page_title: Shoulder (road)
section_title: Peak period use by all traffic
hierarchical_section_title: Shoulder (road) / Peak period use by all traffic
caption_attribution_description: English: M42 traffic management gantries Speed limits and instructions to use hard shoulder. This was an experiment that is to be replicated around the country including sections of the M1 near Sheffield.
context_page_description: A shoulder, or hard shoulder, is an emergency stopping lane by the verge of a road or motorway, on the right side in countries which drive on the right, and on the left side in countries which drive on the left. Many wider U.S. freeways have shoulders on both sides of each directional carriageway—in the median, as well as at the outer edges of the road, for additional safety. Shoulders are not intended for use by through traffic, although there are exceptions.
context_section_description: In the United Kingdom, usage of the hard shoulder is known as "hard shoulder running". A pilot project on an 11-mile stretch of the M42 motorway, near Birmingham, began in September 2006. Active traffic management with special signage, new turnouts (laybys) and a variable speed limit have been put in place to improve safety. This has proved very successful, with journey times decreasing by 26% northbound and 9% southbound. Drivers can also better predict their journey times as the variability decreased by 27%. The average accident rate dropped from 5.2 to 1.5 per month. It has also proved popular with motorists, 60% of whom want to see it expanded to other English motorways. This 'smart motorway' system has been expanded to the M6, M1 and M25, as well as parts of the M60 and M62.
  In the United States, on specially signed sections of highway in the Boston metro area, cars are allowed to use the shoulder as they would a normal lane during morning and evening rush hours. The same scheme is employed elsewhere, such as on Interstate 580 in California on the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge, on Interstate 66 in Virginia between the Capital Beltway and US-50, and on Interstate 405 between SR 527 and I-5 in Bothell.
caption: The M42, with lowered speed limits and hard-shoulder running, as seen on the matrix Variable Message Sign (VMS) on the left.
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