The Future of Roads Minister Lilian Greenwood has voiced her support for the Live Labs 2 programme looking at ways to decarbonise local roads, telling the Highways Voices podcast there is some “very interesting innovation going on.”

Live Labs 2 is a three-year, £30million, UK-wide programme funded by the Department for Transport and managed by The Association of Directors of Environment, Economy, Planning & Transport (ADEPT) that is running a number of projects working towards the decarbonisation of local highways infrastructure and assets.

In a conversation to be published tomorrow (Wednesday), Ms Greenwood told Highways News co-owner Adrian Tatum: “We’re hugely supportive of decarbonising the highway, and that’s part of why we’re supporting the Live Labs programme. I remember going to see up in the West Midlands some of the work that they’ve been doing, and should be going to the east Riding of Yorkshire to look at some of the things that they’re doing around reducing the carbon impact of street lighting ]picture shows the Clearview Intelligence solar road studs trial in the East Riding of Yorkshire]. I think there’s some really interesting innovation going on.”

The Minister’s comments come ahead of the Live Labs 2 Expo 2025 which takes place today (Tuesday) in Liverpool, with updates about the projects a chance for small and medium-sized enterprises to take part in “Dragons’ Den”-style pitches to a panel of industry specialists including the Department for Transport and National Highways, where they will have the chance to showcase their idea, product or innovation.

The full interview with Lilian Greenwood will be published on Wednesday on the Highways News website and via a range of the most popular podcast platforms.

(Picture – Clearview)