This comes less than a week after Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly announced a £6bn investment programme to improve and make better use of motorways and other key roads. As part of this a further 500 lane miles of English motorway are being considered for hard shoulder running.

Work is expected to begin this Autumn with drivers able to start using the extra road space this will create from late 2009.

 The scheme involves two main components; variable speed limits to help smooth the flow of traffic and the controlled use of the hard shoulder to provide an extra lane for motorists at the busiest periods. It will be expanded around Birmingham in two phases:

Phase 1
* M40 Junctions 16 - M42 Junction 3A. Variable speed limits.
* M42 Junctions 7 - 9. Variable speed limits
* M6 Junctions 4 - 5. Variable speed limits and hard shoulder running, with the exception of 4A - 4 southbound, where variable speed limits alone will be used.

Phase 2
* M6 Junction 8 - 10A. Variable speed limits and hard shoulder running.
Work on the scheme is due to begin in Autumn 2008, with work on phase two beginning in early 2009. Phase one is due for completion by the end of 2009 and phase two by spring 2011.