National Highways is compensating Costain and WSP for work on a proposed upgrade to a stretch of the M62 after the project was cancelled shortly before work was due to start amidst rising concerns over cost.
The stretch between Rochdale and Brighouse had originally been a smart motorway scheme but was paused, except for the plan to upgrade the central reserve to concrete, before the scheme was axed totally.
In 2019, the then National Highways chief executive, Jim O’Sullivan, described concrete central reservation as ‘one of the biggest single innovations in recent years that has made a huge difference to the safety of any road’.
National Highways project sponsor Nick Wells said: ‘The planned barrier upgrade on the M62 between junctions 20 and 25 has been cancelled after a further appraisal of the project.’
Mr Wells said it would ‘consider future options for this stretch of motorway in due course'.
Consultant WSP had been working on the project for over five years, while Costain, which was due to build the job as part of the Smart Motorway Alliance, had already built a compound for the upgrade and faces demobilising its site team.
The original smart motorway plan was costed at £283m in 2020.
After the reduced project was cancelled, Tony Slater, National Highways managing director of the Smart Motorway Alliance, said the projected full scope cost would be 60% above the available budget.
Even after attempting to introduce value engineering, Costain’s projected cost would have been 10% above the available budget.
‘Frustration will be felt most profoundly by everyone who has been working hard on the M62 J20-25 scheme,’ said Mr Slater.
‘The decision to stop work on this scheme is hugely challenging to me, our Alliance members and our suppliers, and it is a decision we have tried very hard to avoid.’
The M62 cancellation is the latest blow to the Smart Motorway Alliance. In April, the government confirmed that after a 16-month long review prompted by widespread public concern over the safety of smart motorways, the programme to convert new stretches of motorway to all lane running was to be abandoned.
