Balfour Beatty Civil Engineering Ltd

M4/M5 Managed Motorway

The M4/M5 is a major crossroads which provides a strategic link between London, Wales, the South West and the Midlands, carrying over 140,000 vehicles per day. The motorway serves a vital part of the local and regional transport infrastructure.

Work is required on the M4/M5 to relieve heavy congestion, unpredictable journey times and higher than average accident rates. Managed motorway is being used to deliver the benefits of increased motorway capacity and reduced congestion on the M4/M5 at a significantly lower cost and with less impact on the environment during construction than conversional motorway widening.

The scheme involves the installation of 32 super-span gantries between junctions 19-20 of the M4 and  junctions 15-17 of the M5. These will house 196 electronic signs which will be used to inform drivers of the speed limit and lane use during peak traffic periods.

Construction works will take place within the confines of the hard shoulder, creating a high risk working environment of close people and plant interface alongside the live carriageway.

In addition to gantry installations, 7 Emergency Refuge Areas (ERA) will be constructed in the absence of the hard shoulder for drivers who breakdown when the managed motorway system is in use. 111 gantry-mounted CCTV cameras and loop sensors beneath the road surface will be used for incident detection, as well as monitoring traffic flow and speeds.

Innovative 3D modelling technology was used for early stakeholder engagement activities prior to the commencement of construction and has been integrated into on-site logistics planning and traffic management coordination to maximise road worker safety.

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