Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly has unveiled a plan to invest £6bn in easing motorway congestion. The use of hard-shoulders by traffic during busy periods will be extended. The system already successfully operates on the M42 near Birmingham, where cameras are used to manage the system and ensure traffic flows.
New locations where hard shoulder use is to be introduced include the M3 and M4 approaches to London, the M4 and M5 around Bristol and the M3 and M27 around Southampton.
Eight areas will receive a share of a £60 million congestion-easing fund - Bristol, Greater Manchester, Leicester, London, Merseyside, South Yorkshire, Tyne and Wear and the West Midlands. Leeds, Cambridgeshire and Reading, in Berkshire, will receive funding to tackle congestion combined with possible local congestion charging.
Ms Kelly said as the majority of congestion was in towns and cities, the answer was not to build new roads.
Edmund King, of the AA, said he thought motorists would find it "encouraging" the government was trying to address the problem of motorway queues.
He said: "Congestion is costing us more than £20bn a year and we've seen in the West Midlands that hard-shoulder running, if it's managed well, can work fairly effectively.
Mrs Kelly also said she would be investigating the possibility of introducing toll and car-sharing lanes, which are used in America.