The £136m scheme, completed in 2013, monitors traffic levels and displays variable speed limits on gantry signs to keep vehicles moving, as well as feeding 24-hour CCTV footage back to Highways England’s regional control centre in Wakefield.

Data from its first year is showing the investment is reaping rewards. Higher average speeds and improved journey times are reported for peak periods, which is claimed to reduce commuting times by 30 minutes per week for westbound drivers.  Collision rates have dropped by 34%, which is a larger reduction than initially expected.

This is despite an increase in usage. An average of 155,000 vehicles now use the busiest stretch of the route – between junction 26 at Chain Bar, Bradford, and junction 27 for the M621 – every day, which is a 6% uplift. The results come as work to upgrade to four lanes from junction 25 to junction 20 was earmarked to be accelerated during the latest Budget.

Roger Wantling, service delivery team leader for Highways England, said: “These latest figures show that the smart motorway really is making a difference to people’s lives saving commuters an average of 30 minutes a week, which works out at over a day a year.

“The smart motorway helps tackle the stop-start conditions many of us have experienced in the past, using the variable speed limits and opening up the hard shoulder on parts of the M62 during busy times to target congestion.”