AECOM, a US-based engineering company, has selected Mouchel, a global infrastructure company to jointly work on two new schemes awarded by Highways England (HE) for its Smart Motorway Programme, which includes the M62 Junction 10 to 12 and the M6 Junction 21a to 26.

The schemes, which are worth £2.8m, aim to ease traffic congestion and improve transport connectivity between Warrington and Wigan for the M6, Liverpool and Warrington New Town, and Manchester for the M62.

As part of this new collaboration, Mouchel will be responsible for providing engineering and design services including operational assessments and traffic technology services for electronic signs and signals, as well as CCTV and monitoring equipment.

"The schemes, which are worth £2.8m, aim to ease traffic congestion and improve transport connectivity."

Mouchel, which is now part of global professional consultancy WSP | Parsons Brinckerhoff, has been engaged in development of smart motorways. It also offered its support and assistance to HE on initial trials of the Active Traffic Management Pilot.

It was also involved in the implementation of the first managed motorway schemes around the Birmingham Box motorway network.

Mouchel intelligent transport services senior technical director Phil Barton said: “This is a significant win and we are delighted to have been selected by AECOM as their partner for this.

“We have experience of working successfully with AECOM and Highways England in the past, and the extensive collective experience of smart motorways underpinned by the collaborative cultures embraced by both organisations provide real confidence that the challenging timescales for these schemes will be successfully achieved by the team.”

HE anticipates that these two schemes will strengthen and support economic growth in the north of England.