Contractors are to remove three overhead gantries from the M62 over the next four weekends, Highways England has announced.

A two mile stretch of the motorway near Rochdale between junction 19 and junction 20 will need to be closed overnight on 14, 21, 28 November and 05 December.

Specialist 500 tonne cranes will be used to remove the gantries during the closures between 9pm each Saturday night and 10am each Sunday morning.

The gantries are 40 metres wide and weigh 130 tonnes each.

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The work is part of the £202m smart motorway project. The latest technology will be used to monitor traffic levels and keep vehicles moving by using variable speed limits.

In addition, the hard shoulder will be permanently converted into an extra lane to increase capacity between junctions 18 and 20 on the M62.

Highways England project manager Paul Hampson said: "These are massive structures and we will need to close the M62 to remove them safely by lifting the beams onto the carriageway, where they'll be broken up and transported away, and then by removing the gantry legs using a smaller crane."

Work to demolish 16 overhead gantries began in April with the latest demolitions designed to complete the work.

When the smart motorway scheme is completed in autumn 2017, around 200 new electronic message signs on overhead gantries will warn drivers of changes in the mandatory speed limit, lane closures and incidents ahead.

(LM/CD)