AN IDEA to turn hard shoulder lanes of the M65 into a third carriageway have been condemned as unsafe by a major motoring organisation.

The move has been put forward in a bid to tackle rush-hour tailbacks and traffic jams.

But the RAC said: "While hard shoulder running may be perceived as a more rapid and less costly than widening roads, we oppose it on safety grounds.

Council bosses in Blackburn with Darwen have started talks with the Highways Agency about a £10million scheme which would effectively create an extra lane on two-lane stretches of the motorway.

They have put the idea forward as an interim measure ahead of a proper third lane being added to the two-lane stretches of the motorway. That needs to be done by 2012 to avoid gridlock, a Highways Agency report earlier this year said.

But road safety bosses today hit out at the scheme, and were backed by Rossendale and Darwen MP Janet Anderson, who said: "This is nonsense. This is not needed.

"The M65 is one of the most underused motorways in Britain. It is nearly always empty. It doesn't need an extra lane or people driving on the hard shoulder."

Council bosses and business leaders disagree. They began lobbying Government earlier this year after congestion became a daily problem on parts of the M65.

They have used the study by the Highways Agency to back up their campaign. It showed that by 2012, parts of the M65 would become gridlocked on a daily basis.

It also claimed that repeated switching from three lanes to two in both directions would trigger more accidents as the motorway got busier.

Blackburn with Darwen Council has included calls for extra money to widen the M65 in its Local Transport Plan document, which sets out what the Government needs to spend money on to keep the area moving.

Graham Burgess, executive director for regeneration at Blackburn with Darwen Council, said: "Our stance that our preference is for the M65 to be widened to three lanes, initially between Shadsworth and Whitebirk.

"But we have also held informal talks with the Highways Agency about the possibility of using the hard shoulder during peak times. It is something which is being tried elsewhere in the country in the future.

"A scheme like that would cost around £10million because junctions would have to be altered, and road surfaces changed. We would see it as an interim measure rather than a solution.

"It would benefit the whole of East Lancashire, not just Blackburn with Darwen, because it would relieve congestion on the main route through the area."

Trials are due to take place on the M42 in the West Midlands which involve using the hard shoulder during morning and evening rush hours. Part of the scheme there involves creating new laybys at regular intervals for broken down vehicles.

A spokesman for the Highways Agency said: "There are no plans at present to widen the motorway although we are talking to Blackburn with Darwen Council about solutions."

A spokesman for the Department for Transport said: "Plans included in a Local Transport Plan will be looked at before any decision is taken.

"Hard shoulder running is something which will be subject of trials first, although the experience in Holland and Germany is that it can work."

A spokesman for the RAC said: "We acknowledge that, if operated in conjunction with enforced speed restrictions, its use on very limited sections of motorway at busy junctions may be justified provided this does not threaten the underlying integrity of the hard shoulder as a cornerstone of motorway safety. Research conducted for RAC indicates that 83per cent of drivers think it is a bad idea."

Hyndburn MP Greg Pope said: "There are problems with the M65. I think that as an interim solution that driving on the hard shoulder has merit but there is always the question of what happens if someone breaks down.

"I've always believed it should have been built with six lanes in the first place."

Pendle MP Gordon Prentice added: "I have no problems with driving on the hard shoulder and road research people are looking at this.

"The obvious question is what to do if someone breaks down, how we get them off the road, but that is being looked at. In the longer term, parts of the road need widening."