The Transport Technology Forum has revealed that more than 97% of authorities who could apply for a share of £40 million of new money to make traffic signals more efficient put in a bid for funding.
As part of the Department for Transport’s Plan for Drivers, announced by Secretary of State Mark Harper last October, the money is being 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.
All English Councils and combined authorities outside London were able to apply for a share from two funds – the Traffic Signals Obsolescence Grant (TSOG) and Green Light Fund (GLF). Another £10 million of TSOG will be shared across all authorities. The team now analysing the bids has called the level of response “unprecedented”.
Award letters are due to be sent out at the end of February, and money, in lots of up to £500,000 will be allocated to authorities in March. Successful bidders will have two years to deliver schemes and will be required to report on progress regularly during the delivery period.
A further £20 million of funding will be available for the Intelligent Traffic Management Fund (ITMF) resulting in the award of eight-to-ten awards of around £2m, which will be applied for between April and June, and with funding awarded to successful applicants in September.
(Picture – TTF)
