ROADWORKS on the M6 between Warrington and Wigan will now finish at least a year behind schedule.

National Highways had originally said the work, which means a 50mph zone between junction 21a at Croft and 26 at Wigan, would finish in the spring.

But they confirmed today it would now be at least spring 2025 before restrictions end.

The delay is in part to double the number of emergency areas it is providing as part of the upgrade.

It gives drivers more places to stop should something go round.

The original plan was for 10emergency areas along the upgraded stretch of motorway. But the project team has now been given the green light to add up to a dozen more,

Earlier this year, the Government cancelled plans for any new smart motorways, recognising cost pressures and the lack of confidence felt by some drivers.

National Highways Project Sponsor Felicity Clayton said: “The safety of people travelling on England’s motorways and major A-roads is National Highways’ highest priority.

!We have listened to drivers' concerns about being able to find a safe place to stop in an emergency on motorways which don’t have a permanent hard shoulder and have been developing a programme to roll out even more emergency areas on all lane running smart motorways, in operation and construction.

“This investment in extra emergency areas will help increase road users’ confidence.”

The M6 upgrade started in March 2021 so it will have been four years of misery for drivers when work is finished.

National Highways says it is installing extra technology and adding a lane in each direction along 10 miles of the motorway, but the improvement has been slowed by a variety of factors including difficult ground conditions in an area with a history of old mine workings. Building the additional emergency areas will also add time to the construction programme.

Dave Cooke, National Highways senior project manager, explained: “We made very good progress in our first year and completed the installation of the concrete central reservation barrier between junction 21a and junction 26 last year – in spite of the difficult ground conditions.

“Unfortunately, our work to convert the hard shoulders into an extra running lane and provide the extra technology to help smooth drivers’ journeys along the upgraded motorway has met further challenges.

“This is one of the busiest sections of motorway in the region and we are desperate to finish this work to provide even safer, smoother and more reliable journeys for the 120,000 drivers who use this part of the M6 every day. I’d like to reassure everyone that we are working as quickly as is safely possible to complete this project.”

As well as ongoing work to convert the hard shoulders into an extra running lane in both the southbound and northbound carriageways, the project team has been busy this year installing gantries to carry the electronic signs and other technology for the upgrade.

During the work so far nearly 150,000 cubic metres of earth – enough to fill 60 Olympic swimming pools – has been excavated with the challenging ground conditions causing knock-on delays to other aspects of the project including drainage. The removal of large areas of invasive shrubs and trees in the grass verges has also taken longer than anticipated.

Once the project is completed, new radar detectors positioned along the motorway will automatically detect stationary vehicles. A total of 92 electronic signs will be used to set variable speed limits to help prevent stop-start conditions and close lanes by displaying Red Xs during incidents. Around 40 new CCTV cameras will provide live images of the motorway 24 hours a day to National Highways’ regional operations centre in Newton-le-Willows.

Drivers will also be able to use any of the now up to 22 new orange coloured emergency areas if they need to stop in an emergency. Emergency areas are clearly marked by blue signs featuring an orange emergency area shape and SOS telephone symbol and have roadside telephones providing a direct link to the regional operations centre.