Concerns raised over plans for managed motorway for M25 in Enfield
10:00am Sunday 17th March 2013 in News By David Eggboro
Safety fears have been raised over plans to turn a busy section of the M25 that runs through Enfield into a 'managed motorway'.
Construction work on the £195m project began last month for the section of road from Junction 23 to 27 and is due to finish between October and December 2014.
Managed motorways increase capacity by using the hard shoulder as an additional driving lane to ease congestion.
The scheme is cheaper than widening the carriageway, but space for broken-down vehicles will be limited to lay-bys every 2kms.
Enfield Council's cabinet member for environment councillor Chris Bond, said: "We support the principle of extra capacity on the M25 because that will provide significant benefits for residents and businesses in the borough, but road safety is a more important consideration for us and we believe this scheme should be reconsidered."
The council believes there will be an increased risk of serious accidents and a hindrance to emergency service vehicles while drivers are using the hard shoulder.
Another concern highlighted centred on the decision to remove all the street lights from the section of motorway.
A Highways Agency spokesman said that following trials it had been decided that there were no safety issues.
A definitive decision has not yet been made on whether or not to remove the lighting.
The spokesman added that the cost of removing the lighting was unknown and that lighting will remain in tunnels and junctions.
