Unfortunately it's-

A smart motorway (formerly managed motorway) is a section of motorway in Great Britain which uses active traffic management (ATM) techniques to increase capacity by use of variable speed limits and hard shoulder running at busy times.

Basically trying to get a quart out of a pint pot IMHO.

The section around good old Dennis Skinner's patch i believe has had to be redone again, something about the miles of concrete centre reservation being wrong.

Smart motorway, ah yes the cheapish but ultimately temporary answer to a never ending population growth, make the hard shoulder wide and sturdy enough for live lane running so that under the right circumstances it can be used as the 4th (inside) lane under closed circuit scrutiny...that doesn't work in the West Mids as several times now i've encountered broken down vehicles on the hard shoulder when it's a live lane.

20 years hence i suspect much of the motorway network (M25 especially) will have to be 5 or 6 lane each way and it still won't be enough, and they'll still be charging for the Dartford crossing, mind you we'll need another by then, still i'll be in me dotage if i haven't kicked the bucket so best o' luck to ya'll.

just remember it's the smart motorways that have been getting the unmarked motorway speed cameras ... and at 80mph you are in real danger of being prosecuted