Up to 140,000 vehicles use the M1 and M62 each day

The �1.3bn programme will introduce four narrower lanes instead of the existing three lanes and hard shoulder.

Electronic signs will help control traffic flow and refuges will be built in case of breakdowns.

However, the RAC warned that using hard shoulders as so-called running lanes could put motorists at risk.

An RAC spokesman said: "Evidence from overseas experience of hard shoulder running suggests the UK should approach with great caution.

"The RAC believes hard shoulders should be retained for emergency use only or by breakdown services to clear vehicles and ease congestion.

"Where a hard shoulder is in use as a running lane, its use by emergency service vehicles is compromised."

However, the Highways Agency said the changes in West and South Yorkshire could be extended to the rest of England if successful.

Up to 140,000 vehicles use the roads each day and the number is growing each year, said a Highways Agency spokesman.

"The improvements will reduce congestion and increase safety.

"As a result, drivers will benefit from more reliable journeys, and Yorkshire can further develop its success as a region," he said.

The new road layout is being introduced as part of a programme of changes on the motorways.

The narrower four-lane sections will be introduced on the M1 between junctions 32 and 39 and on the M62 between junctions 25 and 28.

Instead of a hard shoulder, there will be regular refuge areas where drivers can stop in an emergency.

There will also be access for emergency vehicles.

The hard shoulder will be kept and and an extra lane built on the M1 in both directions between junctions 30 and 32 and 39 and 42.

CCTV cameras

Geoff Dossiter, from the Freight Transport Association said: "For the benefit of moving goods around and moving people around we simply need more concrete, we need more road space, no doubt about it.

"But in the absence of the government committing to extensive investment into that sort of situation, I think we've got to make the most of what we've got at the moment and I think this plan is directly associated to doing that."

The Highways Agency's regional control centre will monitor the new sections using CCTV cameras and there will be electronic signs over the road that can show changing speed limits to help manage traffic flow.