HE gets to grips with the link between sustainability and design thanks to progress of its Strategic Design Panel
Sustainability and climate change will be key considerations of future road design, thanks to the work of Highways England’s Strategic Design Panel. The panel has published its fourth progress and recommendations. This report sets out the progress over the past year and a half (June 2019 to end of 2020) and makes key recommendations to […]
Cycling is ‘ten times’ more important than electric cars for reaching net-sero in cities
Globally, only one in 50 new cars were fully electric in 2020, and one in 14 in the UK. Sounds impressive, but even if all new cars were electric now, it would still take 15-20 years to replace the world’s fossil fuel car fleet. The emission savings from replacing all those internal combustion engines with zero-carbon alternatives will not feed in fast […]
Sunderland begins e-scooter trials across the city
Sunderland City Council will begin its e-scooter rental trial today with the first of 300 distinctive orange e-scooters being deployed across the city. The 12-month trial, operated by Neuron Mobility in partnership with the City Council, is aimed at “providing the city with a safe, socially-distanced and environmentally-friendly transport option for those that must travel”. To […]
Surface treatments need to be embraced if reactive maintenance is to be significantly reduced, says RSTA
The amount of time and money spent on reactive and structural maintenance programmes could be significantly reduced if councils were to continue to increase use of a wider range of surface treatments at the right time in the lifecycle of the network. This was the message from Paul Boss, Chief Executive of the Road Surface […]
ALARM Survey 2021 – Maintenance budgets up, but inconsistent funding not a long term solution, hears Highways Voices
Average highway maintenance budgets were up by 15% on average in England last year although were below the levels reported in 2019, citing a continued pattern of inconsistent levels of funding, making it difficult for councils to plan longer term, according to this year’s Asphalt Industry Alliance ALARM Survey. Listen to the thoughts of AIA […]
Highways England could add hard shoulder to Stonehenge Tunnel project
Highways England is costing out plans to widen the proposed A303 Stonehenge Tunnel to create a hard shoulder on the dual carriageway scheme. Consultants are being asked to investigate the impact of adding emergency refuges or an additional hard shoulder in order to increase tunnel safety over the 3km bored tunnels, reports Construction Enquirer. Work […]
SPT to invest £22 million in transport improvements in Lanarkshire
The Strathclyde Partnership for Transport’s (SPT) is to invest £22 million in transport schemes across Lanarkshire in Scotland. Among the projects being supported by SPT in 2021/22 across the 12 local authorities in the Strathclyde area include :£1.8 million for A71 junction improvements in North Lanarkshire ; improvements to the A73 Carlisle Road junction in […]
Highways England announces contractors who will deliver major concrete road replacement works
Morgan Sindall and John Sisk are among the contractors who will work on Highways England major programme to repair and replace concrete roads across the country. The two companies will carry out full reconstruction work, which will see them work on a design and build basis demolishing existing pavement and replacing it with new flexible […]
Road material testing service to save time and money for the supply chain before they enter approvals process
A new testing service that will help companies save time and money on new product development before they enter the approval process, has been developed by asphalt testing specialist, R3 Ltd. Located at Ulster University, R3’s Road Test Machine (RTM) can quickly predict the performance of road material products in the laboratory to help the […]
Plans for new road that would connect Mirfield with Dewsbury with Leeds to be considered
Plans for a £13m roads scheme to connect Mirfield and Dewsbury with Leeds in an improved way, are set to be considered by the West Yorkshire Combined Authority. Proposals include junction upgrades, cycle and bus lanes and crossings, which will help alleviate commuter traffic on existing roads to the south of Leeds, according to council […]