Balfour Beatty plc, in joint venture with Skanska UK Plc, has been awarded a £321 million design and construction contract to upgrade sections of the M25 London orbital motorway for the Highways Agency. Working as part of the Connect Plus design, build, finance, and operate (DBFO) contract which is responsible for the M25 and strategic arterial routes, a 50/50 construction joint venture consisting of Balfour Beatty and Skanska will be responsible for constructing the infrastructure for Managed Motorways on 46 km of the M25 in two sections between junctions 5 to 7 and junctions 23 to 27 through Kent, Surrey, Essex and Hertfordshire. Managed Motorways add extra capacity to a motorway by converting the hard shoulder to a traffic lane and control traffic more effectively using variable speed limits.

It is a technology-driven approach to motorway management, using overhead gantries, lane specific signals and driver information signs. This scheme includes the upgrade of the central reservation to a concrete barrier to restrict the impact of incidents and reduce delays for motorists, as well as the installation of road management technology including electronic matrix signs, CCTV cameras and emergency refuge areas for vehicles. Work on the 25 month contract will begin in January this year, and is scheduled for completion by February 2015.