DRIVERS will see the benefit of the £210 million smart motorway upgrade just in time for the busy bank-holiday weekend.

At 6am this morning, a four-mile stretch of temporary narrow lanes on the M60 were removed to reveal wider ‘smart’ lanes.

Drivers will now be able to use the full breadth of motorway with wider lanes on the westbound carriageway between junction 18 at Simister and junction 15 at Worsley, and between junctions 15 and 17 on the eastbound carriageway.

But a temporary 50mph speed limit will remain in place between junctions 10 and 18 on the M60 until construction and technology work is completed this summer.

Highways England also plan to remove narrow lanes between junctions 17 and 18 on the eastbound carriageway early next month.

Khalid El-Rayes, Project Manager at Highways England, said: “We’re now at the stage where we can remove the temporary narrow lanes on part of the M60 in time for the bank holiday weekend, and we’re working to complete the remaining construction work as soon as possible.

“We’re on schedule to be able to remove all the roadworks on the North West’s first smart motorway by the end of August, improving journeys for the 180,000 drivers who use the route every day.”

Smart motorway roadworks have already been completed between junctions 8 and 10 on the M60 near the Trafford Centre, and on the M62 near Rochdale, where drivers have been able to use five miles of extra lane in each direction since December.

The Manchester smart motorway stretches 17 miles between junction 8 of the M60 near Carrington and junction 20 of the M62 near Rochdale.

A total of 50 CCTV cameras will also provide 100 per cent coverage of the route, allowing Highways England’s traffic officers and the emergency services to respond quickly to incidents.

New speed cameras will also be operational to enforce the variable speed limit, which will be adjusted according to traffic conditions.

The scheme is Highways England’s most complex smart motorway project, covering 13 junctions – an average of one junction every 1.4 miles.

Some overnight resurfacing work will continue into the autumn on parts of the M60 once the smart motorway is operational.

But this work will take place at night so that the route can remain fully open with no impact on drivers during the day.