M90 Smart Motorway

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JoshBostock01
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M90 Smart Motorway

Post by JoshBostock01 »

Hi! This is my first post here, so I hope I'm doing this right!

The first few miles of the M90 are a smart motorway which was built in 2012 and completed in 2017 when the Queensferry Crossing opened. The part that I am interested in is the part north of Junction 2.

Coming south, It feels like a normal smart motorway with gantries at regular intervals heading towards Junction 2. Going north however, is pretty different. After the slip for junction 2 leaves, there are two more gantries before the system ends suddenly. However, the southbound gantries extend over the northbound carriageway for a good 2 miles beyond this, going past the exit sliproads for junctions 2a and 3. This is clearly not a necessary design because there are multiple gantries on the scheme that only extend over one carriageway. As a result, this bit of road looks rather ugly and a lot of money appears to been wasted on unnecessary steel.

I have always wondered if this has something to do with an extention of the smart motorway beyond junction 2. This bit of motorway can have some serious delays, due to the high amount of traffic joining at junction 2, the steep hill just north of junction 2 and the fact more traffic comes off at junction 2a for the A92 expressway (a simple exit sliproad) than stays on which effectively creates a bottleneck. These issues probably could be resolved by making the northbound carriageway 3 lanes up to junction 2a with the middle lane being used for both the M90 and A92. Smart motorway technology would make this possible without a fullscale widening being needed.

Does anyone have an idea of what is/was planned here?

Thanks
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Bryn666
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Re: M90 Smart Motorway

Post by Bryn666 »

This is because of maintenance. Single span gantries mean you don't need to close both sides of the central reserve to undertake repairs or whatever.

It is indeed ugly as anything which is why we developed the cantilever gantry. Unfortunately the foundation designs for a single one of these seem to use enough concrete to rebuild Rommel's Atlantic Wall defences so they look even uglier.

How does the rest of the world manage to construct lightweight gantries?
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Chris5156
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Re: M90 Smart Motorway

Post by Chris5156 »

It’s worth saying that you should expect this to be a bit different to Smart Motorways in England - e.g. the sudden end to the scheme - because it’s in Scotland, and signage and other conventions will differ.

“Smart Motorways” are very much an English thing. Transport Scotland refers to its roads with enhanced technology as “Intelligent Transport Systems” or ITS. So, strictly speaking, the M90 operates under ITS.
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Re: M90 Smart Motorway

Post by sindi21 »

It’s worth saying that you should expect this to be a bit different to Smart Motorways in England - e.g. the sudden end to the scheme - because it’s in Scotland, and signage and other conventions will differ.

“Smart Motorways” are very much an English thing. Transport Scotland refers to its roads with enhanced technology as “Intelligent Transport Systems” or ITS. So, strictly speaking, the M90 operates under ITS.
everything is different in Scotland=)
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ellandback
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Re: M90 Smart Motorway

Post by ellandback »

Is the M90 Scotland's Greatest ITS? :coat:
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Re: M90 Smart Motorway

Post by Sulzer:1999 »

The M90 gantries are interesting if only for the ‘honeycombe’ visual effect from both sides of the steel mesh which formed a larger pattern as you get closer to each one.

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orudge
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Re: M90 Smart Motorway

Post by orudge »

The speed cameras on the M90 “intelligent transport system” section are being turned on, some years after being installed, in 2 weeks:

https://www.transport.gov.scot/news/m90 ... ntroduced/
jnty
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Re: M90 Smart Motorway

Post by jnty »

I wonder means they've fixed the gantries over the bridge northbound? Travelling recently I've got the impression that one is broken and the other half broken so you end up with a bizarre limit of 70 in lane 1 and 40/50 in lane 2.
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Burns
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Re: M90 Smart Motorway

Post by Burns »

I assumed they'd always been working as they've been up for years now. The UK really is slow.

I mean, I've never actually tested them to see if they're working as that's not a sensible move but I thought they'd been live since the Queuey opened. :wink:
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Re: M90 Smart Motorway

Post by jnty »

Burns wrote: Wed May 11, 2022 12:20 I assumed they'd always been working as they've been up for years now. The UK really is slow.

I mean, I've never actually tested them to see if they're working as that's not a sensible move but I thought they'd been live since the Queuey opened. :wink:
Yes - they are the only fixed speed cameras in the Kingdom so it's not exactly like it's a hardship to obey the speed limit through that section. It's usually busy anyway (which I suppose is the point.)
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Burns
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Re: M90 Smart Motorway

Post by Burns »

jnty wrote: Wed May 11, 2022 15:56
Burns wrote: Wed May 11, 2022 12:20 I assumed they'd always been working as they've been up for years now. The UK really is slow.

I mean, I've never actually tested them to see if they're working as that's not a sensible move but I thought they'd been live since the Queuey opened. :wink:
Yes - they are the only fixed speed cameras in the Kingdom so it's not exactly like it's a hardship to obey the speed limit through that section. It's usually busy anyway (which I suppose is the point.)
There aren't any cameras northbound which I used to find odd. After the misery of getting over the Forth, there's always this expectation that you'll be able to put your foot down and make up for some lost time but the second you hit the wall of heavies trying to climb the hill between J2 and J2A, the whole thing crawls back down to 35mph again. I'm always thankful when 70% of the traffic peels off onto the A92 and you get a stable run north.
C83
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Re: M90 Smart Motorway

Post by C83 »

Burns wrote: Wed May 11, 2022 22:11
jnty wrote: Wed May 11, 2022 15:56
Burns wrote: Wed May 11, 2022 12:20 I assumed they'd always been working as they've been up for years now. The UK really is slow.

I mean, I've never actually tested them to see if they're working as that's not a sensible move but I thought they'd been live since the Queuey opened. :wink:
Yes - they are the only fixed speed cameras in the Kingdom so it's not exactly like it's a hardship to obey the speed limit through that section. It's usually busy anyway (which I suppose is the point.)
There aren't any cameras northbound which I used to find odd. After the misery of getting over the Forth, there's always this expectation that you'll be able to put your foot down and make up for some lost time but the second you hit the wall of heavies trying to climb the hill between J2 and J2A, the whole thing crawls back down to 35mph again. I'm always thankful when 70% of the traffic peels off onto the A92 and you get a stable run north.
A third lane up that hill would be very useful, could be a possible use for the gantries, though does result in a slight problem with faster traffic for the A92 needing to cut across the crawlers to turn off.
JoshBostock01
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Re: M90 Smart Motorway

Post by JoshBostock01 »

C83 wrote: Wed Jun 22, 2022 14:42
Burns wrote: Wed May 11, 2022 22:11
jnty wrote: Wed May 11, 2022 15:56

Yes - they are the only fixed speed cameras in the Kingdom so it's not exactly like it's a hardship to obey the speed limit through that section. It's usually busy anyway (which I suppose is the point.)
There aren't any cameras northbound which I used to find odd. After the misery of getting over the Forth, there's always this expectation that you'll be able to put your foot down and make up for some lost time but the second you hit the wall of heavies trying to climb the hill between J2 and J2A, the whole thing crawls back down to 35mph again. I'm always thankful when 70% of the traffic peels off onto the A92 and you get a stable run north.
A third lane up that hill would be very useful, could be a possible use for the gantries, though does result in a slight problem with faster traffic for the A92 needing to cut across the crawlers to turn off.
It would be likely that if that bit of M90 was widened, both lane 1 and lane 2 would be used for the A92 while lane 2 and 3 would be used for the M90 north, simlilar to what happens down the road at Scotstoun so fast traffic would'nt be affected too badly. I'd be much better than the current design.
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