarily


mean that those journeys will be quicker, with enforced variable speed limits throughout, it should, Mr Kampandila insists make for a safer journey. “All the investigations show that


they work,” he added. “Particu- larly between junctions five and seven on the M25 and a stretch on theM42 between its junctionswith the M40 and M6, it’s proven that there is a benefit in going for this in addressing the problems of con- gestion.”


MPs call for quiet road surfacing to be laid


TWO local MPs have called for resurfacingwork to be carried out in order to make the new smart motorway on theM20 quieter. Tracey Crouch, the MP for


Chatham & Aylesford, and her Tonbridge &Malling counterpart Tom Tugendhat have urged for the noise to nearby properties to be considered. They have written to the chief


asking for the resurfacing to be carried out during the current works. The two MPs said: “Since


Highways England began works on the smart motorway between J3 and J5 of theM20, a number of trees have been cut down to allow for the construction of the project. “This will be mitigated by a


executive of Highways England very quiet road surface being laid


Fewoptions, but it’s a ‘reasonable effort’


TROTTISCLIFFE residents John Davies and Terry Hoban were among the first to see the plans – and they hadmixed views. Both men are now retired, but


have some background that gives themknowledge in the field. Mr Davies was an electronics en-


gineer,whileMrHobanworked for Shell Bitumen with an interest in low-noise resurfacing,which is part of the scheme. Mr Davies said: “Every night


there are queues of traffic along there, so something needs to be


4 Malling May 2018


Terry Hoban and John Davies think themotorway works will help ease congestion


done. “One important thing for us is the


noise, but I must admit we used to hearmore thanwe do now.” MrHoban added: “This is proba-


bly the only way we can do it so to reduce the density of the traffic. “As far as I’m concerned, this is


the best attempt to improve traffic flow and I think it should improve things. “Two of the lanes are being resur-


faced with a special quiet surface – of course, itwould be better to have them all done, but it’s a reasonable effort.”


on the carriageway. However, Highways England currently only plan to do part of the road, and not two of the four lanes. “That’swhywe havewritten to


their chief executive to ask for a rethink. It seems sensible to do all the laneswhile theworks are tak- ing place, particularly as the ex- isting surface is nearing the end of its useful life and the other lanes are being completed.”


What is a ‘smart- motorway’?


A SMARTmotorway is a section of motorway that is used to increase the capacity of cars on the road while also reducing congestion in particularly busy areas. It allows the use of hard shoul-


ders, and also has variable speed limits to control the amount of cars in one section. This method has been developed by Highways England tominimise environmen- tal impact, cost and time that would be required to build an extra lane on themotorway. Smart motorways have already


been implemented in a number of sites around the country. In April 2014, an eight-mile section of the M25, between junctions 23 and 25, became England’s first smart section of motorway with traffic running permanently on a new running lane. There are three different types


of smartmotorways: All lane running –When all lanes, including the hard shoulder, can be used. On these sections broken white lines between all lanes indi- cates that each lane has the same status (this is the J3 to J5 scheme). Controlledmotorway – The tradi- tionalmotorway optionwith three or more lanes open at variable speeds, and the hard shoulder can only be used in cases of genuine emergencies. Dynamic hard shoulder running – When the hard shoulder is opened for traffic to run down in very busy areas to try and ease the congestion. On these stretches a solid white line differentiates the hard shoulder from the normal carriageway. Overhead signs on gantries indicate whether hard shoulder is open to traffic.


the


the works, as the central reserva- tion is replaced to make it smaller and help enable themain carriage- way to bewidened,while the hard shoulder also needswork to enable it to withstand the volume of traf- fic. It will, project manager Kaluba


Kampandila admits, cause prob- lems for drivers. “Therewill be delays in the sense that the first thingwe’ll be doing is


‘It will be two years of hell’


“IT’S going to be two years of hell”. That’s the view of a taxi driver


who makes regular trips to London airports as the work on the smart motorway steps up. Jon Haynes, pictured, who works


for Sapphire Cars in Pudding Lane, Maidstone, frequently drives along the stretch of motorway being worked on, as well as the already completed scheme on the M25 to- wards Gatwick. “Does that bit of smartmotorway


really work? I don’t know,” he said. “The problemis there’s nowhere to gowhen there are breakdowns, and because of health and safety they always end up closing two lanes, which causesmore delays. “The roads are still busy and


they’re getting busier. The onlyway to fix it is tomake thembigger. “I often drive back from


Heathrow in themornings and you see people on the other side in 15 miles of queues, just to get to work. I don’t know how they do it.” During the works to fit new


gantries, change the central reser- vation andmake the hard shoulder fit for normal traffic, reduced speed limits will be in place between junc- tions three and five both ways. Ironically, in the mornings this is


the area where London-bound traf- fic usually starts to flow better, and


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having sat through the work on the M25, Jon knows what to expect. “The roadworks on theM25 were


two and a half years of carnage,” he said. “It was just stop-start all the way, and I hate the thought of it. “It’s going to be two years of hell


while they do this on theM20. “The thing is, we can’t change


howmuch we charge for an airport run. It’s a set price, and if it takes us longer, then we’re losing out on money.” MrHaynes also believes there are


problems elsewhere on the motor- way, which takes traffic fromFolke- stone all the way up to the capital. He added: “The slip road at Ayles-


ford (junctions six and five) isn’t being used for the purpose it should be any more. You’ve got people using that to try and avoid the queues on themain carriageway. “And then you have the speed


camera close to junction seven coastbound which is a source of frustration as you frequently go through there and the signs say 50mph, even though there’s no traffic around you and no queues ahead.”


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that we won’t be shutting the mo- torway, we will be maintaining three lanes of traffic,” he said. “The lanes will be narrowed from usual and in trying to maintain safety both for the peopleworking on the M20 and the travelling public, therewill be a reduced speed limit and we will be using enforceable speed cameras to make sure that people obey those speed limits. “So inevitably, there will be


longer journey times, but that’s all in the benefit of the safety of the public.” During these works, a low-noise


surface will be laid on these two lanes. In addition to this, barriers will be in place between junctions four and five, close to the more densely populated areas, to further offset the noise fromthemotorway.


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