West Sussex renews WSP contract
West Sussex County Council has re-engaged consulting engineer WSP to provide highways design and ancillary consultancy services for another four years. WSP’s new contract with West Sussex County Council, worth £66.5m, runs from May 2022 to the beginning of May 2026. The company was previously awarded a six-year contract, valued then at £36m, in July 2016, […]
Birmingham goes ‘Big’ on bikes giveaway
Twenty of 500 selected Birmingham residents collected a free bicycle yesterday, courtesy of Birmingham City Council’s ‘Big Birmingham Bikes’ scheme. Big Birmingham Bikes is a city council initiative which aims to increase the health and mobility of those who do not have the resources to buy their own bicycles. Between January and March 2022, 380 […]
Air quality research supports calls to clean up the school run
Research involving experts at Northumbria University outlines the health risks caused by harmful pollution from vehicles measured outside schools in Newcastle. Air quality data from monitoring sites outside 12 schools in the city, covering a 24-month period, demonstrated that short-term levels of pollution, linked to patterns around school drop-off and pick-up times, would have consistently […]
Salford City Council name 19 contractors on £40m highways framework
Salford City Council has named 19 contractors on its £40 million highways framework. The framework includes minor civils works, structures, bridges, drainage, site investigations, repairs and landscaping, and is divided into six lots. It is expected to start later this month and run for three years with and option to extend for another 12 months […]
Analysis shows the environmental value of switching to LED street lighting
New analysis of the power usage and therefore environmental impact of streetlighting suggests that councils can reduce their carbon footprint by 13 tonnes of CO2 per mile if they switch from traditional lamps to LEDs. Based on statistics that show an LED uses just 40% of the electricity of a traditional lap of similar effectiveness, […]
Ford trials automatic driver alerts for pedestrians and cyclists
Engineers at Ford’s Research and Engineering Centre in Essex are testing smart driver alert technology – in the form of visual displays and warning tones – to clearly convey the location of other road users or pedestrians. In addition, they are testing the use of intuitive sounds – such as footsteps, bicycle bells and the […]
MP admits Road User Charging could affect EV sales
The Chair of the Transport Select Committee in Parliament has admitted that his own proposals for drivers to be charged per mile could slow the switch to electric vehicles. The Telegraph quotes Conservative MP Huw Merriman as conceding that his idea to replace vehicle excise duty with a distance-based tax would be a “disincentive” to […]
Caernarfon and Bontnewydd bypass to open
The new A487 Caernarfon and Bontnewydd bypass has been completed ahead of time, but will open a day later than planned for safety reasons, on Saturday 19 February rather than Friday 18 February in order not to encourage any unnecessary travel during Storm Eunice. Construction of the £139m scheme, delivered by the Balfour Beatty Jones […]
