The first ever car-share lane on a British motorway will open next year, it has been announced.

The one-mile lane will start in 2007 at the junction of the M606 and M62 between Bradford and Leeds in West Yorkshire, Transport Secretary Alistair Darling said.

The £2.5 million scheme follows the earlier announcement of a car-sharing lane on Britain's oldest motorway, the M1.

The car-sharing section will be between junction 7 near St Albans in Hertfordshire and junction 10, and will open at the end of 2008.

The Yorkshire scheme will allow vehicles carrying more than one person to bypass congestion at junction 26 of the M62 and gain priority entry on to the eastbound M62. It will cut rush-hour journeys by eight minutes on average.