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Transportation Secretary Mark Harper has denied restoring hard shoulders to existing smart highways, arguing that it would reduce the capacity of the road network and “increase casualties.”
The government announced on Monday that it would scrap plans for new smart highways at 14 sites across the UK, citing cost pressures and a lack of public confidence in the technology.
However, the 375 miles of existing smart highways and projects already under construction will not be scrapped and will instead be operated with increased investment in safe areas and public education.
Appearing before the Commons Transport Commission, Mr Harper said he was told by Conservative MP Greg Smith that some of the “cash savings to taxpayers” by not completing the 14 new segments of the Smart Highway would be ” Can you spend your tough shoulders getting back on those legs?” It’s already built.”
But the Secretary of Transportation has denied carrying a hard label on existing smart highways, arguing the government must strike a “balance” between the technology’s safety record and recognizing public concerns. Did.
“If you want to bring back the hard shoulder but keep the highway network capacity, you can’t do that by just turning on the red X” Not used.
“Of course, removing that lane would reduce capacity, so putting that capacity in would require a lot of investment. And you’re actually going to increase the number of casualties, and that’s not right. I think.”
Harper also defended the safety record of smart highways, arguing that they are “the safest roads in the strategic road network.”
“They are safer than conventional highways and somewhat safer than A roads,” he continued.
“However, it is also true that this is not reflected in public trust, and there are a significant number of citizens who are not confident in using smart highways.
I first revealed two weeks ago that it would not build a new smart highway as part of the £3 billion project. This means that the rest of the road plans for Greater Manchester, Pennines and London have been shelved.
About 10% of the UK motorway network consists of smart motorways. Smart highways are shoulderless and rely on technology to detect broken vehicles and close affected lanes.
But campaigners are calling for this type of road to be scrapped over concerns it has been linked to as many as 79 fatalities.