* and as we’ve repeatedly highlighted, none of this additional cost and delays will allow emergency vehicles though 4 lanes of stuck traffic (Note: most of our motorways are too narrow to do the all-pull-to-the-side-and-create-path manoeuvre) *
A major upgrade to install emergency refuge areas on the next stretch of the M1 motorway is about to get underway, with works set to take a whole year. Motorists will face significant disruption when work gets underway to add the areas between junction 30 for Barlborough and junction 31 for Aston on Monday, January 15.
The stretch of motorway is a so-called ‘smart motorway‘, where there is an active lane of traffic instead of a hard shoulder. The government announced in April that it would stop building smart motorways but many grieving families across the country have voiced strong concerns about the safety of those already in place.
Nottinghamshire Live backs those families and says the government has not gone far enough, and that hard shoulders should be reinstated on all smart motorways. We have covered inquests, family tributes and political responses to the matter and launched our campaign last year.
full article here