£280,000 New Year’s Congestion Relief from Gates Scheme
The Highways Agency is riding to the rescue of drivers stuck in long queues behind serious incidents across the North West.
A-one+, the Highways Agency’s main contractor in Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Merseyside and south Lancashire, is launching a three month programme in the New Year to install seven special gates between key junctions along the M6 and M56.
The special, 16 metre, emergency crossover gates are designed to allow quick and easy access between carriageways otherwise protected by the continuous central reservation barrier.
The gates will be used to free ‘trapped traffic’ when major incidents block a carriageway, potentially causing hours of delays for drivers stuck behind the incident.
In the event of a carriageway along the M6 or M56 being blocked the gates can be opened and traffic can be turned around and away from the incident using one or two lanes along the opposite carriageway.
At previous major incidents the Highways Agency has taken a decision to cut the central barrier but that can be time-consuming and also relies on there being some kind of hard standing across the central reservation to prevent larger vehicles from sinking and getting stuck.
When traffic is turned around in such incidents the lanes being used are coned off from the rest of the carriageway to allow turning traffic to merge safely further along with the vehicles already on the open carriageway.
The first of the seven new gates will be fitted next month along the M6 between Standish and Leyland – junctions 27 and 28 – in Lancashire. The whole programme is due to be completed in March. Lancashire.The whole programme is due to be completed in March.
The stretches of the M56 and M6 between junctions have been chosen because of the comparative ease of installation in the locations but also because they are areas where there has been a high number of incidents causing congestion.
The gates are being installed at the following locations:
· M6 – between junctions 27-28 (a distance of approximately eight miles) one gate
· M6 – between junctions 16 and 17 (eight miles) Barthomley to Sandbach, one gate.
· M6 – between junctions 18 and 19 (eight miles), Holmes Chapel to Knutsford, two gates
· M6 – between junctions 19 and 20 (nine miles), Knutsford to Lymm, one gate
· M56 – between junctions 6 and 7 (two miles), Hale Barns to Bowdon, one gate.
· M56 – between junctions 12 and 14(about seven miles), Runcorn to Hapsford, one gate.
The schemes in Cheshire, south Lancashire and Greater Manchester, follow a programme in the north of the region to install gates on the M55, A66 and M6 in Cumbria and north
Lancashire where there are long distances between junctions making it hard to simply turn round traffic on the same carriageway. Gates are also being considered for other parts of the region’s motorway network such as the M60. Lancashire where there are long distances between junctions making it hard to simply turn round traffic on the same carriageway.Gates are also being considered for other parts of the region’s motorway network such as the M60.
Andy Withington, Highways Agency Area Performance Manager for Cheshire, Merseyside, Greater Manchester and south Lancashire, said:“We are always looking at ways in which we can minimise the impact of major incidents on drivers.
“Obviously, we work hard to advise drivers when there has been a major incident so they can delay their journeys or take an alternative route.
“However, some drivers are unlucky enough to get caught behind incidents and that causes a whole range of challenges for us in terms of traffic management and driver and passenger welfare. These new gates will give us one more weapon in our battle against congestion and driver delays.”
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