Roads poised for £6bn expansion

Drivers are to be allowed to use the M62’s hard shoulder between Oldham and Manchester as part of a £6bn Government boost for the country’s road network.

After telling the House of Commons that the third runway at Heathrow was to go ahead, Transport Secretary Geoff Hoon also outlined new plans for other parts of Britain’s transport infrastructure, designed to beat the credit crunch and secure jobs in the long term.

As well as hard shoulder running between the A627M Oldham link and the start of the M60 at Whitefield, the plans include adding a lane to the busiest mile of the clockwise M60 between junction 12 at the M602 junction and 15 where it meets the M61. Work is to start by March, 2012

It also includes starting the controversial hard shoulder running on the M62 between the Croft Interchange and the M602, the M60 between the Carrington spur and Whitefield, and the M6 between Croft and Orrell.

Mr Hoon said: “We have successfully and safely opened up the motorway hard shoulder on the M42 at busy times, giving us confidence that we can do the same elsewhere on the network.

This will deliver more reliable journey times and add a third more capacity — at a lower cost than a more conventional road-widening scheme, and with fewer environmental impacts. That is why I am announcing that this innovative technique will first be extended to the most congested sections of England’s motorways and in the longer term will be rolled out across the core motorway network linking our major cities.

“The investment package of up to £6bn that I have set out today will also fund more conventional widening projects as well as junction improvements and other innovative projects to tackle congestion.

“In the North-West, drivers will benefit from safe, faster and more reliable journeys as extra road capacity is added where it is most needed.”

The Tories say they will scrap Heathrow’s third runway and build the high speed line instead if they win the next election.