The manager of the Transport Technology Forum is urging local authorities to make sure they get their applications for a share of £70 million of new money to make traffic signals more efficient, with the deadline to bid just one week away.
As part of the Department for Transport’s Plan for Drivers, funding is available for a range of solutions including upgrading traffic signal systems, replacing unreliable and obsolete equipment to improve reliability, tuning up signals to better reflect current traffic conditions and get traffic flowing, and the deployment of advanced technology to make use of emerging technologies to optimise traffic flow and balance traffic across city centres.
The application process for the challenge elements of the Traffic Signals Obsolescence Grant (TSOG) and the Green Light Fund (GLF) will close on 22 December. Both are worth £20 million and will be shared out in lots worth £500,000 each. Once bids have been submitted, they will be assessed during January with award letters sent out at the end of February. Successful bidders will then need to detail the projects they will deliver with the money, which will then be delivered in March, with authorities given two years to deliver schemes. They will be required to report on progress regularly during the delivery period.
“We are really keen to hear from as many qualifying authorities as possible,” explained TTF Manager Darren Capes, who is ITS Policy Lead at the Department for Transport. “We have deliberately made the process as straightforward as possible so if you’re spending a week trying to write your application, you’re not doing it right. There are a few straightforward questions to answer, so don’t be put off – please get your bid in as soon as possible.”
A further £10 million of the TSOG fund will be shared amongst all eligible authorities. There is another £20 million in an Intelligent Traffic Management Fund, for which the challenge process will be applied between April and June 2024.
The opportunity to apply for funding is being offered to all English local highway and combined authorities outside London. The online process will be the same as that used for the 2021 Traffic Signal Maintenance allocation and again the Transport Technology Forum is working with by the Local Council Roads Innovation Group (LCRIG) to manage the challenge process on behalf of the DfT.
Authorities are urged to read the guidance here.
(Picture – TTF)
