M4 and M5 managed motorways

Balfour Beatty engaged VGC to provide scaffolders and general construction operatives to support its contract works on this improvement scheme. Much of VGC’s work was related to installing the foundations for the large gantries required to span the motorway.

The gantries carry cameras, information signs and signals which direct traffic into the appropriate lanes, and vary speed limits as traffic levels change.

This ‘managed motorway’ approach aims to deliver increased capacity and reduce congestion.This approach will improve traffic flow on the M4 between junctions 19 and 20, and on the M5 between junctions 15 and 17. The Highways Agency awarded Balfour Beatty the £77 miilion contract to undertake this work in 2011.

Managed motorways help relieve congestion by using technology to vary speed limits. They also allow the hard shoulder to be used as a running lane at peak times to create additional capacity. They deliver these benefits at a significantly lower cost than conventional motorway widening and with less impact on the environment during construction.