A siimilar smart motorway scheme on a stretch of the M62 in West Yorkshire, which was completed in 2013, has resulted in commuters saving an average 30 minutes each week.
Copy pasted off the Manchester evening news.
All that to save 30 mins a week. Twice a day 5 days a week equates to 3 mins each commute. Worth the millions they spent?
But times that by the 100,000 commuters that will use that road will give a larger saving than you think. Plus there are the fuel savings and pollution reduction times 100,000 to consider.
Very rare now on a teatime to be static from J28 to 26 which used to be a regular occurrence.
Why would you cry about being given an extra lane? The mind boggles.
Wonder how long it’ll take to get back all the hours / days / weeks lost per regular commuter, van or truck over the time it took to make the motorway “smart”?
As for why complain - mostly because it takes years and millions of our taxes to do each stretch and the only night working they do is on little bits which causes miles of traffic jams at 2am (M1 J23 to 25 being classic example).
All of this so we can save supposedly 30 mins a day, presumably only applicable during rush hours until someone breaks down then its a jam again.
Then the patronising git on the radio advert says we should crawl to tiny layby which is only big enough for a car and break down there so as not to inconvenience Mr Audi. Its about as safe as parking on the hard shoulder for a 45 for RAC person.
Rant over - directed entirely at HM Gov transport bods and not supermultiblue, honest! 
I do get that about delays and costs etc but in that case why bother trying to improve anything? I mean once upon a time you used to have to “dial up” to the internet and use an actual computer. It worked so why bother with broadband, superfast broadband and 5G? It’s just an example.
Because broadband vs dialup improved things and actually speeded it up without really causing any noticeable problems. There really wasnt much of a loser in this.
Smart motorways just cost a lot to upgrade, cause massive disruption for years, make a few big companies rich and ultimately make very little useful difference to the majority.
This is before we have few big accidents involving no hard shoulder and it gets cancelled as a total failure. If they really wanted to me a difference, make all motorways 6 lanes.
Btw, i wouldnt bother with 5G either. 
trevHCS:
Because broadband vs dialup improved things and actually speeded it up without really causing any noticeable problems. There really wasnt much of a loser in this)
Really 
so when they dug up the road and foot path to lay new cable it didn’t affect anyone 
Conor:
Very rare now on a teatime to be static from J28 to 26 which used to be a regular occurrence.
I hate to admit it, but this is true ^ but only if the muppets in the HA office remember to switch on the hard shoulder running, which they often don’t 
. When the hard shoulder is on I can do White Rose to Chain Bar via Tingley at 4.30pm on a weekday in 20 mins . Pre-works that would have taken me the best part of an hour at that time of day.
The smart motorway on the m1 from jnc 28 north every Friday evening was at a standstill. Since its been complete its always been flowing at at least 50. Cant wait for it to be finished around east midlands. Wont be worried as much about getting home on a Friday.
I think that the fact that it’s a smart motorway means the square root of FA, the real difference has come from having an extra lane, simple as that.
Rob K:
Conor:
Very rare now on a teatime to be static from J28 to 26 which used to be a regular occurrence.I hate to admit it, but this is true ^ but only if the muppets in the HA office remember to switch on the hard shoulder running, which they often don’t
If I could trust them to do it in a remotely timely manner, I’d suggest they should reconfigure the M62 smart motorway so that it’s just ‘all lane running’ like the M1. The turning on & off of the hard shoulder just causes unnecessary hold ups like you mentioned & confusion - you often see people still running down the hard shoulder when it’s shut. It’s not idiot proof enough. Same applies to the M6 through Birmingham.
On the whole they don’t really work.
Nothing to do with the concept because they should work and make the flow of traffic a lot easier.
However when you put into the equation the knobheads who just turn it back into a 3 lane from a four lane by refusing to use the ‘new lane 1’ for whatever reasons, and just hog lanes of their choice, and add in the complete non policing of the system, it just becomes a waste of time and money, and a complete cluster ■■■■ of blocked lanes, undertaking and weaving, gaining absolutely nothing.
robroy:
However when you put into the equation the knobheads who just turn it back into a 3 lane from a four lane by refusing to use the ‘new lane 1’ for whatever reasons,
Which is why I sit in the new L1 almost having a lane entirely to myself to go breezing by them.
Conor:
robroy:
However when you put into the equation the knobheads who just turn it back into a 3 lane from a four lane by refusing to use the ‘new lane 1’ for whatever reasons,Which is why I sit in the new L1 almost having a lane entirely to myself to go breezing by them.
I do that ^^^ a lot. Especially on the M42 s/b south of Brum airport. It’s quite amusing to watch the morons I’m undertaking desperately closing the gap to the vehicle in front to stop me moving back out! Well I’ve got news for you you morons; I don’t want to be out, I’m going to continue in that lane for six or seven miles passing you all right up until the signs tell me to move back across! It’s called utilising all available lanes. 
All it is basically an under taking lane. I won’t be the 1st to admit I do it.
But it is dangerous at times though when as soon as you come up to where it starts you see business reps Bwm Audi drivers all pull over from lane 3 onto hard shoulder doing about 70 undertaking anyone.
I love slowing them down when see them trying to cut In and out to gain a car length or 2
mile or 2 of queue thanks to 2 ■■■■■■■■■ in the left and middle lanes going down the m6 on friday, its utter ■■■■■■■■ we cant use the outside lane, when they are both doing 45mph
If i wasn’t driving a labeled up unit and trailor, i’d happily use the outside lane!
tommymanc:
mile or 2 of queue thanks to 2 [zb] in the left and middle lanes going down the m6 on friday, its utter [zb] we cant use the outside lane, when they are both doing 45mphIf i wasn’t driving a labeled up unit and trailor, i’d happily use the outside lane!
October to December best time of the year with all the hired in white units and dark blue curtain-siders. I’m sure the nationwide call centres for Salford and Ryder will really give a [zb] when the Self-Appointed Road Police ring in to report you overtaking them in lane 3 at 56mph millimetres from touching their offside mirrors . Not that I’d know this, what with being a professional driver. Oh no no no, no siree.
Personally I suspect the real reason for the smart motorways was to give the bods in the HA control room a sense of power (think security bod at RDC but brighter). Now they have the ability to send all the traffic to 50mph on a totally empty motorway in the middle of the night and they know with all the speed cameras, there’s bugger all we can do about it.
Or if they feel like being really evil, they can do daft things like 40 → 50 → 20 → 50 → 40 → 60 → END along the gantries at 3am, which is a genuine example from M1 recently. Happens quite regularly especially passed Sheffield area so either someone is messing about or the automated system has developed intelligence (ie: Skynet is alive!).
how can it be better , it’s 40 / 50 / 40 / 60 and that’s when there ■■■■ all there , and as for all these doing miles & miles sailing past everyone there’s quite clearly warnings on the matrix telling you for jct x,Y,z so yes you might be able to fly along between jcts but you’ll still have to bully the car drivers over when you come to a jct on most smart motorways
think the best think for us morons in lane 1 is go into lane two so we’re farther away from the incompetent idiots who arnt capable of reading the warnings on the matrix signs 
and Connor you’ve lost me , one minute your doing 40 mph over the 66 now your flying by everyone on the hard shoulder ( supposed running lane )