Traffic lights on slip roads of the M60 will be switched on today in a bid to cut queues.
The lights – known as ‘ramp metering’ – will allow only a few cars to join the ring-road at a time.
They have been installed on clockwise carriageways at junctions 9,10 and 11 – Trafford the Trafford Centre and Barton – as well as junction 24 at Denton Island.
The lights will generally operate only during peak periods when the main motorway is particularly busy.
They will be subject to what highways chiefs call a 'period of adjustment and evaluation'. The software that controls the phasing on the lights will be 'fine-tuned' in coming weeks.
Ramp metering has already been used on a number of motorways in the north west, including junction 20 of the M62, north of Oldham, and junction 6 of the M56 near Hale Barns.
The Highways Agency claims motorway congestion is often the result of too many cars trying to join the carriageway at one time.
Allowing vehicles out in batches prevents them bunching together and forming a bottle-neck.
The ramp meters are controlled by sensors in the road that monitor congestion levels and adjusts the timing of the lights accordingly. Traffic on the slip road is also monitored.
Evidence suggests the system can cut journey times by up to nine per cent.
It is also used in other parts of Britain as well as countries like the United States, France and the Netherlands.
Keith Hill, technology manager at the Highways Agency, said: "This system is one of the innovative techniques being introduced to deal with congestion and journey time reliability by making the best use of our existing capacity.
The system will allow traffic to join the motorway more smoothly and safely.
"We have seen the system work well where it has already been implemented on other parts of the motorway network.
"Motorists joining the motorway may have a few seconds delay at the slip road lights, but there will be an overall benefit for all motorway users."
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They already have them on the M56 at sharston. They are on green for a few seconds. On each change several cars go through on red. I can't see they achieve anything
From what I've seen, the congestion in the clockwise direction around junctions 9, 10 & 11 is not caused by the traffic joining the motorway from these junctions, but the traffic joining the M60 from the M602 and the M62 at the Eccles Interchange, so putting traffic lights on these junctions is a terrible idea, as it will only clog up the smaller roads surrounding the motorway. Get rid!!!
Be interesting to see if this has an effect.
It's got to be worth a shot, hasn't it? Cheaper than new lanes! The junction with the A666 at Swinton has these and they do break up the queues to join the motorway when it's busy.Thing is, the problems at J9-J12 stem from J12 - traffic joining from the M62 and M602 creates the jam that backs up to J8/J9. So how will the lights help?!
It will just move the problem to another place, the A roads that service the motorway around the Peel Green roundabout.
The highways agency says that the congestion is caused by too many vehicles trying to get on the motorway at the same time.Well golly gosh 'a thing.
I really am amazed at the superior intellect of these guys at the highways agency.
When you planned the roads did you not think there would be vehicles using the motorway after all thats what it was built for.
"From what I've seen, the congestion in the clockwise direction around junctions 9, 10 & 11 is not caused by the traffic joining the motorway from these junctions, but the traffic joining the M60 from the M602 and the M62 at the Eccles Interchange, "
Most of that queue from the M602 onto the 60 is people who want to go eastbound but have to sit there with the larger number of cars going westbound.
You see them waiting until they feel confident enough to risk going down the hard shoulder. The lanes need rethinking, especially when you get idiots who have missed the queue and actually stop in the middle lane of the motorway.
This article seems very economical about where they are situated at the moment. They are on most of the junctions on the M56 around Wythenshawe, Sharston and Cheadle. They have been there for a few years now and create absolute chaos. They let one car through at a time as the sequence operates at the blink of an eye. They are supposed to be turned off when the traffic is flowing or at standstill but they are not. I get on the M56 at Cheadle in the morning and at Sharston in the evening and have been doing this route for 22 years and never had any problems until these lights were installed. They do not work and just create major traffic jams. Get rid of them.
A lot of congestion is caused by the "Centre Lane Owners Club."!
Those who plod along at 50mph in the middle lane when there is nothing on the inside lane.
Vehicles approaching in the first lane who wish to overtake the middle lane hoggers then have to move to the third lane , as undertaking is an offence.
This effectively makes a three lane motorway into a dual carriageway.
I’m not normally one for ranting about this kind of stuff – ultimately at peak time the issue is too many vehicles trying to use a finite amount of road space that can’t accommodate them all at the same time
but I agree with buzz
I think it might be worthwhile doing some proper investigation about what the effect of the army of ‘middle lane cruisers’ is on motorway capacity, traffic flow and journey times, and see if there might be a wider benefit to making not returning to the left hand lane within a reasonable distance a traffic offence.
I use junction 24 every day, won't this just back up traffic on to the already congested M67 & A57?
Do you know Buzz, I have travelled around the M60 (and M62 & 63 before that) for the best part of 40 years into and out of Trafford Park/Eccles and as the congestion got progressivley worse I always presumed that the Dept of Transport (as it was) deliberately "land-mined" the inside lane(s) or made them exclusive for me to use. My car never had a problem with the "mines" and I could travel up these empty lanes passing all the other slower drivers. Did someone say that passing on the inside is illegal? Just let one copper pull me over and I'll ask him/her why they have not booked every middle lane owner with "driving without due care and attention" - take me to court and get laughed at! That's of course if you ever see a motorway copper these days - policing on the cheap again with the "Highways Agency Patrol Drivers"
Barmy idea. The roads will be even busier, such as the bridge at Ashton under Lyne, which is already backed up a lot
See them in action every day on the M60 & M56 and they have very little if any effect, again the Highways Agency wasting taxpayers money.
Absolutely agree, "Judean People's Front...".
I recently drove many miles in Spain and almost everybody used the lanes correctly - move out, overtake, then straight back in - and, as a result, I could probably count on my fingers how many times I had to use the 3rd lane...and that was over the entire journey from Barcelona to Bilbao!
Were it made illegal, on a par with, say, tailgating (an Americanism I know, but I don't know of the English term) or undertaking I think we would see a significant decrease in all motorway and dual-carriageway travel times.
If people all drove at the same speed then nearly all traffic jams would be stopped. Its a concertina effect of speeding and slowing cars that makes a lot of traffic problems happen. This is a problem that might be slightly addressed by restricting the amount of cars joining the motorway at one time.
Or, you could have a better designed traffic flow system like the U.S. Instead of stopping traffic, they have exit and entry lanes on all types of road, so traffic entering or exiting a motorway or side street does not slow down the main traffic flow. In some situations, they even have entry and exit ramps on different sides, where traffic exits fron the slow lane and enters on the "fast" lane. That way, traffic getting on does not stop traffic getting off.
At rush hour each morning it already takes about 15 minutes to travel just over a mile on the A57 from Irlam to Peel Green roundabout at junction 11. I have never come across a situation where traffic is queueing to get on to the slip road or the actual motorway. These lights will surely just make this situation worse. the main problem is the Eccles interchange where the M602 and M62 merge into the M60. It is now also only a matter of time before the ridiculous arrangement of traffic lights at the Irlam gyratory on the A57 at Crossfield come into use which will make a dire situation even worse, as was witnessed when they were trialled for a few days earlier this year. Even Greater Manchester Urban Traffic Control Unit advised Salford council against this particular traffic management ploy as it is just not necessary. Do Salford Council have shares in the company that manufacturers these lights, or are they just hell bent on making the lives of motorists as miserable as possible.
What happened to opening laybuys? as highlighted last year? around busy areas, the breakdowns are now few and far between, and can make it onto the grass verge? It has to be the answer a free lane free to use, free to open at peak times, and cost almost nothing? Or what about a monorail like they have in other places like Dubai, get the public transport up in the air? what about restricting HGV's till 7pm till 7am? or tax them more for clogging up the lane in peak times?
' Allowing vehicles out in batches prevents them bunching together and forming a bottle-neck. ' ....is a contradictory statement !
why dont we adopt the American approach and stop people who travel alone entering the 2nd and 3rd lane..Its the lone drivers that clog up and cause the problems on the motorways!!!
yeah so more cars block up the roads going to the m60 well thats going to do lots of good really aint it more people stuck in traffic on the roads waiting to try get on the motorway what ever next