The Department for Transport has released guidance through the Transport Technology Forum to help Local Authorities and the supply chain with bids to win a share of the £20 million Intelligent Traffic Management Fund (ITMF). This money, expected to be delivered in packages worth around £2 million each, is part of £70 million funding of improvements to traffic signals announced as part of the DfT’s Plan for Drivers by Secretary of State Mark Harper last October.
The ITMF gives authorities the chance to deploy advanced technology for traffic control, using emerging technologies to optimise vehicle flow and balance traffic across city centres.
The opportunity to apply for funding is being offered to all English local highway and combined authorities outside London. Guidance has been published detailing the workings of the funding, which involves a challenge process which will result in the award of around ten awards, which will be applied for between April and July with funding awarded to successful applicants in October.
The guidance covers eligibility, possible uses of ITMF, building consortia, design and standards, and how successful projects should be evaluated and assessed.
“In this round of funding, we are looking for truly innovative advanced technology for traffic signals and their digital equivalents, making use of machine learning and artificial intelligence to optimise traffic flow and balance traffic across wider areas,” explained Darren Capes, the DfT’s ITS Policy Lead, who wrote the guidance. “ITMF is intended to provide a small number of ‘beacon sites’ in which a range of innovative technologies are demonstrated, which can then be copied by other authorities who will have the right use and business cases to implement technology quickly and easily.”
As well as Chief Officers, councils’ signals managers will be contacted by the Department for Transport in the coming days, outlining the application process. 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.
The application process closes at the end of July 2024.
The TTF Conference from 23-25 of April in Leicestershire will feature more details about this, and TSOG and GLF, the other Plan for Drivers grants.
(Picture – TTF)
