39 transport authorities are receiving between £250,000 and £500,000 extra maintenance grant from the Department for Transport to improve traffic signals to tackle road user safety, air pollution and congestion. This process is being managed for DfT through the TTF.

Since being told of their awards last August, the authorities have been drawing up and submitting detailed plans about how they will use the money.  These include full site refurbishments of signals, upgrading detectors or recalibrating Urban Traffic Management and Control systems.

Liverpool City Council is one authority improving its UTMC, as well as installing a CYCLOPS junction which full segregates cyclists from general traffic, thus improving safety for all road users and encouraging active travel.

“This round of funding will enable us to renew two ageing junctions, providing high quality active travel infrastructure as well as helping us meet our NetZero Carbon 2030 target” said Mufu Durowoju, Divisional Manager, Network Management at Liverpool City Council.  “We are looking forward to working with the DfT as part of this scheme as well as participating in future funding opportunities to improve the infrastructure across Liverpool”

The 2022 Transport Technology Forum Conference will be held in Liverpool from 17-19 May, where the traffic signals funding projects will be presented to the audience of public and private sector delegates meeting in person to discuss the latest transport technology innovations and how the TTF’s Technical Working Groups are delivering best practice.

The Traffic Signals Funding project is provided by the Department for Transport as additional local roads and integrated transport funding and managed through the Transport Technology Forum with support from the Local Government Roads Innovation Group, LCRIG.

(Picture – TTF)

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The Manual is a series of documents to provide guidance to authorities for the delivery of the technology-driven services that enable traffic management in our increasingly digital world

The CPC has already published drafts of the first two use cases on Air Quality Management and Transport Payment Systems.  In total, twelve use cases will be produced.

The CPC says it is very keen to get feedback, so has produced a short survey which it asks stakeholders to take five minutes to fill in.

The material will continue to be updated with the intention that it will become a fully developed product early in 2022.

(Picture – CPC/TTF)

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The 1903 Daimler, 1901 Mors and 1900 Daimler were among the 350 cars which celebrated the 125th anniversary of the first Emancipation Run, by travelling the 60 miles from Hyde Park in London to Brighton’s seafront on Sunday 7 November. They were celebrating the passing of the 1896 Light Locomotives on Highways Act, which raised the national speed limit to 14mph and effectively allowed motor vehicles to develop as a practical means of transport.

The vehicles were fitted with new apps that integrate several services in one place – sharing their location and status with organisers, receiving navigation specific to the official route and also in-vehicle route information such as roadworks, congestion and safety messages.  They therefore became the world’s oldest connected cars.

The project was the brainchild of connected vehicle expert and car enthusiast Andy Graham of White Willow Consulting.  “Connected vehicle technology is here now and is providing extremely cost-effective information both to and from vehicles of all types,” he explained.  “We wanted to show that you don’t need the latest vehicles with the latest head units and dashboard displays to benefit – anything that moves with a smartphone can be connected.”

The pathfinder was sponsored by the RAC Foundation with assistance from KL Systems, Eloy, Enterprise Rent-A-Car and the Transport Technology Forum.  “We’re all about the future at the RAC Foundation and this demonstration showed that any vehicle can benefit from the technical advantages connectivity brings,” said Steve Gooding, Director of the Foundation, who added that the project was not just a test of connected capability but had a practical value to the participants taking part in the run. “Connectivity is really useful for the drivers and the navigators to know what’s going on along the route ahead, equally it’s really important for the organisers to know where the vehicles are and what’s going on with them.  Our hope is that what we’ve learned from this pathfinder will show the way for adopting this technology for the Veteran Car Run and other similar events, and more widely for vehicles of all ages.”

The 1903 Daimler’s driver Duncan Wiltshire became the first driver to finish the London-to-Brighton Veteran Car Run in a connected vehicle.  “The messaging did exactly what it was intended to do,” he said. “Because there weren’t any great dramas on the route it didn’t make us make any great changes, but it was comforting to know that we were on the right route and that someone out there was looking out for us.”

Data from modern connected vehicles also helped, with data from one.network and INRIX used to monitor roadworks and congestion for messages sent to the veteran cars.  The lessons learned will be fed into  wider activities promoting connected vehicles by the Transport Technology Forum.

Look out for a full report to be published by the RAC Foundation shortly documenting the detail behind the headlines.

(Pictures – White Willow Consulting)

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From today (12 April) councils can use the Local Council Roads Innovation Group (LCRIG) website to apply for a share of the £15 million of extra money which has been allocated to supplement existing local authority spending on the upgrade and maintenance of traffic signals and associated equipment.

LCRIG is working with the Department for Transport to gather information for the allocation of traffic signals maintenance grant funding for 2021/22.

Chief executive Martin Duffy said: “This is a unique opportunity for councils to apply for funding which will enable them to upgrade their traffic signals. All authorities are striving to improve road safety and reduce collisions so having designated funding which can help them make improvements to technology that helps deliver these outcomes is most welcome.

“Through our close working relationship with the Department for Transport we have been able to put together a process that will allow councils to apply for the funding in a simple and straightforward way. I’d encourage all councils to submit their applications.”

In order to qualify for this funding, councils will be asked to provide evidence of their current traffic signal maintenance policies and practices. Those applying for the funding will be asked to provide details of the following:

• The size of your traffic signals asset estate
• Maintenance and funding issues
• Needs and priorities
• Strategies for planning for the future
• Links to wider targets
• Preparedness for future technology opportunities

The application process, which is designed to be simple and straightforward, involves authorities providing evidence of the policies they have in place for using their traffic signals, existing maintenance programmes and their aspirations for the future.

Those applying can provide any supporting information, policies, standards or other published information which they feel will be of use in this assessment.

The assessment of submissions will start after the closing date and successful authorities who have been awarded grant funding will be informed as soon as possible.

Funding will be awarded in blocks of between £300,000 and £500,000 will be paid out to between 30 and 50 local authorities to support programmes of work over the coming 24 months.

The application process will run for four weeks and will close on 12 May. You can apply for the funding via the LCRIG website – www.lcrig.org.uk

In the first instance LCRIG ask that any councils interested in submitting an application should contact Secretariat Susanne Ingham at susanne.ingham@lcrig.org.uk

Applicants will be asked to provide details of the contact(s) who will be making the application and they’ll then be sent login details so they can access the portal.

Those that have already expressed an interest have been sent login details.

The information is being collected by LCRIG on behalf of the Department for Transport. It will only be accessible to DfT and will be used in assessing allocation of the 2021/22 Traffic Signals Maintenance Grant settlement.

However, when submissions have been completed applicants will be presented with an LCRIG questionnaire. The information collected as part of this will enable LCRIG to provide the DfT and each council that contributes with an overview of the national status of signals.

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