LED road studs
Smart LED lights installed at Merseyside’s Switch Island junction. Credit: © Crown.

Smart LED lights embedded in the road surface have been introduced at a major motorway junction in the UK to help motorists stay in the correct lane.

Highways England has installed 175 of the airport-runway-style LED road studs at Merseyside’s Switch Island junction where the M57, M58 and three A roads join together.

The LED lights, which switch on when traffic lights turn green, will help mark out lanes for motorists and promote road safety at one of England’s busiest motorway junctions, which is used by more than 90,000 vehicles daily.

Visible from 900m away, the studs have helped stop drivers from drifting between lanes, reducing the risk of collisions.

Highways England stated that smart studs have been installed as part of a £3m project to improve journeys and safety at Switch Island in Merseyside.

“Some drivers can start drifting between lanes when they travel through the junction and the LED road studs are a great way of guiding drivers and helping them stay in the correct lane.”

Cables have been laid under the road surface to connect the studs to traffic lights through an adjacent controller unit, which helps them to be automatically switched on when traffic lights change to green.

Highways England project manager Phil Tyrrell said: “We’re carrying out a major project to improve journeys and safety at Switch Island and are pleased we’ve now reached the stage where our new smart road lights can be switched on.

“We have found that some drivers can start drifting between lanes when they travel through the junction and the new LED road studs are a great way of guiding drivers and helping them stay in the correct lane, avoiding the risk of a collision.

“We are keen to use new ideas to improve safety at Highways England and the new smart studs will benefit the tens of thousands of drivers who travel through Switch Island every day.”

Construction work on the Switch Island scheme is scheduled to finish this year. The scheme is being funded by the government’s £220m congestion relief programme.

Oxfordshire-based company Clearview Intelligence has designed the smart road studs installed at Switch Island.