Galliford Try wins £1.5bn smart motorways contract

Construction group Galliford Try has secured a £1.55bn contract to deliver Highways England's “smart motorways” programme in a joint venture with Costain. 

 

The programme is vast, adding a further 292 miles of extra extra lanes to motorways. 

 

The hard shoulder will be converted to a traffic lane, while the “smart” element adopts signing and technology that will tell drivers what speed to drive at, if lanes are blocked or closed and about incidents up ahead.

 

The first motorway to receive the smart treatment will be the M1, between junction 19 and junction 16, in Northamptonshire. 

 

It will start this autumn and is worth £65m alone. 

 

The pair will then construct a further two schemes: the M1 between junction 24 and junction 25in the East Midlands, and the M1 junction 13 to junction 16 in Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire.

 

Both are expected to start next financial year at an estimated combined value of up to £302m, subject to the agreement of target costs.

Greg Fitzgerald, executive chairman of Galliford Try, commented: "We're delighted to have furthered our relationship with Highways England following our appointment to its collaborative delivery framework last November. 

 

“Our highways business continues to go from strength to strength and the highways sector will be key for us over the next few years."