Smart motorways (formerly known as managed motorways) are a technology-driven approach to the use of our motorways; they increase capacity and relieve congestion while maintaining safety. Smart motorways help make journey times more reliable, as the hard shoulder is used for traffic – either permanently or at peak times – and this creates an extra lane to provide additional capacity.

The reputation preceding Longdin & Browning [Malcolm Hughes], along with their longstanding experience, make them a preferred choice for contractors and designers resourcing survey work in a motorway environment, and the Malcolm Hughes team was selected to survey the M62 verge from junction 20 to 25, the section that crosses the Pennines between Lancashire and Yorkshire.

A topographical survey from highway fence to highway fence was completed in 2009 for smart motorways using our patented Clear Cone+ service and land survey for verges. Clear Cone+ provided height accuracies on the carriageway of +/-5mm.

The manpower available within the combined survey business allowed us to deploy five survey teams simultaneously and complete the 32-kilometre survey within two weeks, meeting the client’s deadlines. Future projects may require 10 survey teams to be deployed and we are now unique in having the capacity to meet this demanding challenge – can we help with your motorway project and assist in the change to active traffic management? Get in touch today for more information.