Superspan gantries arrive on M62 for smart motorway project

More superspan gantries will be installed crossing the whole section of the M60 and M62 Manchester.

Over June, three giant overhead gantries will be installed by contractors for Highways England, which will carry messages and variable speed limit signs.

The gantries will be erected across the M62, between junction 10 at Heywood and junction 20 at Rochdale, spanning both the eastbound and westbound carriages of the motorway. At 59 metres wide, and weighing up to 78 tonnes, they will require a special 500 tonne crane to help install them.

The motorway will be closed along the M62 in both directions from 10pm to 6am, on Thursday 2 and Friday 3 June.

In addition to overnight closures, there is a programme of night closures for maintenance work, and for the installation of supporting pillars for roadside electronic signs.

The smart motorway scheme, between junction 8 of the M60 near Sale and junction 20 of the M62, will see the latest technology being used to monitor traffic levels and keep vehicles moving by using variable speed limits.

The hard shoulder will also be permanently converted into an extra lane to increase capacity between junctions 18 and 20 on the M62.

Highways England Project Manager Stef Wilson said: “We started work on installing the new gantries last month and it’s going smoothly. It’s a very big job that calls for night closures in both directions, but then they’re very big structures. You really get a sense of their size when they are on the ground waiting to go up.

“We’re in quite an intensive phase of the project just now with a programme of overnight closures, so it’s important for people who use the motorway at night to plan their journeys.”

The smart motorway scheme is due to be completed by autumn, and see around 200 new electronic message signs on overhead gantries which will warn drivers of changes in the mandatory speed limit, lane closures and incidents ahead.

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