Most of England’s smart motorways are poor value for money, official reports find

The Guardian - World NewsEN 3 min read 100% complete by Gwyn Topham Transport correspondentFebruary 6, 2026 at 02:48 PM

AI Summary

medium article 3 min

Official government reports have revealed that most of England's smart motorway schemes, implemented from 2013 to increase capacity by converting hard shoulders into live lanes, are poor or very poor value for money. National Highways evaluated 11 schemes across the M1, M4, M6, and M25 over a five-year period, finding that only two were rated positively in terms of financial assessment. The £2.3 billion project (at 2010 prices) has faced lower-than-expected traffic growth and slower traffic speeds, impacting its overall value. While National Highways maintains the schemes are generally safe and have mostly met safety objectives, some sections showed a slight increase in fatalities and serious injuries. The reports, completed between 2017 and 2019, were only recently released by the Department for Transport.

Key Entities & Roles

Key Player Opposition Context

M3 30% Elliot Shaw 40% AA 50% M1 ×260% M4 60% M6 60% M25 60% Department for Transport (DfT) ×270% National Highways ×480% United Kingdom ×290%

Keywords

smart motorways 100% value for money 90% national highways 70% road safety 60% motorway schemes 50% traffic management 50% traffic growth 40% hard shoulder 40%

Sentiment Analysis

Negative

Score: -0.40

Source Transparency

Source

The Guardian - World News

Classification Confidence

90%

Geographic Perspective

England

This article was automatically classified using rule-based analysis.

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smart motorways value for money national highways road safety motorway schemes traffic management traffic growth hard shoulder

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