Lights to ease slip road congestion

Traffic lights are to be installed on motorway slip roads near Cannock to try to ease congestion.

The lights will be installed on the northbound entry slip road at Junction 12.

The aim is to regulate the numbers of cars joining the motorway at busy times. Work starts on Monday and motorists are being warned to avoid the slip road for five nights. Highways bosses say the move will improve traffic flow and is part of an £18 million project at 70 sites across the motorway network. The system is expected to go live in April.

The Highways Agency says congestion can be caused near junctions when vehicles attempt to join from the slip road when there is already heavy traffic on the motorway.

The lights release just a few vehicles at a time and the lights prevent merging and motorway traffic from forming a bottleneck.

Sensors in the road monitor the congestion and adjust the timing of the lights. Slip road is also monitored to minimise queues .

The system has been successfully used on motorways in parts of the Midlands and the North where it has been shown to reduce congestion and improve journey times by up to nine per cent.

Drivers are being told to avoid the slip road between 9.30pm and 5.30am from Monday to Friday next week.

During the works motorists wanting to join the M6 northbound will be diverted southbound to Junction 11, where they can join the M6 there.

Ongoing work at Junction 12 is planned until March 23, including proposed safety tests from February 26 to March 12, with one-lane closures at various times.

Andrew Blenkinsop from the Highways Agency, said: "We have seen the system work well where it has already been implemented on other parts of the motorway network.

"Motorists joining the motorway may have a few seconds delay at the slip road lights, but there will be an overall benefit for all motorway users."