M42 Active Traffic Management - IanJohnson
Wa on the M42 Wednesday at 0800 and the signs were saying "Congestion" but the hard shoulder was not available for use and no one was stopped on it.

They admit there is congestion and they don't allow the extra lane to be used so why spend the money setting it up?
M42 Active Traffic Management - Dwight Van Driver
Only applies, as I understand it, between Junctions 3A and 7.

www.tinyurl.com/crbsn

See also:

M42 (Junction 3a to 7) (Actively Managed Hard Shoulder and Variable Speed Limit) Regs 2005

dvd

M42 Active Traffic Management - IanJohnson
That's where we were - A45-M40.