Schemes to increase road capacity on critical stretches of the M1 and A1 in the north of England have reached significant milestones this week.

Costain is set to start work immediately to upgrade parts of the M1 near Sheffield to ‘Smart Motorway’ after it was awarded contracts worth £125M by the Highways Agency.

The contractor will convert sections between junction 28 and 31 and from junction 32 to 35a by turning the motorway’s hard shoulder into a permanent running lane.

Work is expected to complete in early 2017 and will also involve installation of a number of cameras, information signs and signals on gantries.

Highways Agency project manager Andy Kirk said: “These stretches of the M1 are vital strategic links. At their peak both stretches can collectively carry over 200,000 vehicles per day, which has meant that congestion and delay are serious problems in these areas.”

Meanwhile on the A1 work has got under way on a £61M project to increase lane capacity on a 6.5km stretch of the A1 near Gateshead from two to three lanes in each direction.

Roads Minister John Hayes marked the start of work on the Coal House to Metro Centre improvement scheme by taking part in a turf cutting ceremony.

There will also be new parallel link roads between the Lobley Hill and Gateshead Quay (A184) junctions to cut congestion. The scheme is expected to be fully open to traffic in spring 2016.

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