Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to extend the use of smart motorways; and what criteria will be used to assess the safety and operational efficiency of the existing smart motorways.

The Government is increasing road capacity as outlined in the Road Investment Strategy (RIS) for 2015 to 2020 and includes the ongoing conversion of the motorway hard shoulder into a running lane, known as the Smart Motorways. Following construction, all smart motorway schemes are monitored to assess their safety and operational performance by measuring changes in journey times, congestion and journey time reliability, as well as safety figures.

England’s motorways are among the safest roads in the world and Highways England is confident that smart motorways will maintain this. On sections of the most recently completed schemes on the M25, the monitoring shows that collision and casualty rates are down, congestion is reduced and there are fewer unexpected delays.