Have your say on M62 hard shoulder plan (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Have your say on M62 hard shoulder plan

3:52pm Monday 6th July 2009 in

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Consultation is due to get under way on a controversial plan to ease congestion on the M62 by allowing vehicles to use the hard shoulder.

The Highways Agency aims to improve journey times between junctions 25 at Brighouse and 30 at Rothwell by introducing a ‘Managed Motorway’ solution. The plan would increase capacity by allowing vehicles to run on the hard shoulder, either permanently or just at busy times.

Refuge areas would be spaced at 800-metre intervals to provide a place to stop in case of an emergency or breakdown.

But the proposal has been criticised by Bradford haul-age and demolition entrepreneur Thomas Crompton, whose company operates 67 vehicles. He said the plan would put his drivers and other motorists at greater risk by removing the “safe haven” of the hard shoulder.

“The traffic problem is just going to get worse on the M62 but it needs to be addressed properly, not through a penny-pinching scheme like this,” said Mr Crompton.

He pointed to a string of serious accidents on the M62 in recent months and said people’s safety would be jeopardised if emergency vehicles could not have a clear run to attend incidents.

Previous studies by the Highways Agency have revealed that full four-lane widening of the M62 would be very costly because it would require extensive earthworks and land-take, bridge alterations and full-verge construction.

Highway chiefs believe the preferred solution of a Managed Motorway scheme with hard-shoulder running would make best use of existing infrastructure and bring many of the benefits of motorway widening at a lower cost, requiring no extra land-take.

Trials of the scheme on the M42 near Birmingham have demonstrated a reduction in noise and air pollution.

A free-flowing link connecting the M62 westbound to the M606 towards Bradford could be implemented later, subject to a more detailed assessment and funds availability.

Work on the scheme is due to start in October 2010 and be complete by December 2012. The consultation will take place at Cleckheaton Library, in Whitcliffe Road, from 11am to 8pm on Friday, July 17, and from 11am to 4pm on Saturday, July 18.