The Trustees of the Rees Jeffreys Road Fund are celebrating 150 years since the birth of their benefactor William Rees Jeffreys with a UK-wide Competition to describe the roads of the future.

The Trustees are offering grants of up to a possible £150,000, plus cash prizes of £5,000 for schools, to encourage “new and creative thinking” about what road users, and society as a whole, expect from the roads of the future.

The £150,000 question is: What’s your vision of the way in which our roads (motorways, highways or streets) could best work for us all as we square up to the challenges of the next 50 years?

The Trustees are encouraging entries from everyone – from school children to big business, saying that for William Rees Jeffreys, safe and appealing roads and streets were the key to a better quality of life for all.

“We aren’t just looking for the imagination, innovation and creativity of your ideas – we want to see how imaginatively and creatively they can be presented,” explained Trustee Andy Graham of White Willow Consulting. “We’re after compelling ideas, compellingly presented. Because that’s what we think William would himself have wanted as a way to celebrate the 150th anniversary of his birth.”

“William was one of those rare people who could not only see into the future, but had the energy and knowledge to shape the way that future would play out,” added fellow Trustee Steve Gooding from the RAC Foundation. “Roll forward to 2021. What would William be seeing today and in the future? Would his foresight have helped him see beyond the limits of todays’ roads and todays’ technology?”

The Competition will be officially launched on 14 September in a webinar, where the aims and objectives of the Competition explained, while there is a competition website detailing how you can enter. Entries open on 14 September at 12.00.

(Picture – RJRF)