The manager of the Transport Technology Forum, Darren Capes, has given details of how local authorities can claim a share of the £70 million earmarked to make traffic signals more efficient, which was announced by the Transport Secretary on Monday.
In launching the Department for Transport’s Plan for Drivers, Mark Harper said there would be £30 million available through a Traffic Signals Obsolescence Grant (TSOG) to upgrade traffic signal systems, replacing unreliable and obsolete equipment to improve reliability, a £20 million Green Light Fund (GLF) to tune up traffic signals to better reflect current traffic conditions and get traffic flowing and a £20 million Intelligent Traffic Management Fund (ITMF) to deploy advanced technology for traffic signals, making use of emerging technologies to optimise traffic flow and balance traffic across city centres.
Speaking at LCRIG’s Strictly Highways event in Blackpool, Mr Capes, who is ITS Policy Lead at the Department for Transport, explained £10 million of the TSOG will be paid out through the transport metrics within the Integrated Transport Block (ITB) formula, but the remaining £20 million of that money, plus the other two £20 million payments will be awarded through challenge processes opening this autumn.
For the TSOG and GLF, money will be awarded in £500,000 lots using the same process as used for the 2021 Traffic Signal Maintenance allocation. Authorities may be restricted to only one of the funds. For the ITMF, there will be one challenge process similar to the 2021 Traffic Signals Maintenance allocation, where 39 authorities were awarded either £250,000 or £500,000.
“A total of 232 schemes were implemented across the 39 authorities thanks to that funding,” Mr Capes told the audience. “Analysis suggests that has been a resounding success, leading to an average 8% to 12% reduction in journey tomes at junctions. That’s amazing – what’s not to like about that?”
Mr Capes said that the way the industry responded to the £15 million funding two years ago, and the positive effects of the schemes, helped build the case for this latest funding, which has directly led to what the government calls “the biggest investment in traffic signals in decades”.
“This is a huge opportunity for the sector,” Mr Capes added. “I’ve been on the road for most of the last year talking to suppliers and local authorities who have helped me build a case that has led to this funding – so thank you for working with me.”
The audience heard details of how they might look to spend the money. The TSOG is to replace unreliable and obsolete equipment in traffic signal systems before spare parts run out, including halogen, communications equipment, and controllers. The GLF is for tuning up traffic signals to better reflect current traffic conditions while the ITMF gives authorities the chance to deploy advanced technology for traffic signals, using emerging technologies to optimise traffic flow and balance traffic across city centres.
You can watch the speech to Strictly Highways here:
(Picture – Yay Images)
