A £100m upgrade on the smart motorway that connects Junction 11a at Cannock to Junction 13 at Stafford on the M6 in the Midlands, UK, has been opened for commuters.

The improvement facilitates more than 120,000 journeys every day, benefitting drivers travelling across the junctions with four lanes.

Transport minister Andrew Jones said: "The start of full smart motorway running on this section of the M6 will improve journeys for all those who rely on this route."

"The start of full smart motorway running on this section of the M6 will improve journeys for all those who rely on this route."

According to Jones, smart motorway is part of the government’s £15bn road investment plan that includes improvements to roads, congestion control and traffic flow.

The smart motorways connecting London, Birmingham, and Manchester provide safer and more reliable road services, and use modern technology to monitor traffic levels and variable speed limits on overhead electronic signs.

The project required over a million hours of work, 54,000t of road surface and 55 miles of cabling to upgrade the road between Junctions 10a and 13.

The project has been completed in two phases – the first phase includes a 3.4-mile segment with three traffic lanes stretching from Junction 10a and 11 and the second phase includes 6.8 miles of a four-lane segment between Junctions 11a to 13.

More than 500,000m² of road surface has been laid, including a resurfacing of 350,000m² of carriageway.

Highways England project manager Dave Cooke said: "The extra lane between Junctions 11a and 13 adds valuable extra capacity, which will really help traffic at busy times.

"The technology means we can vary the speed limit to smooth the flow of traffic at busy times, this also helps prevent congestion caused by stop-start braking, which causes queues to build at higher speeds."