DRIVERS could be allowed to use the hard shoulder of the busy M62 to ease congestion.
The news was confirmed in a package of measures designed to ease jams on many of Britain’s roads.
Further plans to allow drivers to use motorway hard shoulders and possible tolled lanes were announced by the Government as part of a six-year, £6bn jam-buster package.
Hard-shoulder driving at peak times has already been successfully trialled on the M42 near Birmingham.
And schemes which could be brought in before 2014 include stretches of both the M62 and the M1.
Thousands of drivers get caught in hold-ups on the M62 and transport chiefs are looking at a scheme to allow use of the hard shoulders between Junction 25 at Clifton and Junction 30 at Leeds.
The M1 running through West Yorkshire is also included in the proposals, with hard-shoulder running between junctions 34 and 42.
Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly said the Government was looking at further hard-shoulder schemes at new locations.
These include the M3 and M4 approaches to London the M4 and M5 around Bristol and the M3 and M27 around Southampton.
