This article is about a motorway scheme used in the United Kingdom. For other countries, see active traffic management.
A control room for the M25 J5-7 Smart Motorways scheme, 2014
A smart motorway (formerly managed motorway and active traffic management), also known in Scotland as an intelligent transport system, is a section of motorway in the United Kingdom (primarily in England) that employs active traffic management (ATM) techniques to increase capacity through the use of MIDAS technology including variable speed limits and occasionally hard shoulder running and ramp metering at busy times. They were developed at the turn of the 21st century as a cost-effective alternative to traditional carriageway widening, with intended benefits ranging from more reliable journey times to lower vehicle emissions.[1][2][3] However, despite the risk of a collision occurring between two moving vehicles being found to be decreased, there has been an acknowledged rise in the incidence of collisions involving vehicles where at least one was stationary in the first few years following the widespread removal of the hard shoulder on the country's busiest sections of motorway.[4] Smart motorways garnered intense criticism from politicians, police representatives and motoring organisations, particularly from 2020 onwards, after a surge in near miss incidents and dozens of fatalities were revealed,[5][6] and as of April 2023, no new smart motorways will be built.[7]
The term controlled motorway is sometimes used for schemes that use variable speed limits without hard-shoulder running (for example, the M25 motorway between junction 27 and junction 30).
^"M20 Junctions 4 - 7 Controlled Motorways". Archived from the original on 10 August 2012.
^"Highways England - Our Road Network". Archived from the original on 24 December 2012.
^Cite error: The named reference Active Traffic Management was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Cite error: The named reference :0 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^"38 killed on smart motorways in last five years". BBC News. 26 January 2020. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
^Allen, James (29 January 2020). "Smart motorways labelled death traps by Police Federation chairman". The Sunday Times Driving. Sunday Times Driving Limited. Retrieved 8 April 2021.
^"All new smart motorways scrapped". GOV.UK. Retrieved 15 April 2023.
A smartmotorway (formerly managed motorway and active traffic management), also known in Scotland as an intelligent transport system, is a section of...
converted to smartmotorways. It incorporated the Preston By-pass, the first length of motorway opened in the UK and forms part of a motorway "Backbone of...
The M4, originally the London-South Wales Motorway, is a motorway in the United Kingdom running from west London to southwest Wales. The English section...
that, despite being converted to SmartMotorway status, the lights will be switched off on stretches of the motorway between junctions 10 (Luton) and...
January 2020 all smartmotorway projects were put under review due to concerns about their safety, during this period no new smartmotorways could open. The...
to traffic management schemes that include variable speed limit and smartmotorway. Since opening, the M25 has been progressively widened, particularly...
tunnel, the stormwater tunnel and motorway tunnel. It is the longest multi-purpose tunnel in the world. In 2011, the SMART tunnel received the UN Habitat...
The M62 is a 107-mile-long (172 km) west–east trans-Pennine motorway in Northern England, connecting Liverpool and Hull via Manchester, Bradford, Leeds...
work began to convert the section between junctions 11 and 4 to a smartmotorway. The scheme will turn the hard shoulder into a permanent fourth running...
The M56 motorway serves the Cheshire and Greater Manchester areas of England. It runs east to west from junction 4 of the M60 at Gatley, south of Manchester...
Authority – Committed to Excellence". Retrieved 2020-10-24. "Pakistan's smartmotorways strength for regional connectivity". Global Village Space. 2021-10-12...
message signs and advisory speed limits (or mandatory speed limits on smartmotorways) with little human intervention. Companies such as RAC, TomTom and...
Double Tracking Project and the Stormwater Management and Road Tunnel (SMART) motorway, the first-of-its-kind dual-purpose tunnel in the world. MMC is the...
each direction or some motorways are 3 or 4 lanes in each direction with smartmotorway features. The speed limit of motorways through a settlement is...
the motorway along the length of the viaduct was converted to a smartmotorway system, with variable speed limits. "The Motorway Archive". Motorway Archive...
under the maintenance of Cheshire East Council. M6 Junctions 16-19: SmartMotorway: Highways England are preparing to convert the hard shoulder to a permanent...
The M20 is a motorway in Kent, England. It follows on from the A20 at Swanley, meeting the M25, and continuing on to Folkestone, providing a link to the...
corner of the town. The stretch of the motorway through the Borough of Surrey Heath was upgraded to a smartmotorway in 2017. The other major roads in the...
pedestrian movements, variable lane control (such as tidal flow systems or smartmotorways), and railway level crossings. The first system of traffic signals...
Active traffic management (also managed lanes, smart lanes, managed/smartmotorways) is a method of increasing peak capacity and smoothing traffic flows...
The M26 is a motorway in Kent, England. It is a short link between the M25 at Sevenoaks and the M20 near West Malling, which provides connectivity between...
Memorandum". GOV.UK. Retrieved 14 May 2022. "The M4 Motorway (Junctions 3 to 12) (SmartMotorway) Development Consent Order 2016". legislation.gov.uk...
The Gateway Motorway (M2 to Eight Mile Plains and M1 to Pine River) is a major tolled motorway in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia which includes the Sir...
Global Information