Multi-million-pound initiative to improve local roads across England

Friday, 13 August 2021 10:03

Councils across the country to receive millions of pounds to upgrade traffic signals  New data standard for monitoring road condition to be developed, providing more useful data for local authorities and the Department Government continues to encourage research into new and innovative technology, such as 3D printing and drones, to help find and fix potholes faster and more effectively   A multimillion-pound scheme...Request free trial

Councils across the country to receive millions of pounds to upgrade traffic signals 
New data standard for monitoring road condition to be developed, providing more useful data for local authorities and the Department
Government continues to encourage research into new and innovative technology, such as 3D printing and drones, to help find and fix potholes faster and more effectively

A multimillion-pound scheme to improve traffic signals and a commitment to explore how new technology – such as drones and 3D printing – could be used to find and fix potholes are part of a raft of measures announced by Transport Secretary Grant Shapps today.

The package will see councils across England receive a share of £15m in Government funding to improve their traffic light systems to cut congestion, boost safety and reduce journey times and emissions – a commitment set out in the recently announced Transport Decarbonisation Plan.

In addition to announcing today’s funding, the Government has also published the findings from a new initiative called the Digital Intelligence Brokerage (DIB), which aims to encourage more work with small and medium enterprises outside of the transport sector and to speed up research into new and innovative ways to fix potholes.

The DIB has already made waves in this area, identifying graphite nanoparticles in asphalt to reduce surface cracks, the use of bio-bitumen materials to create environmentally-friendly road surfaces which contribute to the decarbonisation of highways maintenance, and automated repair operations to minimise risk to road maintenance workers

This work supports wider Government commitments to use advanced technology, such as drones to spot defects in roads and 3D printing to repair cracks.

This all comes as the Government continues its drive to level up the country’s transport network and build back better from the pandemic.  

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said:

“Whether you’re a motorist, cyclist or pedestrian, every road-user across our country deserves the best possible journey. That’s why, despite already having some of the best and safest roads in the world, this Government is providing millions of pounds to improve them further still.

“This vital funding and work will cut journey times for millions of people, reduce emissions and keep the UK at the forefront of technological developments in roads maintenance, as we continue to invest in local economies and build back both better and greener from the pandemic.”

RAC Head of Roads Policy Nicholas Lyes said:

“Additional investment to cut congestion and make pothole repairs better for the future is very welcome. Improving traffic lights can make a significant difference to local roads by efficiently maximising the number of vehicles which can safely pass through junctions, while hitting a pothole can be an expensive and even a dangerous experience, so we look forward to seeing how drivers and road users more widely can benefit from the use of 21^stcentury technology to repair their local roads more quickly.”

The £15m announced today builds on the £1.125bn that has already been made available to local authorities for local road maintenance.

Councils will be expected to not only use the extra funding to repair and improve existing traffic signals but also consider how to future-proof their local road networks and prepare for technological innovations.

In addition to these measures, the Department for Transport has also today announced the development of a new data standard for local road condition monitoring, which will allow councils to use multiple technologies to carry out road condition surveys for national reporting purposes. This will lead to more accurate and useful data being collected.

£100,000 of funding is also being put towards the Transport Technology Forum. The open forum is funded by the Department for Transport and Innovate UK and brings together road operators and suppliers from across the industry to offer their skills and experience to drive technological advances in the traffic management sector.

ENDS  

Notes to editors

Investment in the national traffic signal asset is needed to maintain an effective traffic management system. Traffic signal controls are the key network management tool: essential for managing congestion, delay and emissions. This £15m funding is primarily intended to repair existing equipment and modernise traffic signal equipment operated by local highway authorities on the local road network. The funding will improve signal operations to reduce traffic queues and provide better facilities for pedestrians and cyclists. Following expressions of interests from many local authorities, the funding will be awarded to 39 successful authorities who will be required to deliver these improvements by March 2023. A list of the successful authorities is below:

Authority	Funding amount (£000's)
Buckinghamshire Council	500
Cheshire East Council	500
Derby City Council	500
Derbyshire County Council	500
Devon County Council	500
Hull City Council	500
Kent County Council	500
Liverpool City Council	500
Manchester City Council	500
Oxfordshire County Council	500
Peterborough City Council	500
Slough Council	500
Somerset County Council	500
St Helens Metropolitan Borough Council	500
Swindon Borough Council	500
Tees Valley Combined Authority	500
Warwickshire County Council	500
Wiltshire Council	500
Wolverhampton City Council	500
Worcestershire County Council	500
York Council	500
Bath & North East Somerset Council	250
Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council	250
Birmingham City Council	250
East Sussex County Council	250
Essex County Council	250
Gloucestershire County Council	250
Hertfordshire County Council	250
Kirklees Council	250
Leeds City Council	250
Leicestershire County Council	250
Lincolnshire County Council	250
Norfolk County Council	250
North Tyneside Council	250
Nottinghamshire County Council	250
Sandwell Metropolitan Council	250
Sefton Council	250
Shropshire Council	250
Wokingham Borough Council	250

As part of the 2019 Transport Select Committee local roads report, the Department agreed to several TSC recommendations, including on data collection for road condition monitoring, and a report on the digital (DIB) hub. This announcement forms part of our commitment to considering the recommendations made and the close with the highways sector, including local highway authority sector groups, to identify how to take forward the Committee’s recommendations.
The Department for Transport is proposing to develop a data standard for local road condition monitoring which warrants multiple technologies, including SCANNER, to carry out surveying for national reporting purposes. By developing a data standard and opening up the market to competing technologies, it is expected that: the market will encourage innovation in the sector leading to generation of more accurate and useful data; local authorities will have the ability to match the best supplier to their local conditions and achieve time and cost efficiencies; and the Department will benefit from improved breadth, scope, and accessibility of data on local road maintenance.
As part of helping facilitate new and innovative solutions to ‘the pothole problem’, the Department for Transport has also today published the findings from a public/private sector collaborative initiative – the Digital Intelligence Brokerage (DIB) from Atkins – to broaden engagement with small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and accelerate research into new and innovative ways to fix potholes across the country. This work will help feed into wider Government commitments towards using advanced technology, such as drones to spot defects in roads and 3D printing to repair cracks, to help improve the performance of England’s roads.
The package includes the delivery of one of the commitments in this Government’s recently published Decarbonising Transport - A Better, Greener Britain – providing £15m funding to 39 councils across the country to improve their traffic light systems to cut congestion, boost safety and reduce journey times and emissions.
Decarbonising Transport - A Better, Greener Britain was published by the Department of Transport on 14 July and is the first such Plan in the world – which will set the transport sector on the path to net zero by 2050. The Plan provided the Government commitment to “invest £15 million in 2021/22 to help address the backlog in traffic signal maintenance to improve traffic flow and reduce emissions.