The Department for Transport has released the list of the awards to local authorities from the £50 million of new money announced in the Plan for Drivers to make traffic signals more efficient.
As part of the plan announced last October, the funding was confirmed by Secretary of State Mark Harper on 17 March, and is to be spent on a range of solutions including upgrading traffic signal systems, replacing unreliable and obsolete equipment to improve reliability, and tuning up signals to better reflect current traffic conditions and get traffic flowing.
While £10 million of the Traffic Signals Obsolescence Grant (TSOG) is being distributed automatically to all eligible English local highway authorities using the Integrated Transport Block allocation grant formula, 67 further grants totalling £40 million are being made to fund projects in 80 local authority areas. Most are for £500,000 but two combined authorities – Greater Manchester and Tees Valley – will receive multi-million payments to cover authorities across their areas.
£30 million is allocated through TSOG, which will fund replacement of unreliable and obsolete equipment in traffic signal systems before spare parts run out, including halogen, communications equipment, and controllers. The remaining £20 million, through the Green Light Fund (GLF) is for tuning up traffic signals to better reflect current traffic conditions. This is the largest single amount of spending in traffic signals in a generation.
118 of the 121 eligible local authority areas in England made an application either directly or via a Combined Authority, meaning more than two-thirds were successful in being awarded funding on top of the automatic allocation.
The Local Council Roads Innovation Group, LCRIG, worked with the Transport Technology Forum to manage the challenge process. Its CEO Paula Claytonsmith commented: “This historic investment in signals follows grants totalling £15 million paid out to 39 different authorities in 2021 which proved the value in tuning signals to improve efficiency and cut emissions. The authorities worked hard to deliver the evidence the Government needed to support this latest spending, and that team effort has really paid off. We look forward to seeing the benefits of the investment in the weeks and months to come.”
Applications for a share of a further £20 million of funding earmarked for the Intelligent Traffic Management Fund (ITMF) will open next month (April). This money, expected to be delivered in packages worth around £2 million each, gives authorities the chance to deploy advanced technology for traffic signals, using emerging technologies to optimise traffic flow and balance traffic across city centres. The application process closes at the end of July 2024 and detailed guidance has been published to help authorities with their bids.
The TTF Conference from 23-25 of April in Leicestershire will feature more details about TSOG, GLF and ITMF grants.
(Picture – TTF)
