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Smart motorway Stopped Vehicle Detection (SVD) cameras will be installed on the M20 in Kent as part of the government’s bid to improve safety on the roads. However, it has taken almost a year for the important safety tool to be installed on the road which was completed in April.
The tools will be installed between Junction 3 at the M26 merge near West Malling and Junction 5 for Aylesford.
Work will commence on January 4 2021 and will be completed around the end of March.
In a post on her Facebook page, MP Tracey Crouch welcomed the news of the new project in the New Year.
However, she said the new cameras were still not as good as a traditional hard shoulder adding there would be “some disruption” to the roads.
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She said: “I am pleased to say that I have now received notice that works to install the radar technology will begin the New Year.
“While I don’t believe this is anywhere near as good as a hard shoulder, no ‘smart motorway’ in my view should be operational without them.
“There will be some disruption to the network and, I am afraid, to constituents alongside the motorway as they are installed.
“I know you have suffered enormously from years of continuous overnight works and this will inevitably be distressing to hear of yet more works.
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“But they have explained some of the mitigating actions they will be taking and I will hold them to account on this.”
Ms Crouch added she continued to receive emails from residents who find the new smart motorway “incredibly daunting”.
The government’s Smart Motorway stocktake published earlier this year reveals the need to “substantially speed up” the deployment of SVD systems.
The report said this was important to ensure stopped vehicles could be detected so lanes could be “closed more quickly”.
The Department for Transport (DfT) says the tool can detect cars in around 20 seconds and can automatically alert a control room operator.
This will then allow operators to close lanes and dispatch on-road officers to attend the incident within minutes of a car breaking down.
Highways England has been asked to install the new SVD technology on all-lane running schemes within 36 months.
Motorways where the hard shoulder has been converted to a running lane are expected to have the new technology implemented by March 2023.
Roads which were completed in 2020 are the first to receive the new technology as standard.
The tools were already trialled on two sections of smart motorway on the M25 before a wider rollout was considered.
However, Highways England warns confusion surrounding the Brexit transition period could scupper plans to roll out the new tools in Kent at all.
They said their priority was to keep Kent moving and reduce disruption over the first weeks in January.
A Highways England spokesperson said: “Although the work to install stopped vehicle detection on the M20 in Kent is scheduled to start on Monday, January 4 we stand ready to change our plans, depending on the changing situation in Kent.
“The work is planned to take place overnight only and to be completed by the end of March 2021.”
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