M4 weekend overnight closures for smart motorway works

The M4 smart motorway project started in 2018

Part of the M4 is shutting again overnight for ongoing work to turn it into a smart motorway.

The motorway will shut both ways between junctions 5 for Langley and 6 for Slough/Windsor from 22:00 BST until 06:00 on Saturday and Sunday.

Highways England said the work over the weekend included putting up signage, communications cabling and resurfacing the carriageway.

Traffic will be diverted with drivers warned to allow extra time.

The work is part of an ongoing £848m project to turn the M4 into a smart motorway.

• What are smart motorways and are they dangerous?

• How smart are smart motorways?

Work between junctions 8/9 for Maidenhead and 12 at Theale finished in February.

The hard shoulder has been turned into a new fourth traffic lane in each direction.

A new radar Stopped Vehicle Detection (SVD) system identifies a stopped vehicle, typically within 20 seconds.

When the entire project is finished, between junctions 3 at Hayes and 12 at Theale, the hard shoulder will be a traffic lane.

It will also have places to stop in an emergency approximately every 1.3 miles (2km).

National Highways said it hoped construction would be completed by the end of spring 2022.

In January, the government paused the rollout of smart motorways amid safety concerns until five years' worth of data has been collected to assess whether or not they are safe for drivers.