M23 smart motorway ‘will not open’ until safety checks are made

The new motorway - being expanded from three lanes to four by incorporating the hard shoulder - was due to open next month.

But now - following safety fears over smart motorways after the deaths of 38 people - Highways England says that the M23 smart section will not open until new checks have been carried out.

It follows an announcement from Transport Secretary Grant Shapps last week that four stretches of motorway currently being converted - including the M23 - ‘will not be opening’ until a safety review is complete.

The roads are built with emergency refuge areas although some of those are more than two miles apart. Some broken-down cars have been left stranded in the path of fast-moving traffic.

Motoring groups, police and MPs have described the roads as ‘death traps.’

A spokesman for Highways England said the construction of the M23 motorway scheme would continue but that it would not open until the outcome of a safety review was known.

He said: “The Transport Secretary has asked the Department for Transport to carry out, at pace, an evidence stocktake to gather the facts about smart motorway safety.

“We are committed to safety and are supporting the Department in its work on this.”

Work on an 11-mile stretch of the M23 between Merstham and Crawley started in 2018 and the road was due to open this spring.

Drivers have faced lengthy delays, particularly around Gatwick Airport, during the works which have seen overnight closures of the road.