PRESS RELEASE

After years of sitting on the data, the government yesterday (5 February 2026) finally released 16 evaluation reports¹ which show that the much feared ‘smart’ motorways² have been a costly failure³. TAN is calling for all ‘smart’ motorways to have a hard shoulder reinstated and turned into controlled motorways instead⁴.

The findings of the reports show that:

• Of the 11 five-year after opening reports (those with the most data), nine of them (82%) showed that journey time savings were significantly worse than predicted
• Most had cost the economy money, rather than generating economic benefits
• On safety the results were mixed

What the reports fail to show is:

• Comprehensive figures for people killed or seriously injured to match National Highways key performance indicator; to be able to judge the real life impact of the schemes
• Whether the ‘smart’ motorways met the standard for the frequency of emergency refuges. There are concerns that despite a retrofit, many ‘smart’ motorways still have refuges spaced too far apart
• There was no scrutiny of whether the in lane collisions and casualties had increased in the new schemes⁵

Chris Todd said:

“No wonder government ministers wanted to sit on these reports. They are a damning indictment of National Highways’ ‘smart’ motorway programme. They demonstrate that the traffic projections used to justify building these bigger roads are not worth the paper they are printed on.

“They have cost the economy dear, while increasing the danger for people who are unfortunate enough to break down in a live lane. Despite these woeful results, the government is hell-bent on building more of these much feared roads. The Lower Thames Crossing is being built to ‘smart’ motorway standards, with no hard shoulder and the same restrictions as motorways. No amount of denial by ministers will change the reality. As the saying goes: if it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck.”

– ENDS –

Notes to editors:

1. Every time a new road project is completed, Post Opening Project Evaluation (POPE) reports are written after one and then after five years. They look at whether a scheme fulfilled its objectives to cut journey times, ease congestion and increase safety, and provide value for money. POPE reports are on National Highways’ website ↩︎
2. ‘Smart’ motorway anxiety doubles in a year, press release from The AA published on 3 February 2026 about polling of 12,705 AA members ↩︎
3. TAN has gone through all 16 of the POPE studies published yesterday, and put all the key information on safety and time savings in a spreadsheet available on our website. ↩︎
4. Controlled motorways are like traditional motorways in layout, with a hard shoulder, but have vehicle detection technology and variable speed limits. ↩︎
5. “…whilst stopped vehicle collision rates range from 2.7% for controlled motorways, 2.99% for conventional motorways, 3.6% on DHS and 5.5% for ALR”. From Road Safety Factsheet: Smart motorways, RoSPA, February 2024 ↩︎

TAN’s previous articles and work on ‘smart’ motorways:

Un-SMART Motorways, January 2020

Shapps fails to halt killer motorways, February 2021

TAN’s evidence to the Transport Committee’s inquiry on Smart Motorways, April 2021

‘Smart’ Motorways need proper scrutiny, May 2021

TAN’s statement on Smart Motorways announcement, January 2022

Rethinking ‘Smart’ Motorways, February 2022

Letter to Roads Minister Baroness Vere, February 2022

Demand for transparency on Smart Motorways, November 2025

DfT hiding the truth about ‘smart’ motorways, February 2026