Highways Voices: Recent Episodes
Paul Hutton
Speaking to the leaders in the highways and transport technology industries, plus catching up with the top stories from the daily newsletters from Highways-News.com.
Highways Voices continues its summer series of archive editions this week with a conversation that remains as thought-provoking today as when it was first recorded five years ago.
Journalist, author and Mail on Sunday columnist Peter Hitchens joins the podcast to challenge conventional thinking on transport policy, from electric scooters and electric vehicles to the UK's long-term reliance on the private car.
Originally recorded in 2021 as e-scooter trials were being introduced across Britain, the interview explores far more than the merits of the vehicles themselves. Mr Hitchens argues that transport policy has become too focused on road travel and questions whether technologies promoted as environmentally friendly always deliver the benefits claimed for them. He also discusses the future of public transport, walking and cycling, while setting out his vision for a transport system built around railways and trams rather than private cars.
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Throughout the discussion, Mr Hitchens questions the environmental credentials of battery-powered mobility, raises concerns about safety and enforcement surrounding e-scooters, and argues that policymakers should fundamentally rethink Britain's transport priorities. The interview offers a perspective that continues to resonate as many of the same issues remain at the centre of transport policy in 2026.
The episode follows last week's archive edition featuring advertising executive and behavioural scientist Rory Sutherland's keynote speech at the JCT Traffic Signals Symposium. Together, the two programmes provide a fascinating insight into how two of Britain's best-known commentators approach transport from very different angles – one through the lens of behavioural science, the other through politics, history and public policy.
They're also the perfect introduction to a special Highways Voices series coming in September, when both Peter Hitchens and Rory Sutherland return to debate many of the biggest questions facing transport today, offering contrasting perspectives on mobility, behaviour, public policy and how Britain should tackle the challenges of moving people and goods in the decades ahead.
Highways Voices is brought to you with our podcast partners the Transport Technology Forum, LCRIG, ITS UK and ADEPT.
As Highways Voices continues its summer series of archive editions, this week's podcast revisits one of the most entertaining and thought-provoking presentations ever delivered at the JCT Traffic Signals Symposium.
Advertising executive, behavioural scientist and author Rory Sutherland challenges transport professionals to stop thinking purely like engineers and economists and instead consider how psychology shapes the way people use, and react to, our transport networks.
In an extract from his 2023 keynote, Rory Sutherland argues that many of the industry's biggest challenges are not technical problems at all, but behavioural ones. Drawing on examples ranging from road pricing and smart motorways to electric vehicles, queueing, rail travel and even airport security, he explains why the way an idea is presented can be just as important as the idea itself. Whether discussing "range anxiety" versus "infrastructure anxiety", or why people hate uncertainty more than waiting, he makes the case that understanding human behaviour could unlock improvements worth billions of pounds.
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The talk is packed with memorable examples, including why Uber's moving map transformed the taxi experience without making cars arrive any faster, how an app could improve rail capacity before new infrastructure is built, and why smart motorways suffer because motorists notice the problems but never see the traffic jams that have been prevented. Throughout, he argues that transport innovation should bring together psychologists, marketers, engineers and economists from the very start, rather than treating behavioural science as an afterthought.
It's a keynote that's as entertaining as it is challenging, with Rory Sutherland's trademark wit prompting you to question many of the assumptions that underpin transport policy and investment. Whether you agree with every conclusion or not, it's a fascinating reminder that changing behaviour can sometimes be more powerful than changing infrastructure.
The full keynote is available here, while this week's podcast features a specially edited selection of the highlights. It also marks the first part of a special double-header featuring two of Britain's best-known public thinkers.
Next week, Highways Voices revisits an archive interview with journalist and author Peter Hitchens, ahead of a brand-new series of conversations launching in September, when Hitchens and Sutherland will each return to the podcast to debate with each other. Together, they'll explore transport, public policy, behaviour and society from two very different perspectives – making this summer's archive episodes the perfect introduction to what's coming next.
Highways Voices is brought to you with our podcast partners the Transport Technology Forum, LCRIG, ITS UK and ADEPT.
With pressure on local authorities to demonstrate meaningful progress towards net zero, today’s Highways Voices moves beyond the jargon and tackles one of the biggest challenges facing highways teams: who is actually responsible for reducing carbon, and where do you start?
First published a year ago, our guest, Zoe Sterling-Wall, who at the time was working with Brightly, explains how Carbon Literacy is about far more than awareness, it's about giving organisations the confidence to make informed decisions, create realistic carbon reduction plans and embed lasting behavioural change. Through practical examples, she discusses how highways authorities can work more effectively with contractors, break down silos across departments and ensure carbon reduction becomes a shared responsibility rather than a tick-box exercise.
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As when we first published this episode, you'll hear how carbon literacy training can simplify decision-making, empower action across entire highway networks and help local authorities embed sustainability into everyday operations. But listening again a year later also provides a useful reminder that while technology continues to evolve, success still depends on collaboration, leadership and giving people the knowledge to act with confidence.
Highways Voices returns with brand-new episodes after our summer break.
Highways Voices is brought to you with our podcast partners the Transport Technology Forum, LCRIG, ITS UK and ADEPT.
Most Highways Voices episodes explore innovation, leadership and technology. This one explores something even more powerful: the determination of one remarkable woman who refused to let life tell her "no".
In one of the most moving and inspirational conversations we've ever recorded, transport planner Lynsey Michell Turner shares her extraordinary journey from a childhood dominated by severe epilepsy, an abusive home life and repeated discrimination to building a successful career in the highways sector. She reveals how schools failed her, why employers repeatedly turned her away and how she was even advised to hide her disability to find work.
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Rather than giving up, Lynsey fought back. Through evening classes, apprenticeships and sheer persistence, she carved out a career in transport planning, earning recognition from both ITS UK and the Chartered Institution of Highways & Transportation along the way.
As well as an incredibly personal story, the episode carries an important message for employers across the highways industry. Lynsey explains why organisations should think differently about apprenticeships, neurodiversity and disability, arguing that with the right support they can unlock exceptional talent.
If you've ever wondered what resilience really looks like, this is a podcast you won't forget.
Highways Voices is brought to you with our podcast partners the Transport Technology Forum, LCRIG, ITS UK and ADEPT.
This week’s Highways Voices comes from CRASH 26, an event which brought together road safety professionals, local authorities, suppliers and infrastructure specialists for a day of live demonstrations showing what really happens when vehicles collide with roadside equipment.
The event gives delegates the opportunity to see products perform in realistic scenarios while discussing how the lessons learned can improve future road design and safety.
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In this podcast, organiser Andy Pledge explains how the event has gone from showcasing passive safety products into promoting the wider Safe System approach, bringing together experts from across road safety, emergency services, traffic management and industry to encourage better-informed decision making.
You can watch the crashes here.
We hear from Magnus Backholm of Swedish manufacturer Jerol, Neil Levett representing Multipatcher, Olly Samways of Westcotec, Ash Starkey from AS Safety and Technology, Ian McDonald from Hydro and Peter Hoban from Innovative Road Safety Solutions, each demonstrating products designed to reduce the consequences of road traffic collisions or improve the safety of those working on or alongside the highway.
The conversations cover everything from passive-safe signposts and rapidly deployable crash barriers to remotely managed roadside technology, inflatable work zone protection systems, passive-safe lighting columns and innovative products that combine environmental benefits with practical roadside infrastructure.
Together the interviews provide a fascinating snapshot of how innovation is helping move the industry closer to Vision Zero, demonstrating that improving road safety isn't simply about developing better products, it's about sharing knowledge, understanding real-world performance and ensuring everyone involved in designing, maintaining and operating the road network has the information they need to make safer decisions.
Highways Voices is brought to you with our podcast partners the Transport Technology Forum, LCRIG, ITS UK and ADEPT.
Civil engineer Elizabeth Orchard believes Britain has been looking at the potholes crisis the wrong way – and in this edition of Highways Voices she explains why – and finishes with an interesting idea to fund the solution.
Rather than focusing on political arguments over who is to blame, she explores the engineering behind deteriorating roads, from freeze-thaw cycles and aging infrastructure to the impact of changing weather patterns, utility works and decades of underinvestment.
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Drawing on her experience as a Chartered Civil Engineer and founder of consultancy Endelevu, in conversation with Paul Hutton, Mrs Orchard tackles some of the biggest misconceptions surrounding road maintenance. She explains why heavier electric vehicles are not the villain many people assume, why simply resurfacing a road often fails to solve the problem, and why maintenance strategies need to be tailored to local conditions rather than relying on one-size-fits-all solutions.
The discussion also examines the pressures facing local authorities, from shrinking engineering teams to the challenge of maintaining thousands of miles of highway with limited resources. Mrs Orchard argues that rebuilding technical expertise within councils could save money in the long term while creating more resilient highway networks.
Perhaps the most thought-provoking section comes towards the end of the conversation, when she suggests Britain should stop treating roads as a financial liability and start viewing them as valuable assets capable of generating income through the intelligent use of data. She points to examples from Europe where anonymised vehicle and infrastructure data are already helping to fund maintenance and improve network management.
"There are solutions, and there are ways of making money - other people in the rest of the world are already doing it [and] it's time Britain catches up," she explains, arguing that a smarter approach to highway data could transform how roads are maintained for decades to come.
This episode offers a refreshing perspective on one of the UK's most talked-about infrastructure challenges. Rather than simply discussing potholes, it explores the engineering, economics and innovation that could provide lasting answers, making it essential listening for anyone interested in the future of Britain's roads.
Highways Voices is brought to you with our podcast partners the Transport Technology Forum, LCRIG, ITS UK and ADEPT.
This week’s Highways Voices podcast takes you from connected vehicle data that's finally moving beyond endless pilot projects to artificial intelligence that can identify road defects before they become a problem, as we bring you chat from the LCRIG Innovation and Learning Festival, where the latest ideas aren’t just being talked about – they’re being put into practice.
Host Paul Hutton catches up with some of the sector's leading thinkers and innovators, including White Willow Consulting’s Andy Graham explaining why connected vehicle technology has reached the point where authorities can simply get on and use it, Nicander’s Sam Brierley demonstrating how AI is transforming highway asset management, and Steve Walton revealing how Via East Midlands is preparing to deliver a huge maintenance programmes.
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There's also a first for the podcast as Paul interviews Luka the robot, while leading industry consultant Neil Levett highlights the technologies that caught his eye around the festival. Anna Blake and Christopher Long from Solar Gates explain how smarter temporary traffic management is reducing costs, cutting carbon and improving safety, and Jordan Cowley looks ahead to the huge opportunities presented by the ITS World Congress Birmingham 2027.
It's a programme packed with practical examples of how technology is making highways safer, more efficient and better connected – and why the conversations taking place at events like this are helping to shape the future of our industry.
Our guests:
- Andy Graham, White Willow Consulting
- Sam Brierley, Nicander
- Luka, Robot
- Neil Levett, Levett Business Services chatting with Highways News's Libby McMahon
- Steve Walton, Via East Midlands
- Anna Blake and Christopher Long, Solar Gates
- Jordan Cowley, Transport for West Midlands
Also don’t forget to check out the winners of the 2026 DfT Special Recognition Apprentice Awards, as mentioned by Paul in the podcast.
Highways Voices is brought to you with our podcast partners the Transport Technology Forum, LCRIG, ITS UK and ADEPT.
How can the highways sector deliver innovation faster while navigating tight budgets, procurement hurdles and increasing demands on road networks? That's the question explored in the latest episode of the Highways Voices podcast, recorded at SWARCO's User Group meeting in Coventry last week.
Host Paul Hutton is joined by Derek McLean, Head of Product and Solutions at SWARCO, his colleague, SWARCO’s Urban Systems Manager Andrea Newman, Richard Ling, Head of Parking and Traffic Management at Cambridgeshire County Council, and Peter Eccleson, Managing Director of smartmicro UK. Together they discuss how the industry's growing focus on collaboration is helping suppliers, local authorities and technology partners tackle common challenges and deliver better outcomes for road users.
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The panel examines the ongoing difficulties surrounding revenue funding, procurement regulations and asset renewal, while also highlighting opportunities created by emerging technologies. Richard Ling explains how authorities can make the case for investment by focusing on long-term savings, while Peter Eccleson argues that the sector must become quicker at embracing innovations that can improve network management and unlock the value of data.
The discussion also explores how suppliers are responding to changing customer expectations. Derek McLean and Andrea Newman describe how SWARCO is working more closely with customers and partners to develop solutions that integrate with existing infrastructure, making it easier for authorities to adopt new technologies without major capital expenditure.
Looking ahead, the conversation turns to artificial intelligence, data-driven decision making and the need for an industry-wide approach to innovation. Despite the challenges, all four guests strike an optimistic tone, arguing that stronger collaboration, open communication and a shared focus on solving customer problems are creating plenty of reasons to be positive about the future of highways and traffic management. Listen to the full episode now on Highways Voices.
Highways Voices is brought to you with our podcast partners the Transport Technology Forum, LCRIG, ITS UK and ADEPT.
Road safety and intelligent transport solutions specialist Rennicks is celebrating its 50th anniversary, and this Highways Voices podcast marks the milestone, featuring Rennicks Chairman Michael Flanagan and Director Robert Tait.
Mr Flanagan reflects on the company's journey from its origins in Ireland in the mid-1970s to becoming a recognised name in traffic signs, vehicle registration plate systems and intelligent transport technologies. He recounts how founders Robin and Maureen Rennicks identified an opportunity in reflective materials before expanding into traffic signage and eventually the wider road safety market.
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The podcast also explores some of the biggest challenges the company has faced, including a patent dispute that temporarily removed a key product line and threatened a significant proportion of the business. We hear how the setback forced Rennicks to diversify and innovate, helping lay the foundations for future growth.
Looking to the future, Mr Tait discusses the growing role of intelligent transport systems, connected vehicle technologies and data-driven solutions. He highlights the opportunities presented by the government's RIS3 investment programme and the move towards digitally enabled road networks, while explaining how Rennicks is developing technology-led products to meet emerging customer needs.
Throughout the discussion, Mr Flanagan returns to the themes that have underpinned Rennicks' success over the past five decades: putting customers first, investing in people and maintaining the agility to adapt to changing markets. As the company looks ahead to its next chapter, the podcast provides a fascinating insight into the growth of one of the UK's longest-established road safety businesses.
Highways Voices is brought to you with our podcast partners the Transport Technology Forum, LCRIG, ITS UK and ADEPT.
What happens when you have the right idea at the right time… but still fail?
In this thought-provoking episode of Highways Voices, Paul Hutton sits down with Andrew Caleya Chetty, founder of Starling Technologies, for a candid conversation about innovation, ambition, and the harsh realities of bringing new technology into the transport sector.
Less than two years ago, Starling Technologies was generating excitement with its vision for smarter, more responsive traffic management. The company appeared perfectly positioned to help local authorities harness the power of AI and machine learning to improve network performance. Yet despite strong interest in the technology and a clear market need, the business ultimately closed its doors.
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So, what went wrong?
Andrew shares the deeply personal story behind Starling’s rise and fall, revealing why success in the intelligent transport sector requires far more than great technology. He discusses the challenges of lengthy procurement cycles, delayed project delivery, uncertain funding streams, and the difficulties of sustaining a start-up while waiting for opportunities to convert into contracts.
But this is about much more than one company’s story.
The conversation explores the wider barriers facing innovation across transport and asks some difficult questions. If the industry wants to benefit from rapid advances in AI, data analytics and digital services, are current procurement and funding models fit for purpose? How can local authorities and suppliers work together to create an environment where innovators can thrive rather than struggle to survive?
Despite the disappointment, Andrew remains remarkably optimistic about the future and passionate about creating better, more efficient cities through technology.
Whether you're a local authority leader, technology supplier, consultant or anyone interested in the future of transport innovation, this episode offers valuable lessons, honest reflections and important insights into how the sector can avoid losing the next generation of game-changing ideas.
Highways Voices is brought to you with our podcast partners the Transport Technology Forum, LCRIG, ITS UK and ADEPT.
ADEPT’s Live Labs 2 programme has spent the last three years tackling one of highways’ biggest challenges: how do you decarbonise roads, street lighting and maintenance without increasing risk, blowing budgets or frightening local authorities away from innovation?
That’s the subject of this week’s Highways Voices podcast, where ADEPT’s Giles Perkins gives an unusually candid insight into how the sector is trying to move from climate ambition to practical delivery.
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The conversation goes well beyond the standard “net zero” conversation. Mr Perkins explains that while the industry has focused heavily on reducing tailpipe emissions, Live Labs 2 is looking at “everything else” - the carbon generated by the infrastructure itself, from pothole repairs and asphalt production to verge maintenance, lighting and procurement processes.
One of the most insightful parts of the discussion centres on risk. Mr Perkins describes how many local authorities are reluctant to be first movers because of fears around liability, standards and unintended consequences. Host Paul Hutton recalls conversations around East Riding of Yorkshire’s street lighting trials where officers worried that removing lighting, even with alternative safety measures in place, could expose them to criticism or even coroners’ investigations after collisions.
The podcast explores how Live Labs 2 is trying to “de-risk” innovation by generating evidence authorities can trust. Projects discussed include low-carbon asphalt trials, carbon-negative road upgrades in Devon, Liverpool’s work on procurement reform, and experiments turning highways grass cuttings into biofuels.
We also learn why the programme’s newly funded fourth year is perhaps the most important phase yet. Rather than building more demonstrators, the focus is now on dissemination: helping councils, contractors and suppliers understand what has worked and how it can be scaled nationwide. For example, applying some of the East Riding street lighting principles nationally could save around 100,000 tonnes of carbon and cut £1 billion from public spending.
For anyone working in highways, local government, infrastructure innovation or transport policy, this episode provides a rare opportunity to hear how the sector is attempting to turn sustainability from isolated pilots into “business as usual”. It is also a revealing look at the cultural, procurement and behavioural barriers that still stand in the way of faster change.
Highways Voices is brought to you with our podcast partners the Transport Technology Forum, LCRIG, ITS UK and ADEPT.
This week on Highways Voices, we tackle one of the most important issues facing transport professionals today: road safety.
To discuss whether the industry is truly serious about Vision Zero, we’re joined by Jamie Hassall, Executive Director of PACTS, the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety, who delivers a frank and thought-provoking challenge to many of the assumptions drivers, policymakers and even transport professionals hold about safety on the road network.
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In the conversation, he argues that Britain’s national speed limit system is outdated, particularly on rural roads, and explains why “safe speed” is often very different from the number shown on a sign. The conversation explores the backlash against 20mph limits, why compliance with speed limits remains so poor, and whether technologies like Intelligent Speed Assistance, telematics and autonomous vehicles could fundamentally change driver behaviour.
We also discuss why road safety investment still struggles to secure funding despite crashes – including many which are preventable - costing the UK economy billions each year, and whether organisations that repeatedly claim “safety is our number one priority” are genuinely backing those words with meaningful action.
Perhaps most importantly, Jamie Hassall makes the case for a major focus on work-related road safety, arguing that fleet operators and employers could play a transformative role in reducing deaths and serious injuries on Britain’s roads.
This is a conversation guaranteed to spark debate across the highways and transport technology sector.
Highways Voices is brought to you with our podcast partners the Transport Technology Forum, LCRIG, ITS UK and ADEPT.
As the Government prepares to introduce a new pay-per-mile charging scheme for electric vehicles from 2028, the debate is heating up and you’ll hear the latest thinking on today’s Highways Voices.
In this recorded inside the Houses of Parliament, industry leaders, campaign groups, technology experts and motoring representatives come together to tackle one of the biggest questions facing the future of transport funding: how do we replace fuel duty in an electric future, and can it be done fairly and effectively?
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With warnings of a £27 billion hole in Treasury finances as drivers move away from petrol and diesel, supporters argue EV road charging is inevitable. But concerns remain around privacy, public trust, fairness for drivers without home charging, and whether the technology, and politics, are ready.
This episode explores:
- Why EV road charging is now firmly on the political agenda
- Why simple odometer charging is not necessarily enough, or if smarter location-based systems are needed
- The lessons the UK can learn from countries already operating road user charging
- Fears around a lower EV uptake
- Concerns around driver privacy, public acceptance and implementation timescales
- Why the real challenge isn’t technology, but political courage
You’ll hear passionate arguments from across the sector, including advocates for smarter road pricing, warnings from EV drivers themselves, and hard-earned lessons from those who’ve delivered complex charging systems before.
Whether you work in highways, transport policy, mobility technology or simply want to understand how the UK pays for roads in a post-fuel-duty future, this is a conversation you won’t want to miss.
Listen now and join the debate on the future of road charging in the UK.
You’ll hear from:
- Ben Plowden – CEO, Campaign for Better Transport
- Silviya Barrett - Director of Strategy and Research, Campaign for Better Transport
- Tim Wray – UK & Ireland Sales Director. Kapsch
- Max Sugarman – Chief Executive, Intelligent Transport Systems UK (ITS-UK)
- Richard Sallnow – Associate, PA Consulting
- Vicky Edmonds – CEO, EVA England
- Steve Gooding, RAC Foundation, Director
Highways Voices is brought to you with our podcast partners the Transport Technology Forum, LCRIG, ITS UK and ADEPT.
Helen Clifford’s story is remarkable enough on its own: in 1984, she became London Transport’s first female mechanic, walking into a world of workshop pin-up calendars, no women’s changing facilities and a culture that simply wasn’t designed for women, and she’s now been recognised for it.
In this edition of Highways Voices, recorded at the London Transport Museum during celebrations marking the unveiling of a blue plaque in her honour, she reflects with warmth and humour on what it was really like to break barriers in one of Britain’s most male-dominated industries.
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But this episode is about far more than one pioneering career. Transport for London’s Director of Buses, Lorna Murphy, explains why inclusivity matters to the future of transport, why the industry still has a long way to go, and how getting more women into buses and highways ultimately creates better services for everyone.
The conversation also broadens into a discussion about the future of public transport itself. Murphy shares TfL’s thinking on how cities can encourage more people onto buses through affordable fares, seamless interchange and giving public transport priority on increasingly crowded roads. She also offers practical advice for local authorities taking greater control of their bus networks, arguing that successful regulation must focus relentlessly on what passengers actually need, from frequency and reliability to waiting environments and easy connections.
Alongside reflections on joining the industry from Highways News’s new recruit, Libby McMahon, this uplifting episode celebrates progress, challenges assumptions and explores how buses remain central to cleaner, better-connected cities.
Highways Voices is brought to you with our podcast partners the Transport Technology Forum, LCRIG, ITS UK and ADEPT.
In this week’s Highways Voices we discover how connected vehicle data is transforming the way we understand and manage our roads
Industry veteran Steve Isaacs is Paul Hutton’s guest to explore an innovative solution from Swedish firm Nira Dynamics, using data from hundreds of thousands of Volkswagen Group vehicles to deliver real-time insights into road conditions.
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By measuring friction where the tyre meets the road, this technology can identify hazards like standing water, ice, and snow as they happen, offering a powerful new tool for highway authorities.
From smarter winter maintenance and reduced salt usage to proactive drainage and asset management, Steve Isaacs explains how the potential benefits are significant. With continuous, network-wide monitoring replacing traditional one-off surveys, this could mark a step-change in efficiency, safety, and cost-effectiveness.
Listen now to get a fascinating look at how everyday vehicle data can unlock unprecedented visibility of the road network.
Highways Voices is brought to you with our podcast partners the Transport Technology Forum, LCRIG, ITS UK and ADEPT.
Here’s our third episode of Highways Voices the ITS European Congress in Istanbul, and today there’s a clear eye on the future, as anticipation builds for the ITS World Congress in Birmingham 2027.
Host Paul Hutton brings together a mix of expert insight, industry conversation and on-the-ground perspective from one of the sector’s key global gatherings. At the heart of the episode is a thoughtful overview from Chief Rapporteur Professor Eric Sampson, who distils the major themes emerging from the Congress. From data-driven safety management and inclusive mobility design, to the challenges of integrating transport modes and scaling up autonomous vehicle deployment, his reflections highlight both how far the industry has come, and how much work still lies ahead.
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There’s a strong sense that intelligent transport systems are evolving rapidly, but not always smoothly. Discussions around user behaviour, equity, and affordability underline the importance of designing solutions that work for real people, while innovations in logistics, like remotely assisted electric delivery vehicles, show how technology is tackling urban challenges in new ways. At the same time, big questions remain, particularly around the business case and real-world impact of autonomous vehicles.
Away from the conference sessions, the podcast captures the buzz of the exhibition floor and the value of international collaboration. A chance encounter with industry expert Neil Levett reveals how traditional civil engineering and cutting-edge technology are increasingly converging, with innovations like fibre-optic traffic monitoring systems pointing to a safer, more efficient future.
The episode also explores the wider economic and social value of the ITS sector. ITS UK CEO Max Sugarman shares his research showing the industry is worth far more than previously thought, supporting tens of thousands of jobs and delivering significant economic impact, while also highlighting efforts to inspire the next generation.
Running throughout the podcast is a growing excitement about what comes next, with strong international interest already building for Birmingham 2027, and you’ll hear lots about this, plus get a flavour of a special reception for UK companies with the local British Chamber of Commerce.
Overall, this episode is a compelling snapshot of a sector full of innovation, collaboration and ambition, and a great way to get a feel for the conversations shaping the future of transport.
For additional information about Birmingham 2027 or to make enquiries and bookings, interested parties are invited to contact salescongress@mail.ertico.com or go to: https://2027.itsworldcongress.com/
Jordan Cowley – Jordan.Cowley@tfwm.org.uk
Jasvinder Sidhu – j.sidhu@ertico.mail.com
Highways Voices is brought to you with our podcast partners the Transport Technology Forum, LCRIG, ITS UK and ADEPT.
Connected vehicle technology is no longer a future concept, it’s already embedded in the cars people drive and the networks we operate. So why does deployment still feel slow and fragmented?
Recorded at the ITS European Congress in Istanbul, this panel discussion focuses on the real challenge facing the sector: how to move from capability to widespread implementation. Bringing together leaders from government, industry and local authorities, the discussion explores what’s holding progress back, and what’s starting to unlock it.
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Hear from:
- Joost Vantomme, CEO of ERTICO – ITS Europe
- Darren Capes, Head of Road Infrastructure Technology at the Department for Transport
- Kerry Winstanley, Managing Director of LCRIG
- Max Sugarman, CEO of ITS UK
Their message is clear: the technology largely exists, deployment is the challenge.
Highways Voices is brought to you with our podcast partners the Transport Technology Forum, LCRIG, ITS UK and ADEPT.
We’re in Istanbul for the 2026 ITS European Congress this week, and we kick off our series of podcasts with our “pitwalk”, where we chat to the exhibitors on the UK Pavilion.
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Paul Hutton talks to ten guests in 25 minutes to underline to you how, from AI-powered cameras to radar-based incident detection, there’s a huge amount of innovation here and now across the sector and that, more and more, data and AI are at the heart of modern mobility.
Our guests are:
- Inada Penman, AECOM
- Nora Ali, Clearview Intelligence
- Murat Hayri Serafettinoglu, Fides (Clearview’s Turkish partner)
- Giorgio Potenza, AGD Systems
- Helen Garrett, MAV Systems
- Thomas Greene, Q-Free
- Luis Miranda Hevia, Q-Free
- Graham Jennings, Navtech Radar
- Richard Owen, Agilysis
- Jordan Cowley, Transport for West Midlands
You’ll hear how collaboration is driving progress globally, with our UK companies working closely with international partners, sharing expertise and scaling solutions across borders.This highlights how connected the ITS ecosystem has become, and this isn’t stuff of the future, it’s here and now and making our lives better.
Highways Voices is brought to you with our podcast partners the Transport Technology Forum, LCRIG, ITS UK and ADEPT.
Today on Highways Voices we find out how improving performance in an industry can come down to an overlooked skill – communication.
For decision makers in highways and transport operations, maintaining reliable, customer-focused services while hitting performance targets is a constant challenge.
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So this episode explores how a shift in recruitment strategy, focusing on communication and customer service skills rather than traditional operational backgrounds, and how it’s helping one operation reduce complaints and improve relationships between different staff members.
We’re talking to Annette Pratten-Lane, Control Centre Manager at Arriva’s Purley Way bus hub in London, whose rethink of recruitment strategy has led to a fourfold increase in female controllers – rising from 5% to 20% – by targeting candidates with strong communication skills rather than traditional bus industry experience.
Reflecting wider industry efforts supported by the organisation Women in Bus and Coach, she’s explained to Paul Hutton how diversifying your workforce can directly improve operational performance and reduce customer complaints
In today’s episode you’ll learn why communication skills, and not a technical background, are becoming the most critical asset in control room environments and see how fresh perspectives from outside the industry can challenge outdated practices and drive better outcomes
Highways Voices is brought to you with our podcast partners the Transport Technology Forum, LCRIG, ITS UK and ADEPT.
This week’s Highways Voices features one of the most important people in the highways and transport technology industries - Michael Schuch, the CEO of SWARCO.
He sat down with Paul Hutton for an in-depth chat about the industry during Intertraffic Amsterdam and they discussed sustainability, the challenges around, and the state of the industry globally, plus, of course, AI and cyber security.
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By listening to this podcast you’ll hear an industry leader explain why, while sustainability might not be grabbing the headlines as often these days, for SWARCO, it’s a non-negotiable.You’ll also hear why many of the biggest challenges in our industry aren’t about the technology at all, they’re about the systems around it and why mobility in the 2020s is definitely about making better use of what we’ve already got.
This isn’t the sort of podcast you get elsewhere where someone tells you how great his company is, it’s about a real piece of thought leadership about our industry and where it’s heading.
Highways Voices is brought to you with our partners the Transport Technology Forum, LCRIG, ADEPT and ITS UK.
Today on Highways Voices we visit the site of one of the UK's largest infrastructure projects, and one with a very interesting back story. The A417 Missing Link project in Gloucestershire has been covered quite often on Highways News, so now with construction work at a critical phase, Kevin Borras visited the project office in Birdlip to talk to National Highways, Kier Transportation and Prolectric about some of the unique and fascinating elements of the £460m road that, when it's finished, will link Brockworth and Cowley via a new, three-mile long dual carriageway.
Aiming to reduce congestion and improve connectivity between the Midlands and the South, the project also includes the construction of a new junction and green bridges, with completion scheduled for spring 2027 - all with making as little environmental impact as possible a key priority. But why was it missing in the first place?
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We hear from National Highways' A417 Missing Link Senior Project Manager Celine Acard, Kier Transportation's Senior Project Manager Nick Williams and from Kathryn Adams, Director of Product for Prolectric, the company responsible for the project hitting its environmental targets, thanks to its use of renewable energy.
You'll find out why the link was never built, how public engagement was used so smartly, how the unprecedented low carbon targets are being met, why the sustainability angle was deemed so important and how the needs and requirements of cows and bats were also part of the enormous equation.
Highways Voices is brought to you with our partners the Transport Technology Forum, LCRIG, ADEPT and ITS UK.
In this final bonus episode of Highways Voices from Intertraffic Amsterdam 2026, we bring you more conversations highlighting how innovation is already transforming transport systems, from airports to urban streets.
We hear how automated vehicles are moving staff around Schiphol Airport and pointing towards scalable platooned transport systems, while in cities, attention turns to logistics, where better freight access depends on political will, collaboration and smarter use of data to manage limited curb space and support more liveable environments. You’ll hear how parking is heading towards frictionless, invisible payments, while innovations like solar road studs show how infrastructure can be both safer and more sustainable.
Podcasts from Intertraffic are sponsored by SWARCO, Westcotec, AGD Systems and TRL.
Across the sector, data is the common thread. From market intelligence shaping strategy to real-time and predictive analytics improving traffic management, better insights are driving better decisions. Meanwhile, new sensing technologies, from fibre-optic monitoring to thermal detection, are enhancing safety, efficiency and resilience across the network.
From automation and analytics to safety and sustainability, this episode underlines how the transport sector is moving beyond ideas into real-world deployment, and delivering smarter, safer and more efficient networks today.
Our guests are:
- Joost Ortjens - Director of EMEA and Corporate Development, Ohmio
- Daniel Herrera Meek – Project and Parking Working Group Manager, POLIS
- Tom Hedman – Vice President, Sales, Billogram
- Ralph Bates – Head of Business Development (England & Wales), Clearview Intelligence
- Sabine Röttgen – Market Intelligence, Jenoptik
- Ralf-Peter Schäfer – VP Product Management, Traffic & Travel Information, TomTom
- Matt Smith – National Technology Manager, Kier Infrastructure
- Stefaan Pinck – VP Business Development (Traffic Solutions), FLIR
Check out Highways News’s new TikTok channel here.
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Our latest episode of the Highways Voices podcast, recorded live at Intertraffic Amsterdam 2026, brings together six leading voices from across the global mobility sector, highlighting how artificial intelligence, connected systems and data-driven innovation are rapidly reshaping transport, road safety and urban mobility.
Podcasts from Intertraffic are sponsored by SWARCO, Westcotec, AGD Systems and TRL.
Featuring senior figures from Jenoptik, Kapsch, the European Parking Association, Ekin Smart City Technologies, Monotch and MOVYON, the programme provides a comprehensive snapshot of where the industry is heading—and why collaboration across sectors is becoming more critical than ever.
You’ll hear from:
- Adrian Cadd – Managing Director, Jenoptik UK
- Carolin Treichl – EVP EMEA, Kapsch
- Tom Antonissen – Executive Director, European Parking Association
- Akif Ekin – Founder and CEO, Ekin Smart City Technology
- Menno Malta – CEO, Monotch
- Lorenzo Maraia - Urban Mobility Director, MOVYON
Across all six interviews, a clear theme emerges: the future of mobility lies in intelligent, connected systems that use data to make transport safer, fairer and more efficient.
Whether through enforcement, charging, parking, traffic management or infrastructure monitoring, AI is no longer a future concept, it is already embedded across the network, often operating invisibly in the background.
This latest Highways Voices episode captures that transformation in action, offering you a front-row seat to the ideas and innovations shaping the roads of tomorrow.
Check out Highways News’s new TikTok channel here.
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Today on Highways Voices, we dig into the detail of this year’s Annual Local Authority Road Maintenance, ALARM survey, which was published on Tuesday 17 March, and showed a record £18.6 billion local road repair backlog.
The report warned road users should not expect a quick fix to the condition of local roads, despite a reported increase in funding, and that carriageway repairs would take 12 years to clear.
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We talk to Asphalt Industry Alliance Chair David Giles who highlights a challenge that directly affects policy decisions, asset management strategies, and funding priorities. He explores why the backlog continues to grow, how funding strategies could make a bigger impact, and what smarter maintenance approaches could mean for the future resilience of the UK’s road network.
You’ll get a clear understanding of why the UK’s road maintenance backlog continues to grow despite increased funding. Mr Giles gives practical insights into how funding models, such as front-loading investment, could deliver better long-term value and faster network recovery and also discusses preventative maintenance, whole-life road management, and the role of data and standards in improving road condition monitoring.
Read about the survey here.
Next week we return to Intertraffic Amsterdam for more content from that huge show thanks to our sponsors of those podcasts SWARCO, Westcotec, AGD Systems and TRL.
From the buzzing show floor in Amsterdam, today’s Highways Voices from Intertraffic 2026 captures the energy of the event and looks at some important views around road safety, maintenance and taxation, as well as focussing on how to make a great exhibition.
In this episode, sponsored by SWARCO, Westcotec, AGD Systems and TRL, you’ll hear Acusensus CEO Alex Jannick tell Paul Hutton his powerful real-world impact story that led to the creation of the highly effective distracted driving enforcement solution, saving families from the grief of road deaths.
TRL’s Paul Campion gives a clear explanation of iROADS—the millimetre-accurate, data-rich platform reshaping asset management, while Arup’s Lawrence Tate tackles the political minefield of road charging and explains the five steps governments must take to build trust and get pay-per-mile schemes off the ground.
Finally, SWARCO’s Richard Neumann tells us how the company consistently builds the busiest, most magnetic stand at the world’s biggest highways show, and then ERTICO’s CEO Joost Vantomme looks ahead to next month’s ITS European Congress in Istanbul and the ITS World Congress 2027 in Birmingham. Both events, of course, will be covered extensively on Highways Voices.
Today’s guests:
- Alex Jannick – CEO and Founder, Acusensus
- Paul Campion – CEO, TRL
- Laurens Tait – Director Cities & Transport Market Leader, Arup
- Richard Neumann - Senior Manager Communications and Events, SWARCO
- Joost Vantomme – CEO, ERTICO – ITS Europe
Plus you’ll hear from Highways News reporters Kevin Borras and Libby McMahon.
Check out Highways News’s new TikTok channel here.
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Highways Voices is back in the RAI for Intertraffic Amsterdam, touring the huge exhibition and conference sessions to find out more about the future of transport.
These podcasts are brought to you thanks to the support of SWARCO, Westcotec, AGD Systems and TRL.
Today we find out how we can learn from the Dutch in increasing active travel and how
Westcotec’s close following warning system is a direct response to collision data and customer demand, not a solution looking for a problem.
We learn how freight automation is already solving real-world logistics challenges, while MAV Systems discuss how advanced ANPR solutions can be used in a variety of solutions around enforcement, parking and EV charging, and DELTABLOC explain their award-winning shift into fibre-optic sensing demonstrates how physical roadside assets are doubling as data-rich ITS platforms.
Our guests today are:
- Chris Brunlett – International Relations Manager at Dutch Cycling Embassy
- Olly Samways – Sales Director at Westcotec
- Nourie Boraie – Einride - Global Policy Strategy at Einride and Richard Bishop – Principal at Bishop Consulting
- Andy Humphries – Managing Director, MAV Systems
- Thomas Edl - Managing Director, DELTABLOC
With interviews by Paul Hutton and Kevin Borras.
Check out Highways News’s new TikTok channel here.
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You’re catching us in the RAI for Intertraffic Amsterdam 2026 again on Highways Voices today as we discuss AI controlling traffic signals, smarter road safety systems, and data that predicts crashes before they happen.
These podcasts are brought to you thanks to the support of SWARCO, Westcotec, AGD Systems and TRL.
In today’s programme you’ll hear from the CEO of SWARCO about changes to the business, ten flagship projects on four continents being showcased and the importance of cyber security.
Meanwhile the CEO of ITS UK discusses the real value Intelligent Transport Systems bring to the economy, while TRL balance new innovations with keeping existing infrastructure up to scratch. We also talk about a merger between the International and European Road Federations while Valerann discuss why it sometimes takes longer for companies to get traction for their great ideas, even though they could have a really positive benefit when deployed.
Our guests today are:
- Michael Schuch – CEO, SWARCO
- Max Sugarman – CEO, ITS UK
- Gonzalo Alcaraz – Director General, IRF and Christoph Nicodem – Director General, ERF
- James Long – Strategic Initiatives Director, TRL
- Olga Gonzalez – VP of Sales and Marketing, Valerann
This week Highways Voices podcasts come from Intertraffic 2026, with our reporting team on the exhibition floor of probably the world’s most influential traffic and mobility event.
While only scratching the surface of this huge event featuring 900 exhibitors and 30,000 visitors, this episode does capture the energy, insights, and innovative thinking driving the future of transport technology, from AI in traffic data to smart mobility solutions and road safety.
These podcasts are brought to you thanks to the support of SWARCO, Westcotec, AGD Systems and TRL.
You'll hear:
- A behind-the-scenes look at the Intertraffic experience from both newbies and seasoned veterans
- Highlights from industry leaders on road safety challenges and technology adoption
- Practical insights into AI, connected vehicle data, smart ticketing and mobility platforms
- Real world applications of mobility data — from traffic planning to passenger experience
Our guests are:
- Chris Spinks - MD of Westcotec
- Steve Phillips - Secretary General, CEDR
- Lorenzo Modena - CEO and Founder, OpenMove
- Giorgio Potenza - International Business Development Manager, AGD Systems
- Douglas Gilmour - Global Business Development Manager, TomTom
Plus our reporters Paul Hutton, Kevin Borras and Libby McMahon.
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Today on Highways Voices we return to discussing the challenges faced by highways authorities and freight operators at the kerbside, a solution to it and, more widely why this and other solutions to tackle congestion and air pollution aren't being snapped up.
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We hear from John Crosk, Chairman of the Brewery Logistics Group, and Toby Hiles, Director at Grid Smarter Cities, to talk about how unsafe or inaccessible kerbside environments for city-centre pubs trigger missed deliveries, rework miles, health-and-safety exposure, and administrative cost spirals, and how it can be fixed.
You'll hear about how to eliminate enforcement conflicts, reduce rework, and protect driver welfare, and how data can help local authorities prioritise the most hazardous streets, as well as the challenges to all innovators in getting their solutions embraced.
Highways Voices is brought to you with our partners the Transport Technology Forum, LCRIG, ADEPT and ITS UK.
Today on Highways Voices, we talk "the madness of cars" with journalist and author Peter Hitchens, who is writing a book with that name arguing that Britain’s transport infrastructure has wrongly been built around the motor vehicle, and that we are suffering today from the effects of flawed transport policy of the 1960s onwards.
He talks about how he thinks our transport planners and users are locked in a transport system that doesn’t work, and explains how we arrived here, with decades of prioritising road expansion, dismantling rail and tram systems, and shaping cities around cars. He talks about what it would have to take to rebuild a transport network that actually works for efficiency, resilience, and long-term public value.
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You'll hear a lesson about how historical policy decisions continue to drive today’s congestion, land-use challenges, operational inefficiencies, and public-health impacts. He discusses the view that adding more roads rarely solves congestion, and about alternatives that could increase capacity without inducing more traffic and how thoughtful city planning can complement modern highway networks to create scalable, multimodal mobility.
Press play now to hear why rethinking car-centric design could unlock more capacity, lower costs, and create a more resilient future for the highways and mobility systems you help shape.
Highways Voices is brought to you with our partners the Transport Technology Forum, LCRIG, ADEPT and ITS UK.
“The question isn't whether we can afford to maintain TOPAS, it's whether we can afford to become a nation where every junction is an experiment. Every upgrade is a gamble, and every innovation is incompatible with the last.”
What happens to your network when every junction becomes an experiment—and every upgrade a gamble? That's the subject on this Highways Voices.
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Kealie Franklin from TOPAS, Traffic Open Products and Specifications, which verifies compliance with specifications for traffic control products, is guest on the podcast, along with three key suppliers, Martin Andrews, Services Director at Yunex, Rob Harding, Engineering Manager for Telent’s traffic business and SWARCO's Head of Product and Solutions, Derek McLean.
They discuss why standards are not bureaucracy, but are the foundation that enables innovation, protects public investment and ensures compatibility across the UK network. With connected vehicles, AI-driven detection, and automated transport systems accelerating, the conversation suggests the stakes for getting this right have never been higher.
You'll hear clear insight into why interoperability won’t happen without us creating, and then demanding adherence to, rigorous standards, which are essential for safety today and connected and automated vehicle readiness tomorrow.
There's a practical understanding of how TOPAS enables innovation rather than restricts it, including emerging updates such as enhanced detector messaging protocols and that a sharper procurement perspective helps us avoid false economies, vendor lock-in, and long-term maintenance risks caused by non-compliant or incompatible equipment.
Whether you're a local authority or part of the supply chain, this is an important 30 minutes, and well worth your time.
Highways Voices is brought to you with our partners the Transport Technology Forum, LCRIG, ADEPT and ITS UK.
It's National Apprenticeship Week, and the next generation of our industry's leaders provides the backdrop for this episode of Highways Voices, which focuses on the growing role apprenticeships can play in solving the highways and transport sector’s ongoing skills shortages.
Today, host Paul Hutton speaks with Ben Harrison, an apprentice data scientist at National Highways, whose career path is far from traditional - he moved from being a trainee detective with West Yorkshire Police into his current technology-focused position shaping the future of our strategic road network.
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The conversation highlights how apprenticeships are no longer just an option for school leavers, but a practical route for career changers seeking to retrain without stepping away from full-time employment.
Ben Harrison reflects on how, at 18, he lacked awareness of the opportunities available, noting that most of his peers automatically followed the university route, and his hindsight-driven view gives the discussion a relatable edge, particularly for younger listeners facing similar crossroads today.
Crucially, the podcast also provides an accessible insight into what data science looks like inside National Highways. Harrison describes a working life split between structured learning and real-world project delivery, including involvement in the development of a customer contact chatbot now live on the organisation’s website. The episode paints a picture of apprentices contributing immediately, not in minor support roles, but in meaningful operational work tied directly to public-facing services.
Alongside the technical discussion, there is a clear emphasis on personal development and organisational culture. Our guest speaks positively about the support offered from colleagues, senior leadership, and delivery partners, and describes the level of trust placed in apprentices as a major benefit. He also acknowledges the pressures of balancing study commitments with live project deadlines, offering a realistic account of the challenges involved in learning on the job.
The episode ultimately positions apprenticeships as a strategic tool for the highways sector, not just a training scheme. With references to AI sustainability initiatives and future-focused career progression, the discussion frames early talent development as essential to building long-term leadership and technical capability. If you're interested in skills policy or workforce planning (and you should be!), the podcast delivers a timely and grounded example of how industry recruitment is moving on, plus it gives you an insight into the practical use of AI in transport infrastructure.
Highways Voices is brought to you with our partners the Transport Technology Forum, LCRIG, ADEPT and ITS UK.
How can today’s highways and transport technology leaders ensure the next generation has the skills, mindset, and support to tackle ageing infrastructure, funding pressures, and fast-moving transport technology?
We'll find out today on Highways Voices as we hear from a group of young professionals looking to the past, present and future at a memorial for one of the greats of ITS, Professor John Wootton CBE, who was remembered at an event at the RAC in London last month.
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In today's podcast, these young professionals - Seren Rayment, Oliver Stone-Houghton, Stephen Hughes and Elia Fetta - discuss concerns around end-of-life assets, to funding pressures and workforce retention, as well as practical perspectives on how technology, data science, and AI can support highways - while still keeping humanity and real-world experience at the centre.
You'll also hear from a colleague of Professor Wootton, David Jeffery, about why he was such an outstanding pioneer in our industry, from founding his own consultancy to leading TRL through privatisation and helping set up ITS UK while supporting the Rees Jeffreys Road Fund.
The evening was supported by one of Professor Wootton's former employees, Andy Graham of White Willow Consulting, the Rees Jeffreys Road Fund and Professor Eric Sampson.
Play this episode now to take away leadership insights that will help you future-proof your organisation while empowering the next generation shaping highways and transport technology.
Highways Voices is brought to you with our partners the Transport Technology Forum, LCRIG, ADEPT and ITS UK.
Today on Highways Voices we hear how the island of Malta is embracing British technology to transform its transport, as we talk to Kurt Farrugia, the CEO of Transport Malta to find out what happens when uncoordinated road works, political pressure, and emergency recovery collide to lead to the use of a single platform to prevent gridlock.
This interview was prompted by TRL's exporter of the year win at last autumn's ITS UK Awards, and why Malta chose to digitise roadworks coordination at a national scale, and how their challenges, resistance, and lessons learned are directly relevant to UK networks dealing with congestion, resilience, and the push toward smarter traffic management systems.
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In today's podcast you'll hear a real-world example of how digital road works coordination can reduce congestion, political tension, and operational risk across an entire transport network, with practical insights into overcoming organisational resistance, stakeholder buy-in, and implementation challenges when moving from email-based processes to shared digital platforms.
This is a really interesting insight into how the UK can win the export business, so it's relevant if you run a network in the UK, or if you have a product you could sell overseas.
Highways Voices is brought to you with our partners the Transport Technology Forum, LCRIG, ADEPT and ITS UK.
This week on Highways Voices we talk to one of the intelligent transport industry's leading experts about everything from early sat-navs and traffic data collection to the latest in connected vehicles, and how to still be pushing the industry forward after 40 years.
Andy Graham MBE is our guest, and we talk about his appearance in the King's New Year Honours, and what it means to him, and then you'll hear what he has to say about networks, operations, policy, digital transformation and customer outcomes. This episode speaks directly to a challenge you’ll recognise: how to turn data and technology into safer, more efficient transport, without getting trapped by legacy systems, fragmented standards, or the slow pace of change.
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In the chat you'll hear his view of how traffic data, connected vehicles, and digital services have come on over his career, and what still needs to change to unlock better outcomes, plus hear some reminiscences he has with host Paul Hutton about their time working on a series of projects, and how their paths almost crossed ten years before the first worked together.
There are insights into why data-sharing, standards, and cross-industry collaboration often determine whether innovation succeeds or stalls, and how cyber security and privacy should influence future technology strategy and investment.
Highways Voices is brought to you with our partners the Transport Technology Forum, LCRIG, ADEPT and ITS UK.
The Government’s Road Safety Strategy sets a target of delivering a 65% reduction in deaths and serious injuries on UK roads by 2035, but and are we prepared to make the tough, and sometimes unpopular, decisions required to get there?
In today’s Highways Voices we talk about how to turn an ambitious national road safety strategy into practical, funded, and deliverable action.
Our guest is Dr Suzy Charman, Executive Director at the Road Safety Foundation, to explore where policy, infrastructure, speed management, and data-led decision making must change if safety outcomes are genuinely to improve, rather than simply be promised.
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You'll get a clear understanding of why a proactive, safe-system approach to road infrastructure and speed management is essential to meeting long-term casualty reduction targets.
There's also an insight into where investment in technology, data integration, and standards reform can deliver the greatest safety and economic returns, and you'll hear her practical perspectives on how national strategy, local authority delivery, and industry expertise can align to move beyond consultation into measurable impact.
Highways Voices is brought to you with our partners the Transport Technology Forum, LCRIG, ADEPT and ITS UK.
Ever wonder what your trusted journalists really sound like before the edit button saves the day, and what those messy moments reveal about the pressures and pace of our industry?
In highways and transport technology, credibility is everything: you’re expected to be polished in public, confident on panels, and precise when you speak to stakeholders. But the reality is far less tidy as you'll hear today on Highways Voices.
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This special “Christmas bloopers” episode is a light-hearted mirror of a serious truth decision-makers know well, but even experts stumble when the work is complex and the environment is noisy. Listening in, you’ll recognise the human side of your own world, where the big ideas still land, even if the first take doesn’t.
WARNING - THERE ARE A COUPLE OF CLIPS THAT ARE NOT SUITABLE FOR WORK, SO PLEASE DO NOT PLAY IF YOU OR YOUR COLLEAGUES ARE OFFENDED BY BAD LANGUAGE.
Hit play for a quick, end-of-year reset that’s equal parts laugh-out-loud and quietly reassuring—because even the people driving the highways conversation don’t always nail it on take one.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from everyone at Highways News - here's to a slicker year of Highways Voices in 2026!
Highways Voices is brought to you with our partners the Transport Technology Forum, LCRIG, ADEPT and ITS UK.
Ever wondered how many “safe, legal” morning-after drivers are actually still impaired, and what that means for road risk on your network?
If you’re responsible for safety outcomes, fleet policy, roadside enforcement strategy, or transport technology adoption, this episode lands on a stubborn, current problem: morning-after drink-driving is still a major slice of prosecutions and risk, despite years of awareness campaigns.
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In today's Highways Voices with Alcosense founder Hunter Abbott, you'll hear why rule-of-thumb unit counting fails, how physiology makes impairment wildly unpredictable, and why “below the limit” can still mean elevated crash likelihood.
“Somewhere between 50 and 55% of the users had had a reading the morning after, which stopped them from driving when otherwise… they would have got behind the wheel… we’ve literally stopped tens of thousands of people from drink driving the morning after," he says.
If you manage a team that drives for work, you need to hear what Hunter has to say: Companies can be liable if staff drive intoxicated for work, not just the individual, so this helps manage the corporate risk around legal, safety, brand, and welfare.
Hit play to get takeaways you can use in your next safety review or policy decision, especially during peak Christmas party season.
Highways Voices is brought to you with our partners the Transport Technology Forum, LCRIG, ADEPT and ITS UK.
We’ve seen it before, when the success and failure of a big investment is judged more by public perception than by what the data actually proves, so today on Highways Voices, we look at how to communicate the data, and how to deliver defensible, effective, and publicly trusted solutions, by hearing from someone who does exactly that every day.
Our guest is one of the leading experts in the US in delivering data-driven solutions, Brett Ferrin of Traffic Logix - a man who’s done everything from asphalt sales to barricades and signs and now enforcement and traffic calming solutions, delivering them even when emotion is louder than statistics.
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In today's podcast he talks about the very real hesitation agencies have about adopting new tools because of litigation risk, policy lag, and “one-size-doesn’t-fit-all” market differences.
You'll hear a practical framework for data-led traffic calming choices, from baseline measurement to awareness tools, physical interventions, and enforcement options, with clear logic for when each step makes sense. He gives strategies to bridge the gap between data and public trust, including how to validate “ground truth” across multiple data sources and communicate safety reality when perception says otherwise, and adds real-world guidance on de-risking innovation and scaling across regions, covering litigation fears, policy variability, and why cultural/market context determines whether the same technology succeeds or fails in a new state or country.
Well worth 25 minutes of anyone's time to have a listen, and to learn some new ideas.
Highways Voices is brought to you with our partners the Transport Technology Forum, LCRIG, ADEPT and ITS UK.
We have content from both sides of this vast country, as we include some interviews we couldn’t squeeze into our programmes from the ITS Australia Summit last week, plus head to Perth to look at cutting edge solutions in a really go-ahead state.
These podcasts are brought to you thanks to the support of TomTom, Nicander, AGD Systems Australia, TraceMark Flow an NGIS Solution, Westcotec and TRL.
Today Paul Hutton reports again from Australia and talks to one of the world’s leading experts in automated vehicle technology, and to AGD about growing the business Down Under, and also how to best work together when you’re 10 thousand miles apart. He also learns about Deloitte’s new planning tool and about major event in New Zealand that’s come up. Meanwhile in Perth we hear from the state of Western Australia embracing vast amounts of technology to manage a busy city area, as well as a vast amount of space, and what happens when a big event taking place doesn’t last as long as expected.
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Today’s guests are:
· Professor Michael Milford - Director of the QUT Centre for Robotics
· Stuart Douglas – MD of AGD Systems Australasia
· Andy Humphries – MD of MAV Systems
· Muneeb Shaikh - Technical Sales Representative at AGD Systems Australasia
· Alex Hendrick - Manager Real Time Traffic Operations at Main Roads Western Australia
· Michael Priest - Network Operations Major Events Manager at Main Roads Western Australia
· Jacob Vidulich – Software Engineer at Deloitte
· Antony Dixon – Chair of ITS New Zealand
On the final day of the ITS Australia Summit on Queensland's Gold Coast, Paul Hutton talks to more speakers, exhibitors and thought leaders here on Highways Voices, as we discuss global issues and why the US state of Michigan, the birthplace of the American automotive industry, is represented here to explain how it’s transitioning into a leader in connected, automated and electrified transport.
These podcasts are brought to you thanks to the support of TomTom, Nicander, AGD Systems Australia, TraceMark Flow an NGIS Solution, Westcotec and TRL.
Westcotec tell us how technology can change behaviour, not punish it, while Nicander show off their brand new product using dash cams to quickly and accurately update asset registers.
We also hear about better network management with NGIS and look ahead to when the UK welcomes Australia and the world to Birmingham in 2027, and why Australians should be part of it.
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Today’s guests are:
- Michele Mueller, Manager Connected and Automated Vehicles and Electrification at Michigan Department of Transportation
- Olly Samways, Sales Director at Westcotec
- Sam Brierley, Business Development Manager at Nicander
- Oliver Looker, General Manager, Location Intelligence at NGIS
- Chris Lane, Head of Transport Innovation at Transport for West Midlands (UK)
- Angelos Amditis, Chair of Supervisory Board at ERTICO and Chair of ITS Greece
- Susan Harris, CEO of ITS Australia
We’re back on the Gold Coast for Day Two of the ITS Australia Summit, discussing how the future of vehicle safety is moving beyond the vehicle itself thanks to the embracing of C-ITS technologies and how connected data is transforming how roads and emergencies are managed.
In today's podcast, Paul Hutton talks to AGD Systems, TRL, TomTom, QUT and more, as they share innovations ranging from pedestrian-safety detection and crowd-sourced asset management to automated vehicles in remote regions and the future of large-scale mapping, plus how Brisbane could learn from the London Olympics 2012 as it prepares to host the 2032 Games.
These podcasts are brought to you thanks to the support of TomTom, Nicander, AGD Systems Australia, TraceMark Flow an NGIS Solution, Westcotec and TRL.
We hear how connectivity is delivering road safety today, why technology and human-centric design must work together, and that collaboration is defining the future of transport with the message from so many of the guests that partnerships, between manufacturers, governments, researchers, and technology companies, accelerate innovation, harmonise safety standards and deliver smarter, safer mobility worldwide.
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Today's guests are:
- Carla Hoorweg, CEO of ANCAP
- Stuart Douglas, MD of AGD Australasia
- Jonathan Brook, MD of The Traffic Group
- Subu Kamal, Head of Product Management & Partnerships at TRL Software
- Toby Hiles, Sales and Partnerships Director at Grid Smarter Cities
- Jennifer Loake, Head of Enterprise Sales - Australia, New Zealand, South East Asia, & Korea at TomTom
- Professor Sebastien Glaser of Queensland University of Technology
- Susan Harris, CEO of ITS Australia
How will Australia’s most innovative transport leaders use intelligent transport systems, real-time data, automation and cooperative corridors to transform mobility ahead of the 2032 Olympic Games?
That's just one of the topics you'll hear about on today's Highways Voices from the ITS Australia Summit on the Gold Coast.
These podcasts are brought to you thanks to the support of TomTom, Nicander, AGD Systems Australia, TraceMark Flow an NGIS Solution, Westcotec and TRL.
Today we'll hear how the region is preparing its transport networks for unprecedented demand ahead of Brisbane 2032, including insights from industry leaders on sustainability, efficiency, automation and network resilience, we'll bring you the first-ever tour of the newly launched Gold Coast Cooperative Corridor, revealing how real-time roadside sensing, collective perception and DSRC communications are reshaping road safety and multimodal management, and we'll discuss global best practice in mapping, data intelligence, asset management, enforcement, and connected systems, with perspectives from leading companies deploying technology across Europe, Australia/New Zealand and the Middle East.
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Today’s guests:
· Dean Zabrieszach – CEO, Ohmio and HMI Technolgies
· Ralf-Peter Schäfer – Vice President, Traffic & Travel Information, TomTom
· Luke Capelli – C-ITS Specialist, Toyota Motor Corporation Australia / Lexus Australia
· Kim Thomas – Managing Director, Integrate
· Oliver Looker – General Manager, Location Intelligence, Transport and Mobility, Sustainability and ITS, NGIS (TraceMark Flow)
· John Piper – Sales Director, Jenoptik
· Ritchie Jones – Interim Managing Director, Jenoptik Traffic Solutions Australia
· Susan Harris – CEO, ITS Australia
Highways Voices comes fromAustralia for the next few weeks as we bring you a series of podcasts all about the ITS Australia Summit 2025 in the Gold Coast.
These podcasts are brought to you thanks to the support of TomTom, Nicander, AGD Systems Australia, TraceMark Flow an NGIS Solution, Westcotec and TRL.
In todays' podcast, that is interesting whether you’re lucky enough to be heading along, or unable to make it but wanting to learn from the expertise being shared, you’ll hear from the person in charge of the team putting it on, exploring the theme “Next Generation ITS: Building Safer, More Sustainable Communities”. We discuss how AI, automation, and data connectivity will transform how we move people and goods, especially as Southeast Queensland prepares to host the 2032 Olympics.
We’ll find out about Wescotec’s mission to expand into Australia with high-quality, collision reduction and traffic safety systems, driven by their employee-owned ethos and discuss TRL’s iRoads platform, helping authorities manage and optimise transport assets worldwide. Plus the Chair of ITS Nationals in Europe talks about sharing best practices across 28 European countries and fostering stronger global collaboration - a vision for a worldwide ITS community working together on safer, smarter mobility.
From global collaboration to cutting-edge safety tech, Highways Voices dives into the innovations driving the future of mobility at the ITS Australia Summit 2025.
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You often hear the phrase “safety is our number one priority” in our industry, but today on Highways Voices we hear from people who’re putting money where their mouth is, as we talk Vision Zero in Oxfordshire.
As the county hosts a road safety event in Oxford city centre this week, we chat to Andy Ford, Road Safety Manager at Oxfordshire County Council’s Fire and Rescue Service and Councillor Andrew Gant, Oxfordshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Transport Management.
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We explore how Oxfordshire is turning the Vision Zero principle, that no death or serious injury is acceptable, into action. From speed limit reforms and data-driven education campaigns to the integration of enforcement technology and community-led design.
You'll hear how Oxfordshire uses a whole-system approach, from junction redesign to behavioural education to transform road safety in Oxfordshire, and how they took the people with them by engaging on speed limits and active travel schemes… and that emerging enforcement and detection technologies are reshaping driver accountability and changing cultural attitudes toward road safety.
By the way, Highways News is heading to Australia next and the ITS Australia Summit on Queensland’s Gold Coast and I’ll be reporting from there, thanks to the support of our friends at TRL, Westcotec, TomTom, NGIS, AGD Australia and Nicander and IntegrateITS. We'll be in Melbourne with a preview show from ITS Australia's offices next week, then from the event the week after. Don't miss them to find out the best in solutions developed in Australia, and how global suppliers might fill in any gaps.
Highways Voices is brought to you with our partners the Transport Technology Forum, LCRIG, ADEPT and ITS UK.
One of the biggest challenges facing the industry is how to attract talent into highways and transport, so today on Highways Voices we discuss that very issue and hear about a solution that’s there for us to use now, as we talk Skills for Life.
This is a government-led campaign that promotes and provides access to funded skills and technical education opportunities for individuals and businesses, offering various programmes like apprenticeships, skills bootcamps, and free courses for jobs to help people improve their career prospects and businesses find a skilled workforce.
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National Highways are very much behind this idea, so today we talk to its Head of Talent, Natalie Jones to find out more about it and its approach to apprenticeships and T Levels which can help you future-proof your workforce.
Whether you’re a public or private sector organisation, understanding how to attract and retain skilled people through real-world training could be the key to staying competitive, and sustainable, in the years ahead.
In today's podcast you'll hear practical ways to address industry-wide skills shortages, from apprenticeships to T Levels and digital upskilling that’s all covered by Skills for Life. You'll hear about proven methods to attract young people and career changers to roles in highways, transport, and STEM, including how early engagement and storytelling make all the difference and how we’re all in this together because collaboration across the sector, from supply chains to schools, can create a stronger, more resilient workforce ready to tackle tomorrow’s challenges.
Highways Voices is brought to you with our partners the Transport Technology Forum, LCRIG, ADEPT and ITS UK.
We gathered so much content from Highways UK this year that we bring you a bonus edition today thanks to Clearway, Westcotec, Arcadis and SWARCO, which, among other things, discusses how AI, digital alerts and smarter infrastructure can reshape road safety, maintenance, and sustainability across the UK’s highways.
From AI-powered asset management to digital curb systems and carbon compliance tools, this episode dives into the technologies transforming how we build, manage, and protect our highways.
Subscribe to Highways Voices free on Apple Podcasts,Spotify,Amazon Music,Google Podcasts or Pocket Casts and never miss an episode!
Here’s what you’ll take away from this episode’s interviews:
· Clearway: Discover how AI-driven security and rapid deployment systems are protecting road workers and enhancing on-site safety
· Nicander: Learn how a new web-based asset registry tool can map and infrastructure assets using nothing more than dashcam footage
· HAAS Alert: How digital alerts are warning drivers about roadside hazards up to 90 seconds in advance—improving emergency response safety
· Arcadis/CurbIQ: Understand how digital traffic regulation orders are helping local authorities optimise kerbside management for EVs, logistics, and sustainability
· Clearview Intelligence: Explore how award winning solar-powered road studs are cutting carbon emissions and saving costs over traditional street lighting
· Transport Scotland: Discuss the public sector is tackling the industry-wide skills shortage while preparing for massive asset renewal projects
· Jenoptik: Get the latest on distracted driving and seatbelt detection technology reshaping traffic enforcement
· Roadern: Find out how AI-powered mobile surveys are reducing the cost and complexity of road condition assessments
· Trattanet: Learn how AI logistics tools are turning empty delivery miles into profit—and cutting CO₂ emissions
· Grid Smarter Cities: Discover how bookable curbside loading bays are reducing congestion and emissions on city streets
· Carbon Sherpa from PYE Management: Learn how data-backed carbon compliance tools are helping infrastructure companies meet PAS 2080 standards
· TRL: Hear how TRL’s new ownership is empowering it to drive research on autonomous buses, accessibility, and human-centred transport innovation
This podcast highlights how the UK’s brightest highway minds are driving safer, greener, and smarter roads, and you can gain ideas you can implement in your own projects today. Have a listen now!
The Roads and Buses Minister Simon Lightwood MP gave his first major speech in his new role at Highways UK today (Thursday) and you can hear it in full on today's Highways Voices podcast.
In today’s podcast, sponsored by Clearway, Westcotec, Arcadis and SWARCO, he is joined by technology innovators and industry experts who discuss the future of the UK’s road network. From AI-driven asset management to smarter maintenance and collaborative partnerships, you'll learn about decisions that are shaping tomorrow’s transport infrastructure, especially at a time when every pound of investment must deliver more value, more safety, and less carbon.
This includes how AI and machine learning are being used to predict crashes, optimise investments, and extend asset life cycles, and real-world success stories of collaboration between suppliers, contractors, and local authorities—proving that partnership and innovation can go hand in hand to deliver safer, smarter roads.
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Today you'll hear from:
- Roads and Buses Minister, Simon Lightwood MP
- Arcadis Innovation Director, Alex Walton
- Westcotec Sales Director, Olly Samways
- SWARCO Head of Business Development - Interurban, Darren Smith
- Women In Transport's Jennie Harrison
- Traffic Group Managing Director, Jonathan Brook
- RSTA Chief Executive, Mike Hansford
Plus Paul Hutton, Adrian Tatum and Kevin Borras.
National Highways CEO Nick Harris joins us on today's Highways Voices for a chat about RIS3, road safety and preventative maintenance, among other things, on today's Highways Voices from Highways UK 2025.
In today’s podcast, sponsored by Clearway, Westcotec, Arcadis and SWARCO, you'll hear him outline what RIS3 means for suppliers, and how innovation, safety, and efficiency will drive future contracts.
Subscribe to Highways Voices free on Apple Podcasts,Spotify,Amazon Music,Google Podcasts or Pocket Casts and never miss an episode!
You'll also hear how AI-powered analytics and connected infrastructure are changing real-time traffic management, road safety, and asset maintenance, and learn from industry pioneers about practical sustainability and technology solutions already delivering measurable impact across the network.
Tune in now to hear what the UK’s top highway and transport leaders are planning next — and get ahead of the innovation shaping the roads of tomorrow.
Today's guests:
- Highways UK General Manager Claudia Davidson
- National Highways CEO Nick Harris
- Westcotec Sales Director Olly Samways
- Clearway General Manager Simon Waterfall
- Acusensus UK General Manager Geoff Collins
- Winvic Technical Services and Sustainability Director Arun Thaneja
- Rees Jeffreys Road Fund Chair Andy Graham
Plus Paul Hutton, Adrian Tatum and Kevin Borras
Every corner of the UK highways sector - from local authorities and major contractors to tech innovators and policymakers – have converged under one roof to shape the future of transport at Highways UK 2025, and Highways Voices is here at the NEC to bring you what’s being talked about.
In today’s podcast, sponsored by Clearway, Westcotec, Arcadis and SWARCO, you’ll hear how Highways UK 2025 is addressing real-world challenges, from operational technology upgrades and smarter maintenance strategies to collaboration across public and private sectors.
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You’ll hear how National Highways and local authorities are aligning to deliver safer, more efficient, and future-ready road networks, proven strategies for exhibitors and suppliers to maximize ROI and form stronger industry connections and the latest innovations in road technology - from ghost plate detection and smart signage to partnerships reshaping traffic management.
Our guests are:
· Highways UK General Manager Claudia Davidson
· Boundary Marketing and PR’s owner Helen Blood
· SWARCO UK Managing Director John Pickworth
· Messagemaker Displays Senior Commercial Manager Josh Lyne
· NOW Wireless Project and Sales Manager Paul Hudson
· ERTICO – ITS Europe CEO Joost Vantomme
This week on Highways Voices we talk to both the public and private sector about the challenges facing, and the solutions helping, our industry today.
We're at the LCRIG Strictly Highways event in Blackpool to hear fresh insights into how collaboration between local authorities, government, and the supply chain is unlocking new efficiencies and innovation across the UK’s road network. You'll get real-world examples of how data, digital frameworks, and sustainability partnerships are helping transform road maintenance, asset management, and carbon reduction efforts, and you'll learn actionable takeaways on how to integrate best practices and emerging technologies into everyday operations to futureproof transport infrastructure.
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Our guests are: LCRIG Managing Director Kerry Winstanley, Darren Capes from the DfT, Dave Denner from the Welsh Government, Sunil Budhdeo and Rotherham MBC’s Mick Powell, plus AE Yates, and their Marketing and Social Value lead Saffron Ramsey, Gaist CTO Stephen Remde and Megan Thompson, who’s Tarmac Technical Product Support Manager.
We'll also look ahead to Highways UK with organiser Claudia Davidson.
Listen now to discover how our industry leaders are reshaping the future of highways, and get inspired to bring these innovations back to your own organisation.
Highways Voices is brought to you with our partners the Transport Technology Forum, LCRIG, ADEPT and ITS UK.
We make another one of our trips to a leader in our industry to find out more about becoming a successful business on today's Highways Voices, and give you some ideas in your day-to-day job.
We're at Westcotec in Norfolk talking talking road safety, too, discussing how the key to reducing road collisions isn’t just tougher enforcement, but smarter technology that educates drivers before crashes happen.
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Managing Director Chris Spinks and Sales Director Olly Samways join us to chat about their business, and the interesting way it’s owned and run, and to find out how their products - designed, built, and tested in Britain - are using great solutions, from off-grid power to award-winning collision prevention.
You'll hear how Westcotec’s technology has demonstrably reduced serious collisions in real-world projects, why local manufacturing, employee ownership, and sustainable design matter for long-term industry resilience and their ideas for the business case for investing in safety technology that delivers measurable returns compared to the cost of road fatalities.
Oh, and you'll also hear about an 1,800-mile road trip being undertaken to raise money for disadvantaged people and those with disabilities to experience the benefits of sport; keeping them active and happy while improving their health and skills for the future.
Highways Voices is brought to you with our partners the Transport Technology Forum, LCRIG, ADEPT and ITS UK.
Traffic signals remain the most effective way to manage transport networks in most urban centres, and they take centre stage this week in Leeds at the JCT Traffic Signals Symposium.
Today's Highways Voices looks into the latest thinking in the industry, as we learn about SCOOT 8 AI from TRL Software, and how it, and PTV’s Optima, are turning control rooms from reactive to proactive, preventing congestion before it starts.
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We also hear from TOPAS (Traffic Open Products and Specifications) about why compliance with industry standards is more than a box-ticking exercise and how overlooking it could put safety, budgets, and reputations at risk, while Telent explain how collaboration between suppliers, engineers, and authorities is creating smarter, safer, and more sustainable transport networks without costly infrastructure overhauls.
Press play now to hear about the latest innovations and debates that are changing how signals, data, and compliance drive the performance of our roads.
Highways Voices is brought to you with our partners the Transport Technology Forum, LCRIG, ADEPT and ITS UK.
Today on Highways Voices we feature what we believe to be Lilian Greenwood's last interview as Future of Roads Minister before she moved to the whip's office in the recent government reshuffle.
Despite her moving on, it was such a good conversation that we should still share it with you, to give you an idea of current government thinking.
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In her chat with Adrian Tatum, you'll hear them discuss what happens when decades-old motorways, mounting congestion, and unpredictable weather collide with today’s demand for smoother, safer, and more resilient highways. We dive into the government’s latest road investment strategy, RIS3, revealing how forthcoming funding, maintenance priorities, and policy changes will directly shape the future of highways, connectivity, and local economies.
You'll hear how the government plans to rebalance priorities between new road schemes and maintaining existing assets to deliver long-term value, discover what proactive asset management and updated codes of practice mean for local authorities and contractors in real terms, and where strategic investments will unlock growth, reduce congestion, and strengthen resilience in the face of climate and economic pressures.
Press play now for real insight into how the RIS3 decision will impact your network, your projects, and your travelling public.
Highways Voices is brought to you with our partners the Transport Technology Forum, LCRIG, ADEPT and ITS UK.
How much longer can our industry afford to keep filling potholes instead of preventing them in the first place?
In our latest Highways Voices we discuss the situation that is drivers the most - the poor condition of our roads.
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During Pothole Prevention Week we hear that more than half of councils still carry out no preventive road maintenance at all, and look into why reactive approaches are costing millions more, damaging trust, and keeping the cycle of potholes alive, despite there being proven, cost-effective solutions are within reach.
The RAC and the Road Surface Treatments Association have written to the Government calling for the introduction of mandatory training for councils who carry out little or no maintenance to prevent potholes forming, and guests Mike Hansford, Chief Executive of the RSTA and Simon Williams, PR and External Affairs lead at the RAC, discuss the need to factor in your maintenance from the very beginning, and to make it part of the overall project cost.
They also explain how preventive maintenance saves up to five times the cost of resurfacing, describe pothole repair like Groundhog Day, and that practical strategies and case studies show early interventions extend road life, improve safety, and deliver visible results for drivers.
You can sign up to the webinar they talk about here.
Highways Voices is brought to you with our partners the Transport Technology Forum, LCRIG, ADEPT and ITS UK.
Today on Highways Voices we'll look at how AI-driven maps, integrated traffic data, and smarter signal systems could cut congestion, boost safety, and transform how highways are managed, thanks to insights from HERE, Flow Labs and TomTom.
This episode takes you inside the Intelligent Transport Systems World Congress 2025 in Atlanta, where global experts reveal how new data partnerships, real-time integration, and AI are reshaping traffic management and mobility ecosystems that matter directly to your network’s performance.
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You'll get insight into how AI and collaborative mapping initiatives are improving incident detection, fleet operations, and long-term planning, real-world examples of integrated data platforms that give agencies visibility across entire networks to optimise signals and improve safety and a clear view of how UK and global expertise is driving the next wave of resilient, future-ready transport solutions.
We'll also hear from British Consul General to Atlanta Rachel Galloway, talking about the UK's hosting of this major event in two years' time, as the excitement builds towards Birmingham 2027.
Along with Rachel Galloway, the guests are Jeff Rowen, Vice President Global Product Partnerships at HERE Technologies; CEO & Founder at Flow Labs, Jatish Patel; and Douglas Gilmour, TomTom's Global Traffic BD lead.
The podcasts are presented from the UK & ERTICO – ITS Europe Pavilion at the World Congress, supported by Transport for West Midlands, AGD Systems, MAV Systems, Immense, Intelligent Instruments, Navtech Radar, Nicander and Zenzic.
Highways Voices is brought to you with our partners the Transport Technology Forum, LCRIG, ADEPT and ITS UK.
What if a single innovation could prevent visually impaired passengers from being left behind at bus stops, or if autonomous shuttles could fill the critical gaps in our transport networks?
In this episode of Highways Voices from the 2025 Intelligent Transport Systems World Congress, Paul Hutton speaks with pioneers reshaping the future of inclusive and intelligent mobility, from an app designed to make public transport accessible to everyone, to the rollout of autonomous shuttles that connect communities left out by traditional transit. The discussions highlight both the opportunities and the challenges in delivering equitable, safe, and sustainable mobility.
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In today's show, you'll also hear insider perspectives from ITS Hall of Fame inductees on building successful autonomous shuttle businesses across Europe and beyond and critical insights into cybersecurity gaps in public transport systems and how agencies can safeguard infrastructure against inevitable attacks.
There's also an update in the planning for the next Europe-based World Congress, when the major event comes to Birmingham's NEC in October 2027.
Press play now to hear how today’s innovations in inclusive mobility, autonomous vehicles, and cybersecurity are setting the course for the highways and transport systems of tomorrow.
The podcasts are presented from the UK & ERTICO - ITS Europe Pavilion at the World Congress, supported by Transport for West Midlands, AGD Systems, MAV Systems, Immense, Nicander, Intelligent Instruments, Navtech Radar and Zenzic.
Highways Voices is brought to you with our partners the Transport Technology Forum, LCRIG, ADEPT and ITS UK.
What happens when innovative British ITS companies bring their latest breakthroughs to the global stage in Atlanta, revealing how traffic management, enforcement, simulation, and even noise control are being redefined for the next decade?
You'll find out on today's Highways Voices from the ITS World Congress, where we have our popular "pitwalk" podcast, chatting to companies exhibiting on the UK Pavilion.
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Our guests are from AGD Systems, MAV Systems, Immense, Nicander, Intelligent Instruments, Transport for West Midlands (for Birmingham 2027), Navtech Radar and Zenzic.
Hear discussion about how leaders face the same urgent challenges: maintaining safety and reliability under budget constraints, adapting to changing regulations, and preparing for the future of connected, automated, and sustainable mobility. This episode discusses showcasing real-world solutions designed to address exactly those pressures, and seize the opportunities ahead.
We discuss above-ground detection and AI-powered enforcement cameras to predictive simulation tools and centralized bus-priority systems, get insights into how global cities are adapting UK-developed ITS solutions to tackle congestion, emissions, and safety, and hear more about when the World Congress comes to Birmingham in 2027, and why it promises to be a significant knowledge-sharing and commercial opportunity.
Press play now to walk the exhibition floor with us and hear directly from the leaders shaping the next era of intelligent transport.
Highways Voices is brought to you with our partners the Transport Technology Forum, LCRIG, ADEPT and ITS UK.
Today on Highways Voices we're in the USA for the ITS World Congress in Atlanta talking emerging technologies in transport technology, a new faster modelling solution and what it's like to be a CEO of a multinational company.
Our guests are from Clearview Intelligence and WSP, and we bring you two CEOs - Christian U Haas from Umovity (pictured on his stand) and SWARCO's Michael Schuch.
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You'll find out what we're learning from pilot projects and deployments that can be scaled nationwide, and practical insights for aligning innovation with policy, funding, and public expectations.
Plus you'll hear all about the planning for when this major event comes to the UK, with Transport for West Midlands banging the drum for Birmingham all week.
Tune in now to hear proven strategies and fresh perspectives from the forefront of intelligent transport—your roadmap to staying ahead in the future of highways.
Highways Voices is brought to you with our partners the Transport Technology Forum, LCRIG, ADEPT and ITS UK.
What’s really holding back innovation in our sector, and how do we finally break through?
We find out together on today’s Highways Voices as we hear about a brand new report from the Local Council Roads Innovation Group, called Inspiring Change Across The Highways Sector.
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LCRIG CEO Paula Claytonsmith is our guest to tell us about the in-depth study and how it’s found that, despite growing enthusiasm for innovation, decision makers across highways and transport consistently face the same barriers: complex procurement, risk-averse cultures, and siloed learning.
She talks about how most local authorities self-identify as innovators, but still feel stuck when it comes to real change. We hear that collaboration is being shaped by local authorities and some of the practical tools and support are being rolled out to drive shared innovation, knowledge hubs, and lasting sector improvement through 2026 and beyond.
The full report is available here.
Highways Voices is brought to you with our partners the Transport Technology Forum, LCRIG, ADEPT and ITS UK.
How do you innovate, lead, and scale in an industry where policy, procurement, and public funding often stand in the way of real progress?
We discuss this with one of our industry’s leaders, Michael Schuch, CEO of SWARCO today on Highways Voices.
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In our chat, we unpack the major roadblocks facing innovation in transport infrastructure - from rigid procurement processes to inconsistent sustainability policies. This conversation reveals how to navigate the frustrating gap between political ambition and practical deployment, and how to stay future-proof in the process.
Michael gives reasons for the industry to work together to counter anticompetitive behaviour, discusses his culture of innovation across borders, even in the face of post-pandemic workplace challenges and explains why many groundbreaking traffic technologies never scale, and what’s needed to change that. He also talks about the company's the GoGreen Initiative and how to communicate the value of smart mobility solutions to cities worldwide.
This interview is a dip into the archives, originally shared in 2024 but as relevant 15 months later.
Highways Voices is brought to you with our partners the Transport Technology Forum, LCRIG, ADEPT and ITS UK.
Today on Highways Voices, we cut through carbon reduction confusion, and look at taking meaningful action.
We’re joined by Brightly to talk Carbon Literacy, which is an understanding of carbon emissions associated with everyday activities and the ability and motivation to reduce them, as well as being about being aware of the impact of our choices, both as individuals and businesses.
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Brightly has recently taken action on this, being accredited themselves as a business, and now they are using that learning to help local authorities with their targets.
Our guest is Zoe Sterling-Wall, Business Development Manager for Sustainability at Brightly, who chatted to Adrian Tatum and discussed how carbon literacy training can simplify decision-making and empower action across entire highway networks. They also discuss how organisations like Brightly are leading by example and helping local authorities embed sustainability into operations, and you'll hear her advice about practical, scalable strategies to foster collaboration and accountability across departments and supply chains.
Highways Voices is brought to you with our partners the Transport Technology Forum, LCRIG, ADEPT and ITS UK.
Today on Highways Voices we return to our occasional series of Highways Business podcasts, where we look to explain the highs and lows, the profits, the losses and successes and failures of running a company in the highways and transport industry.
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With everything from the forthcoming launch of the National Highways Scheme Delivery Framework 2 worth around £14.5 billion, to numerous local authorities looking to go to tender at any one time during the year, finding an organisation that can properly support bids can be tough. So today we talk to one that can, EIB.
EIB is a client focused consultancy with a fully employed team delivering market leading bid management and writing support. Scott Brown, co-founder and CEO, and the company's Deputy Chief Executive, Caitlin Murphy join Adrian Tatum to tell the 33-year story of the business, why it was started in the first place and what potential did they see.
In today’s podcast you’ll hear details of how how they set up the business, grew it and focussed it, and to get and retain the right staff for the right work. You’ll also get details on how to win bids - why early engagement and client alignment are critical to crafting winning bids, how EIB’s fully employed consultancy model creates consistency, quality, and client trust, and the practical tools you can use to improve a bid, everything from compliance matrices and storyboarding to cross-sector strategy.
Hit play now to uncover how the EIB team achieves its rate—and what you can take from their approach to immediately improve your next bid.
Highways Voices is brought to you with our partners the Transport Technology Forum, LCRIG, ADEPT and ITS UK.
Let's get around a hundred local authorities, local and national infrastructure leaders and cutting-edge transport technology companies together to redefine the future of highways on Highways Voices today.
We're back at the LCRIG Innovation and Learning Festival after last week's show to discuss maintaining roads more efficiently, introducing autonomous vehicles and securing infrastructure from cyber threats, all while under pressure to do more with less.
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This episode offers practical solutions already being trialled as you'll learn about how autonomous shuttles are moving from prototype to real-world first/last mile transport solutions, discover how Coventry City Council successfully integrated drones, AI, and V2X tech to cut incident response times and emissions and you'll understand how public-private partnerships and technology-enabled asset monitoring, and smart procurement models are driving down costs and improving infrastructure resilience.
Hit play now to explore how today’s innovations in highway technology can make your operations safer, smarter, and more cost-effective—starting with what’s already working across the UK.
Highways Voices is brought to you with our partners the Transport Technology Forum, LCRIG, ADEPT and ITS UK.
A truly groundbreaking road maintenance machine makes its debut on today's Highways Voices, while we get advice on innovation and funding from a leading local authority and hear a call to action on a new way of managing data.
We're at the Innovation Festival in Warwickshire, which is an event for industry leaders and professionals dedicated to advancing highways maintenance and transport technology, with a mix of indoor and outdoor exhibitions, demonstrations, presentations and networking.
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Multevo launches its new Recycle, Rejuvenate, Repair machine on today's podcast where you hear what it does and why it could prove to be groundbreaking in more ways that one.
You'll also hear from Sam Shean from Reading Borough Council on its approach to using innovation to lower carbon, while Dorian Isaacson from start-up zone attendee Streetwise discusses data counting and its value for road safety.
On top of that, we hear about above ground detection and how the technology can replace, or work with, inductive loops, there's a roadworker safety solution demonstrated by Highway Resource Solutions and clever data management system from Nicander looking for someone to try it out.
Highways Voices is brought to you with our partners the Transport Technology Forum, LCRIG, ADEPT and ITS UK.
What if your vehicle would know road hazards before you even see them, or suggest a possible safe place to overtake a cyclist on a winding rural road?
They’re just two of the things we talk about on today's Highways Voices with Remco Timmer, he’s VP Product Management, Head of Automotive Solutions at HERE Technologies.
You’ll likely discover a lot you didn’t know about mapping and locations as we explore how mapping and sensor integration are transforming assisted and autonomous driving, solving real-world challenges around driver awareness and safe navigation in complex traffic environments.
He talks about how a vehicle's on-board sensors work with intelligent mapping, and gives his thoughts about why legislation clarity is crucial to accelerating the adoption of autonomous vehicle features across urban and rural networks. He also explains how dynamic maps are helping drivers not just navigate traffic, but also to understand when, where, they could drive hands-free with confidence.
If you think mapping is just about directions, this conversation will change your perspective.
Do you want to hear how you can keep innovating in your highways network when your budget barely covers the basics? Well you’ve come to the right place on this Highways Voices!
With funding under pressure and increasingly complex transport demands, councils and suppliers alike are searching for smarter, scalable solutions. If you’re navigating the challenges of integrating new technology, sweating aging assets, and justifying ROI to stakeholders, this episode unpacks how industry leaders are doing just that — with realism, creativity, and collaboration.
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We're at the SWARCO User Group, where Highways News was invited to host a panel discussion to discuss driving innovation with budgets under pressure, and heard the council view from Sean Bulmer of the City of York, Rob Whiteside from Kirklees and Cambridgeshire's Richard Ling alongside John Pickworth and Andrea Newman from SWARCO.
In this episode you will learn how modular system design is helping authorities build tech gradually, even with tight funds, and how collaboration across departments, and budgets unlocks new opportunities, while you'll also hear real-world insights into the shift from traditional loop detection to smarter, above-ground solutions and how they stack up in practice.
Listen now to hear directly from local authority leaders and SWARCO experts on how they’re making innovation possible—even when every pound counts.
Highways Voices is brought to you with our partners the Transport Technology Forum, LCRIG, ADEPT and ITS UK.
Why aren’t we more outraged that 1,700 people still die on UK roads each year?
Today on Highways Voices we talk road safety because, despite having some of the safest roads globally, road deaths in the UK have plateaued, and efforts to reduce them, through enforcement, awareness, and education, aren’t achieving meaningful impact.
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Sussex Police Chief Constable Jo Shiner, who’s head of Britain’s roads policing, is our guest and gives us a real insight into her thoughts on keeping our roads safe, and indeed making them safer.
She explains why a National Road Safety Board and collision investigation system could revolutionise how we tackle fatalities, gives her views on how emerging enforcement technologies like AI-powered cameras and in-vehicle sensors could eliminate risky behaviour before it becomes fatal, and discusses the cultural and legislative shifts needed to elevate road safety from afterthought to national priority.
If you're worried about road safety, this is a must listen episode for you!
Highways Voices is brought to you with our partners the Transport Technology Forum, LCRIG, ADEPT and ITS UK.
Are shared transport solutions the missing piece in solving our congestion, infrastructure, and sustainability puzzle?
As our industry constantly grapples with how to reduce car dependency, meet environmental goals, and deliver equitable, cost-effective mobility, we look at one solution today with Richard Dilks, CEO of CoMoUK – the national charity for shared transport.
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In this Highways Voices podcast he explains why shared transport, ranging from car clubs and e-scooters to digital demand-responsive transit, is not just a trend but a strategic tool for modern transport planning, explaining how this approach intersects with public policy, urban design, and real-world user behaviour, aiming to deliver healthier, more connected communities.
You'll hear how shared mobility schemes are reshaping the transport ecosystem, but that even in London, there are still many gaps. He talks about e-bikes and e-scooters, their place in the puzzle and how safety issues are being addressed, and he and host Paul Hutton talk mobility hubs too, and how they could make it easier to take hassle-free, quick and convenient car-free journeys.
Highways Voices is brought to you with our partners the Transport Technology Forum, LCRIG, ADEPT and ITS UK.
We're back in Seville at the 2025 ITS European Congress for a bonus Highways Voices today, hearing how UK-based SMEs made a global impact by working with the Department for Transport on the UK Pavilion.
As we hear content we didn't have time to share last week, you'll also learn from SWARCO how cutting-edge VR tools are reducing the need for on-site technical deployment and enabling collaborative problem-solving across borders.
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We talk to Acusensus about the real-world impact of AI safety tech, and from ERTICO on enhancing data sharing between vehicles and authorities to earn higher Euro NCAP ratings. You'll also hear about two future World Congresses, in the American city of Atlanta and when the UK hosts it in Birmingham in just over two years' time.
Tap play now to find out how your organisation can adopt these breakthrough technologies and prepare for these game-changing events.
In case you missed them, we brought you a huge amount of important details of the high level summit, press conference and a visit to a cutting-edge Amazon facility, innovating companies on the UK Pavilion in our "pitwalk", and a panel discussion from keynote-quality speakers on borderless travel and international standards.
The UK Pavilion’s participants were (in alphabetical order): AECOM, AGD Systems, Agilysis, AIM, ANGOKA, Immense, MAV, Nicander, Now Wireless, Teragence, VESOS and WJ.
Highways Voices is brought to you with our partners the Transport Technology Forum, LCRIG, ADEPT and ITS UK.
We promise you keynote speaker-quality content on Highways Voices and today we have five keynote speaker-quality guests, as we bring you a recording of a panel discussion on the UK Pavilion at the ITS European Congress in Seville.
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We’re talking international standards and how to make sure transport technology works cross-border with out guests which include three CEOs, Joost Vantomme of ERTICO – ITS Europe, LCRIG's Paula Claytonsmith and Max Sugarman from ITS UK, plus Danial Naqvi, Head of Opportunities Policy, Connected Vehicles Unit, International Vehicle Standards at the UK Department for Transport and David Laoide-Kemp, Chair of ITS Ireland and Senior Engineer - Intelligent Transport Systems at Transport Infrastructure Ireland.
The UK Pavilion’s participants are (in alphabetical order): AECOM, AGD Systems, Agilysis, AIM, ANGOKA, Immense, MAV, Nicander, Now Wireless, Teragence, VESOS and WJ.
In the podcast you’ll learn how UK and EU authorities are collaborating to overcome technical, political, and cultural hurdles to achieve interoperability, discover practical examples of how seamless data sharing is already improving travel and transport across the Northern Ireland border and get insights into how SMEs and local authorities can directly influence international transport policy and standards—without being drowned out by major players.
So press play now to find out why interoperability and standardisation Are crucial for seamless transport, how local and national governance complexities affect implementation and that empowering SMEs and broadening industry influence Is essential.
Highways Voices is brought to you with our partners the Transport Technology Forum, LCRIG, ADEPT and ITS UK.
On today's Highways Voices you'll learn about solar-powered surveillance, AI-driven traffic modelling, ghost plate detection and lots of other technologies helping transform our highways.
We're on the UK Pavilion at the ITS European Congress in Seville talking about innovations being showcased by a range of UK SMEs that are tackling the daily challenges we face.
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Whether it’s avoiding gridlock from mismanaged roadworks or combatting the rise in fraudulent number plates, these technologies are not just promising—they’re in action.
Host Paul Hutton tours the Pavilion to talk to Immense, Now Wireless, AECOM, ITS UK, AGD Systems/MAV, Nicander, Agilysis, AIM, WJ, VESOS and The ITS World Congress 2027.
You'll hear how AI-powered simulation tools are helping authorities prevent traffic jams before they happens, learn how new structural monitoring and drone-assisted asset management systems are saving millions and preventing closures and, of course, hear how global ITS partnerships are positioning the UK as a leader ahead of the 2027 World Congress in Birmingham—and what that means for your future projects.
Hit play now to hear firsthand how tomorrow’s highway solutions are already driving results across the UK and beyond.
Highways Voices is brought to you with our partners the Transport Technology Forum, LCRIG, ADEPT and ITS UK.
We're in Seville for the ITS European Congress 2025, discovering how smarter data sharing, seamless standards, and automation are transforming how cities and nations manage traffic and mobility.
This episode dives into how cities, governments, and private sector leaders are tackling today’s biggest mobility challenges through collaboration, innovation, and smarter infrastructure strategies.
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You'll discover how better data sharing and common standards are unlocking the latest predictive traffic modelling and dynamic traffic solutions across cities and countries and hear exclusive insights from UK and European transport leaders on how AI, autonomous mobility, and digital infrastructure are shaping future transport policy.
You'll also get a behind-the-scenes look at one of the world’s most advanced Amazon distribution centres, revealing transferable lessons for logistics, automation, and traffic control.
Tap play now to gain a competitive edge from Europe’s top mobility minds and be inspired by innovations you can adapt for your own transport and highway strategies.
Highways Voices is brought to you with our partners the Transport Technology Forum, LCRIG, ADEPT and ITS UK.
What if you could slash graffiti removal costs and dramatically cut maintenance downtime on your concrete structures, without compromising durability or environmental compliance?
That’s what this Highways Voices is all about, as we talk about a subject that isn’t often discussed, but should be - graffiti on road infrastructure, plus our ageing concrete bridges and flyovers.
We’re talking to Fosroc, a leading international manufacturer and supplier of high performance chemicals for the construction industry, with a particular focus on concrete and cement.
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In this edition, Adrian Tatum is joined by Andy Hatch, National Concrete Repair Specification Manager at Fosroc. You'll hear him explaining how he and his colleagues are tackling these problems with innovative, field-tested solutions including a revolutionary non-sacrificial anti-graffiti coating that withstands up to 20 cleans, and a rapid-curing concrete repair material. You'll also find out about the company's full lifecycle approach - from lab R&D to on-site support - to deliver long-lasting protection for critical highway assets.
Press play now to hear how you can future-proof your infrastructure with solutions designed to save money, reduce downtime, and protect your assets for the long haul.
Highways Voices is brought to you with our partners the Transport Technology Forum, LCRIG, ADEPT and ITS UK.
The Local Transport Minister pays tribute to the bus, and those who drive them, on today's Highways Voices as he discusses making services so good people will choose them over driving their own cars.
Simon Lightwood is one of our guests on this week's podcast recorded at a Women in Bus and Coach event at the London Transport Museum to celebrate Jill Viner, the capital's first female bus driver.
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Mr Lightwood talks about how, across the UK, public transport is undergoing a transformation, but that major roadblocks remain, from outdated infrastructure to a lack of workforce diversity.
This episode dives into the real-world strategies that can make bus and coach services more inclusive, efficient, and trusted—key priorities for transport leaders and technology professionals seeking long-term modal shift and user confidence.
He discusses offering a carrot rather than stick approach to getting people out of their cars, and also tells of his absolute commitment to giving local authorities power over their transport networks..
Also on the podcast you'll hear Women in Bus and Coach founder Louise Cheeseman, and Transport for London Commissioner Andy Lord and COO Claire Mann, who discuss why designing transport systems "for everyone" boosts recruitment, safety, and customer satisfaction, and how TfL is setting a global example in inclusive hiring, active travel integration, and adaptive operations.
Highways Voices promises keynote-quality speakers into your phone or laptop and we've done it four times over on this episode. Press play now to hear them!
As promised in the podcast, here is a list of Simon Lightwood's responsibilities as Local Transport Minister:
- local transport (buses, taxis, private hire vehicles, light rail)
- local transport decarbonisation
- local transport accessibility, and cross-cutting transport accessibility
- tackling violence against women and girls on the transport network
- active travel
- e-scooters
- modal shift
- regions and devolution
- the department’s relationship with London, including Transport for London
- transport connectivity across the union
- integrated transport strategy
Highways Voices is brought to you with our partners the Transport Technology Forum, LCRIG, ADEPT and ITS UK.
Are you ready to see how innovation and cutting-edge solutions are reshaping the future of transport across Europe?
As transport networks evolve under pressure to decarbonise and modernise, decision-makers face the challenge of balancing ambitious sustainability goals with real-world infrastructure and social needs.
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In this episode of Highways Voices, you'll discover how the ITS European Congress in Seville is spotlighting practical strategies — from bi-directional vehicle-to-grid technology to large-scale citizen-centred mobility pilots — that are crucial for overcoming today's transition hurdles.
You'll gain insights into how collaborative, empathy-driven design is redefining sustainable urban mobility, understand how bi-directional charging and energy grid optimisation are reshaping traffic management KPIs and discover large-scale, European projects like MetaCase and the City Moonshot that are setting new benchmarks for electric and autonomous transport solutions.
Highways Voices will be reporting from the ITS European Congress from 19-21 May, so hit play now to hear a preview discussing the real-world innovations and strategic insights that will shape the future of highways and smart mobility at Seville’s landmark event.
Highways Voices is brought to you with our partners the Transport Technology Forum, LCRIG, ADEPT and ITS UK.
Today on Highways Voices we look at build trust in artificial intelligence for use in the Highways Sector.
With shrinking budgets and rising demands from both the public and government, local authorities are under immense pressure to deliver smarter, faster, and more accurate highway maintenance. So today, we look at how AI-driven inspections and integrated asset management systems are not only meeting these demands but redefining what’s possible for councils and road managers.
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Our guests are Connell McLaughlin, CEO of Route Reports and Mark Rowe, Strategic Consultant at Brightly Software.
They tell interviewer Adrian Tatum that we can be confident that auto automated inspections provide transparent, verifiable results that rival traditional manual surveys, and that the kit pays for itself with both proactive planning and reactive responses – saving time, money, and carbon. But they warn this is only going to work if it’s a joined-up system meaning real-time collaboration across departments, and so better decisions with clearer insights.
Tap play now to hear how AI and integrated systems are helping highway authorities make every pound – and every pothole – count.
Highways Voices is brought to you with our partners the Transport Technology Forum, LCRIG, ADEPT and ITS UK.
This week on Highways Voices, we examine the way councils can deliver their highway maintenance by using an arms-length wholly owned company.
Our guest is Dominic Bostock, the Managing Director of Cornwall-based Cormac, a company operated under the Teckal approach, which is a procurement exemption that allows public authorities to contract directly with a legally separate entity that is owned and controlled by them, without needing to go through a full public procurement process.
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Adrian Tatum leads the conversation today, finding out how, for local and regional authorities under pressure to deliver more with less, the Teckal approach has empowered Cornwall to deliver top-quartile road conditions, grow resident satisfaction by 25%, and generate over £60 million in verified social value—without being a drain on resources.
In todays podcast you will learn how an integrated highway and environmental services model drives both operational efficiency and community impact, and how a robust set of governance rules and legal structure was in place. You'll also hear how Cormac can support innovation, training, and strategic regional growth, and its strategies to improve road longevity, reduce carbon, and nurture local talent in a constrained funding environment.
Hit play now to find out how you could benefit from some successful ideas.
Highways Voices is brought to you with our partners the Transport Technology Forum, LCRIG, ADEPT and ITS UK.
How are we getting on introducing driverless vehicles into our transport network?
Well, we're further forward thanks to some new research in Sunderland which we find out about today with Newcastle University's Professor Phil Blythe who tells us about a trial service between a transport interchange and the city's hospital.
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In this episode of Highways Voices, Professor Blythe discusses how the real-world trial is not only mapping out the transformation of mobility access for patients and staff but also addressing the urgent shortage of commercial drivers and paving the way for smarter, more connected urban transport systems. For decision-makers grappling with service gaps, labour challenges, and climate goals, this is a look into a near-future solution already in motion.
In this episode you will learn how autonomous public transport is being used to solve real, local accessibility challenges in complex traffic environments, discover how Newcastle University is evaluating user trust, environmental benefits, and cost efficiency to guide future adoption and get insights on scalable models and how public-private partnerships are accelerating deployment of smart transport technologies across the UK.
Hit play now to find out how autonomous vehicles are quietly reshaping the future of urban transport—starting with a hill, a hospital, and a city determined to lead.
Highways Voices is brought to you with our partners the Transport Technology Forum, LCRIG, ADEPT and ITS UK.
How can cutting grass on the roadside help power the very vehicles that maintain our highways, while also slashing carbon emissions?
Across the UK, local highways authorities are facing mounting pressure to decarbonise without sacrificing safety, budget, or reliability. The Live Labs 2 project has been working on seven real-world trials shaping the roads of tomorrow — from street lighting alternatives to circular biofuel solutions — helping turn innovation into business as usual.
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Thanks to our guest, Programme Director Giles Perkins, in today's podcast you will, among other things:
- Discover how data-driven street lighting strategies are reducing carbon while improving safety in the East Riding of Yorkshire
- Learn how the UK’s new Centre of Excellence is ranking carbon-saving innovations for scalable impact across regions
- Uncover how behavioural insights and collaborative systems-thinking are breaking down procurement and legislative barriers to accelerate Net Zero.
Hit play now to hear how Live Labs 2 is creating a blueprint for future-ready roads — and how your organisation can join the charge.
Highways Voices is brought to you with our partners the Transport Technology Forum, LCRIG, ADEPT and ITS UK.
Are potholes just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the real issues facing our roads?
If you're in the business of managing, maintaining, or modernising highways, you already know that reactive repairs are expensive, inefficient, and deeply unpopular. In this episode of Highways Voices, Future of Roads Minister Lilian Greenwood lays out how government and industry must work together to shift from short-term fixes to long-term, tech-powered strategies that deliver value and resilience.
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In this episode you will learn the Minister's views on:
- How national standards and a revamped code of practice will drive consistency across 150+ highway authorities
- New funding models will incentivise preventative maintenance and make local authorities more accountable
- How emerging technologies — from AI to decarbonised materials and solar lighting solutions — can radically improve asset management and road sustainability
Tap play now to hear how your organisation can align with the government's vision and be part of transforming the UK's highway future.
Highways Voices is brought to you with our partners the Transport Technology Forum, LCRIG, ADEPT and ITS UK.
We discuss how to drive better value from the highway maintenance funding on this week's Highways Voices, with Mike Hansford, Chief Executive of the RSTA.
"Our approach to road maintenance isn't working," he says, as he asks are we truly making the most of our funding, or are we stuck in an inefficient cycle of reactive repairs?
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In this episode, we discuss with Mike:
*His reaction to the 2025 ALARM survey
*Why the RSTA has produced its own report on the state of the UK road network this week and why the results could be both worse and better than reported
*How do get more value from the funding we do have
*How to incorporate surface treatments in your highway maintenance
programme
*Why prevention is always better than cure when it comes to roads
If highway maintenance is in any way your role within local government of contracting, then this is the episode for you. As well as a dive into the insights from the 2025 ALARM survey, it explores why our current approach to road maintenance may be failing. More importantly, we discuss practical solutions that could transform the way we maintain our road networks — without simply calling for more funding.
Highways Voices is brought to you with our partners the Transport Technology Forum, LCRIG, ADEPT and ITS UK.
What is one of the highway industry’s toughest challenges that is very difficult to solve and hardly talked about?
This week on Highways Voices we delve into the issue of road runoff pollution with Keyline.
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Did you know, road runoff is pollution caused when vehicles deposit debris containing over 300 chemicals on the road surface? Then, rainfall pushes the pollutants from roads into rivers and as a result water quality becomes unsustainable, collapsing ecosystems and killing wildlife.
According to Keyline, 18% of water body failures in England are due to road runoff pollution. Also, the water framework directive sets an objective to restore all rivers to good ecological status by December 2027, but only 14% of rivers in England have a good ecological status
It is clear then, that the conversation still needs to go further and more action is needed to eradicate road runoff pollution.
In this podcast with Technical Director at Keyline Civils Specialist, George Woollard, you will learn:
*What is road runoff pollution?
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What impact does it have and why the industry should care.
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How much visibility do we have on road runoff pollution?
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What are the main challenges with tackling road runoff pollution?
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How can we solve the issue?
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Why SuDS has an important role to play
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How can the highways industry support to help solve the challenge?
Keyline Civils Specialist is one of the UK’s leading civils partners to the highways and construction sectors. It supports the implementation of infrastructure projects, working alongside major contractors and leading manufacturers to deliver innovative solutions, with its wide range of civils and drainage products, expert technical team and national support network.
You can download Keyline’s white paper on the subject here.
Highways Voices is brought to you with our partners the Transport Technology Forum, LCRIG, ADEPT and ITS UK.
"The company has a renewed lease of life, we can look forward to more activity, more impact, growth and a thriving and secure business for the employees in the business."
TRL's CEO Paul Campion's explanation of a major investment in the UK’s transport research and innovation pioneer by Blandford Capital which he says for clients "and, with the risk of sounding a bit a little bit up ourselves here, for the country, we think that the things that TRL does are vitally important, and this enables us to do more of them better."
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Now, with fresh investment from Blandford Capital, it's entering a new era. But what does this mean for the future of highways, safety, and transport efficiency? If you’re involved in highways technology, infrastructure planning, or decision-making, this episode unpacks crucial insights about what’s next.In this exclusive interview, recorded at the Interchange Conference in Manchester, Mr Campion explains how this investment ensures long-term stability and innovation, what changes, or indeed continuities, businesses and stakeholders should expect and the opportunities this new backing creates for infrastructure, safety, and decarbonisation efforts.
Highways Voices is brought to you with our partners the Transport Technology Forum, LCRIG, ADEPT and ITS UK.
Ever wondered what it is like to start a business in the highways and transport sector and nearly fail several times before making a success of it?
That is exactly what we will be talking about in today’s Highways Voices podcast, which see the launch of a new series-Highways Business. This series will explain the highs and lows, the profits, the losses and successes and failures of running a company in the highways and transport industry. Our guests are all business leaders with the aim of sharing what they do so other leaders can learn from their experiences-whether good or bad.
In this weeks edition, we talk to Dom Cotton, Co-Chief Executive and founder of the award-winning folding cycle helmet company Newlane.
During the interview, we cover:
*Turning ideas and concepts into reality
*How Newlane built an award-winning business
*Why failing is important before you get success
*What has been the hardest thing about running the business?
*How to go about getting investment for a business
*What are the key takeaways for other business leaders?
“I wouldn't advise doing it on your own, because you need someone to share it with,” says Mr Cotton when referring to how he found the perfect business partner.
Highways Voices is brought to you with our partners the Transport Technology Forum, LCRIG, ADEPT and ITS UK.
How do engineers manage complex overnight tunnel maintenance and infrastructure upgrade projects while ensuring roads are operational by morning?
For decision makers in the highway industry, tunnel maintenance presents unique challenges — limited access, strict timelines, and evolving technological demands. In this episode, we dive into the intricate world of tunnel operations with Chris Mayo, Contracts Manager at Dalkia, as he shares insights into decades of experience in tunnel refurbishment and innovation and tells us about the Road Tunnel Operators' Forum in Liverpool next month.
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Discover the behind-the-scenes process of maintaining and upgrading road tunnels while minimising public impact, learn about the latest advancements in tunnel technology, including lighting, electrical systems, and smart controls and get an exclusive preview of the 2025 Road Tunnel Operators Forum, where industry leaders will discuss future infrastructure trends and best practices.
You'll also hear about the new format for Highways Voices as we freshen it up after four years of bringing you keynote speaker-quality guests, latest news and reports from major events. Enjoy!
Highways Voices is brought to you with our partners the Transport Technology Forum, LCRIG, ADEPT and ITS UK.
What happens when the people making the decisions about transport policy don’t have the power to act on the issues that matter most to road users?
From potholes to smart motorways and the future of road user charging, former Transport Secretary Chris Grayling joins us on this week's Highways Voices to share insider insights on the challenges of governing the UK's transport network.
This episode explores how decisions are made, the slow-moving machine of Whitehall, and the evolving role of technology in shaping the future of mobility.
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You'll Discover the real reasons why potholes persist despite government funding, gain insights into the politics and practicality of smart motorways and road safety strategies, and understand the future of road user charging and its potential impact on motorists.
Hear first hand from a former Transport Secretary about the realities of decision-making in government—press play now!
Are cars destined to fade away, or are they turning into something even more essential to our lives and identity, and can we balance our love for cars with the pressing need to reimagine transportation systems for health, climate, and cost-of-living challenges?
Today, Richard Hammond, famous for his years of motor journalism on Top Gear and then the Grand Tour, and Active Travel England commissioner Chris Boardman are our guests, in interviews I recorded at a Rees Jeffreys Road Fund debate held at the Royal Automobile Club in London.
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Richard Hammond discusses how we balance environmental concerns with the enduring human love for cars, and how we reimagine the car's future in an evolving transport network, balancing utility and emotional connection. He discusses what he sees are the limitations of electric vehicles and alternative energy solutions, and how he sees the future of car ownership in a world of shared mobility and environmental consciousness.
Then Chris Boardman joins us to talk about how active travel options can address carbon emissions, public health, and equitable access to transport. He points to places like Cambridge and Kesgrave are leading the way in creating transport systems that prioritise people, not just vehicles. He looks at the economic and societal benefits of shifting to multi-modal transport systems, including improved health outcomes and reduced costs, before giving some practical solutions and innovative technologies, from rural design guides to data-driven cycling infrastructure, that enable transport independence and reduce reliance on cars.
How can the highways industry overcome challenges like resource shortages, outdated infrastructure, and fragmented data systems to create a smarter, more efficient future of mobility?
This week's Highways Voices discusses these issues in a special panel discussion from the SWARCO User Group.
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Sean Bulmer from City of York Council, Staffordshire Council's Emily Madsen, LCRIG CEO Paula Claytonsmith and SWARCO UK's Managing Director John Pickworth explore the pressing issues preventing progress toward future mobility.
From staffing constraints to leveraging AI and integrated data systems, this discussion is tailored for industry professionals grappling with how to align innovation with real-world limitations.
You'll hear insights into how local authorities and private-sector partners are addressing resource and infrastructure challenges to make incremental but impactful progress, plus get an understanding on how data-driven decision-making and technology can revolutionise transport networks, from easing traffic congestion to reducing obsolescence issues.
You'll also learn about some practical strategies to balance innovation with immediate operational needs, ensuring continuity while fostering future mobility.
Are we designing transport systems that truly serve human needs, or are we stuck in outdated metrics of speed and efficiency? Two leading behavioural scientists, Rory Sutherland and Pete Dyson discuss their book Transport for Humans: Are We Nearly There Yet on this week's Highways Voices.
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This episode dives into how understanding human psychology can revolutionise transportation design. Whether you're struggling with inefficient commutes, complex travel systems, or the challenges of sustainable infrastructure, this conversation offers fresh perspectives tailored for decision-makers in highways and travel technology.
You'll learn their views on why focusing on user perception over traditional metrics like speed can lead to smarter, more effective solutions, how looking at behaviour can avoid costly mistakes in transport planning and policy and took a look at innovative approaches to road pricing, smart motorways, and multimodal travel that prioritise human behaviour and equity.
As decision-makers in the highway and travel technology sectors face mounting pressure to innovate sustainable transport options, this week's episode of Highways Voices dives into the rise of electric scooters, exploring whether they truly align with safety, environmental, and efficiency goals—or if they’re adding to the chaos.
Mail on Sunday columnist Peter Hitchens really doesn't think so, and today he discusses the broader implications of transport policies designed around them, questioning their affect on the safety of pedestrians and cyclists, and how safe they are when they're sharing roadspace with traffic. He also questions the hidden environmental costs, and their effect on enforcement.
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While this interview was recorded during Covid times in 2021, the issue remains close to his heart, as he wrote only last week. In it he quoted statistics showing 29 people died and nearly 5,000 were injured – 1,402 seriously – between 2020 and 2023, including Linda Davis, a 71-year-old grandmother, who was killed in 2022 when a 14-year-old, glued to his phone, mowed her down while riding an escooter.
"That's to say nothing of the risks posed by the flammable lithium batteries powering them," he wrote, " – "which are thought to have sparked more than 36 e-scooter fires in 2023 alone".
Don’t miss this critical discussion —play the episode to uncover an alternative view about e-scooters and what it means for the future of transport.
Today on Highways the legendary TV technology journalist Michael Rodd shares memories of his time on flagship BBC TV show Tomorrow's World, as he remembers the early technology innovations that paved the way for what we take for granted in the 2020s.
This episode dives into the fascinating evolution of technology in transport technology and highways, from a quirky cassette-based navigation solution to prototypes in driverless cars, and how he made the first ever televised mobile phone call.
For decision-makers in the highways industry, it offers a rare opportunity to understand how early innovations shaped the solutions we rely on today.
In today's programme, you'll discover how a 1971 cassette-based navigation system laid the groundwork for modern GPS technology, gain insights into the challenges and breakthroughs in developing transformative transport technologies like maglev systems and driverless cars and learn valuable lessons from the Concorde story about aligning technological innovation with real-world business needs.
Hit play now to uncover the untold stories behind the technologies revolutionising the highway and travel industries—stories that could inspire your next big decision.
Merry Christmas from Highways Voices.
A little extra podcast for you today. After the popularity of the recent bloopers podcast showcasing when things go wrong, we thought we'd delve into the archives of the mistakes from our first year of publishing weekly shows.
We get the bloke who turns into a dalek, plus a lot of Paul and Adrian just being incapable of speaking properly.
Enjoy, and catch you again in 2025!
What if you could dramatically improve travel experiences and reduce traffic issues without spending billions on new infrastructure?
In this episode of Highways Voices, we revisit a chat with behavioural scientist Rory Sutherland, author of the book Transport for Humans - Are We Nearly There Yet, exploring how psychology and better information, and not just engineering, can solve key challenges in highways and travel.
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If you're a decision-maker in transport, this discussion offers a fresh perspective on solving problems efficiently and cost-effectively.
- Discover why improving perceptions of travel time can reduce frustration and improve satisfaction.
- Learn how small, inexpensive changes like better signage or reframing can influence behaviour and optimise existing infrastructure.
- Gain insights into how psychology can maximise the use of current networks to reduce congestion and improve flow.
Don’t miss this opportunity to rethink travel and highways solutions. Hit play now and uncover practical strategies that can transform your approach.
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Today on Highways Voices you get to hear some of the bits we edited out of our podcasts through the year.
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You'll hear when things don't quite go right - from strange noises to coughing, mispronunciations to brain fades.
And a man turns into a dalek.
PLEASE NOTE, THERE IS SOME OFF-MIC SWEARING ON THIS PODCAST SO IT MAY NOT BE SUITABLE FOR THE OFFICE OR YOUNG EARS.
Enjoy 15 minutes of bloopers proving that it's best that podcasts are edited before publication!
Happy Christmas.
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Today on Highways Voices you will discover why self-enforcement plays a vital role in the battle for better road safety.
We hear from the founder of Alcosense, Hunter Abbott, who explains why, even when you’re under the alcohol limit, if you’ve had any drink at all you’re many times more likely to be in a crash.
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Hunter explains why he designed the breathalyser solution, how it changes driver behaviour, and the need for better education on morning-after drink-driving risks. Plus you’ll want to share with your HR team why if you employ people who have to socialise for work, you probably have an obligation to have them use breathalysers for their, and other road users’ safety.
Don’t forget to sign up to our daily email to get all our news into your inbox, and you can also find our stories on LinkedIn and X (formerly Twitter).
In this episode of Highways Voices we hear from Sean Rooney, Head of Service in Highways Maintenance at Oxfordshire County Council and President of the Local Government Technical Advisers Group.
You will discover what he is doing during his year in the post, and why a year might not be long enough, plus hear about opportunities from the Innovation Fund, his ideas on strengthening collaboration with other organisations and creating a directory of research projects.
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Highways News reporter Kevin Borras chats to Sean, and they discuuss duplication and the importance of intelligent technology use with practical applications over blind adoption.
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In this episode of Highways Voices you will discover a lot about the most influential Intelligent Transport industry associations in Europe, how their working together helps the industry, about a legacy from a major international congress, connected ITS installations and why the UK is leading the way in supporting the next generation of industry professionals.
This special Highways Voices comes from Bern in Switzerland and the first ever ITS Network of National Association Awards, celebrating excellence among the people who support our industry across the continent. The awards were sponsored by The Traffic Group, Ohmio, IDASO, Neology and SWARCO.
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The ITS Nationals network remit includes developing and sharing best practice in running ITS National Associations, connecting the fee-paying members of ITS National Associations to each other, the sharing of news and research to better inform members of ITS National Associations, sharing case studies and promotional materials to further the implementation of ITS and supporting members of the ITS National Associations to attend National, European and Global ITS Congresses, and to support ERTICO and other bodies with the delivery of them. These awards celebrate their successes, and help knowledge share about what works so more member organisations in each country can benefit.
You'll hear from the winners, sponsors, the host and lead judge - all in half an hour!
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The CEO of the European Intelligent Transport Systems organisation ERTICO, Joost Vantomme is our guest on Highways Voices this week, sharing his vast knowledge with you about standardisation, interoperability and living outside silos.
He chats with host Paul Hutton about how ERTICO’s ITS European and World Congresses promote thought leadership and innovation around things like automation, clean mobility, urban mobility, and new technologies like Air Mobility and generative AI.
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Mr Vantomme discusses the challenges around data sharing, trust, and regulatory alignment across regions, and he describes his enthusiasm for the the 2027 World Congress, which comes to the UK at Birmingham’s NEC and gives the country the chance to showcase its innovation around AI and multi-modal transport.
On top of all this, you’ll get Adrian Tatum’s pick of Highways News stories, some updates from our podcast partners and, you’ll find out why Acusensus and Dr Suzy Charman jointly win “Adrian’s Accolade”.
Don’t forget to sign up to our daily email to get all our news into your inbox, and you can also find our stories on LinkedIn and X (formerly Twitter).
Take a trip around a British traffic technology manufacturing plant in today’s Highways Voices and learn about the value of a highly ordered site, workforce flexibility and traceability.
Paul Hutton heads to AGD Systems and is given a guided tour of the facility by AGD Director Ian Hind who explains how the company has grown thanks to a sense of teamwork and through workforce flexibility.
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You’ll also get ideas for how you could improve operations and pick up some tips on sustainability.
There’s also a discussion of the legacy of Pete Hutchinson, the company’s visionary Managing Director who passed away in May.
On top of all this, you’ll get a pick of Highways News stories, some updates from our podcast partners and, of course, we tip our hat to someone or some people doing amazing things in our industry in “Adrian’s Accolade” (with Paul this week).
Don’t forget to sign up to our daily email to get all our news into your inbox, and you can also find our stories on LinkedIn and X (formerly Twitter).
This week on Highways Voices we hear from a self-made millionaire who has invested in, and it becomes clear as he talks, truly believes in a leading SME in our industry, giving you an insight into what someone looks for when choosing to invest their money.
Our guest Sir John Madejski made his money with Auto Trader magazine and owned Reading Football Club, twice taking them to the Premier League. He also continues to own the highways and transport solutions provider Clearview Intelligence.
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In today's podcast we sit down with Sir John to find out what made him choose Clearview among the hundreds of opportunities he was offered, why he believes in the company and has kept it after offloading so many others.
You'll hear a fascinating insight into the mind of the millionaire, and maybe get some ideas on how to attract, and keep, investment as Clearview has done so successfully.
You'll of course also hear your Highways Voices regulars, with Adrian Tatum's top stories, the latest from our podcast partners and who we tip our hat to for doing amazing things in our industry in "Adrian's Accolade".
Don't forget to sign up to our daily email to get all our news into your inbox, and you can also find our stories on LinkedIn and X (formerly Twitter).
Find out about how networking at an event like Highways UK can spawn products nobody's thought of, how new innovation was showcased at the event, how taxpayers' money has delivered significant benefits for road users in Rotherham and how surface treatments are an under-used solution in the UK - all on the bonus Highways Voices podcast from Highways UK.
These programmes are brought to you thanks to the support of AGD and Traffic Group Signals, Q Point, SRL, Westcotec and SWARCO.
Today Paul Hutton and Adrian Tatum hear from Traffic Group Signals, Jaama, Roadtechs and Roomex as some of the guests discussing their products and how they can benefit you in your day to day work.
You’ll also hear the views of Starling Technologies about the state of the industry and where new ideas come from, Rotherham Council about how they've benefited from Traffic Signals Obsolescence Grant funding, and how Ohmio are bringing their driverless innovations to the NEC's door.
There's also a grateful Terrapinn Managing Director Sean Willis, who oversaw the whole event, discussing how you made this the biggest Highways UK yet.
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You'll get advice from a business leader on how to deal with fluctuating demand today on Highways Voices, as our third podcast from Highways UK talks digital construction techniques from Austria, and a new partnership involving TRL that could have major benefits on local and strategic roads.
These programmes are brought to you thanks to the support of AGD and Traffic Group Signals, Q Point, SRL, Westcotec and SWARCO.
Today Paul Hutton and Adrian Tatum hear from Westcotec, SRL and roadside technologies, plus Q Point, Tensar and about a new collaboration between TRL and construction firm Buro Happold.
You'll also hear TV star Matt Baker chatting during last night's gala dinner where he hosted the awards - how he's had an affection for roads and road maintenance from an early age, and maybe could get a new career.
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This is the podcast for you if you're at Highways UK and want to hear a bit of behind the scenes chat about what you might have missed, or if you're unable to make it to Birmingham's NEC but want to feel like you're here.
Paul Hutton and Adrian Tatum are your trusted guides to the event where you'll hear from National Highways CEO Nick Harris about RIS3, funding and planning and how he's coped with some disappointment this year.
These programmes are brought to you thanks to the support of AGD and Traffic Group Signals, Q Point, SRL, Westcotec and SWARCO.
Paul and Adrian give their take on the new Future of Roads Minister Lillian Greenwood as she updated us on her role, and then about some must-attend sessions on Thursday at the show.
There's also a birthday party with Clearview Intelligence, the latest on collaboration with the Traffic Group and a fascinating chat with SWARCO's UK MD on what the industry wants during this time of uncertainty.
Oh, and Paul gets a beer.
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Whether you're at Highways UK at Birmingham's NEC over the next couple of days, or wanting to get a feel of the event from afar, Highways Voices is your place to come for the best in chat from the UK's biggest Highways and Transport Show.
As the stand builders finish putting together the exhibition, you'll get a sneak guide to some cutting edge innovation, hear us examine the chicken and egg nature of design and which speakers not to miss, only on your official and trusted guide to Highways UK 2024 - Highways Voices
These programmes are brought to you thanks to the support of AGD and Traffic Group Signals, Q Point, SRL, Westcotec and SWARCO.
Paul Hutton and Adrian Tatum are your reporters from the NEC as you hear their take on what we can expect from the keynote session on Wednesday morning that Paul is hosting, before you hear from SWARCO and the Traffic Group, and then Highways UK event content director Claudia Davidson gives you her must-attend sessions. Then hear about a brand new product launch from Westcotec and some real thought leadership from smartmicro, Messagemaker Displays and Kiely Bros.
Plus, we'll tell you where to get a free drink.
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The UK’s biggest highways and transport show of the year takes place next week at the NEC in Birmingham, and Highways Voices is your must-listen place to find out more about it.
These programmes are brought to you thanks to the support of AGD and Traffic Group Signals, Q Point, SRL, Westcotec and SWARCO.
In this programme you’ll hear from organiser Claudia Davidson about, among other things, the big name industry leaders speaking at the event and the range of theatres and exhibitors involved. Talking of exhibitors, marketing expert Helen Blood gives you advice on how to maximise footfall to your stand and tells you how to get some free marketing advice.
We also hear from Q Point, Yunex Traffic, SRL and Clearview Intelligence about what they’re showing off on their stands. You’ll also hear how you can enjoy networking, food and drink at SRL’s Walkabout Party, and join Clearview’s 50th birthday celebrations.
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We will be bringing you podcasts featuring one-to-one interviews with key speakers such as Nick Harris, CEO of National Highways, with exhibitors and thought leaders on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday of Highways UK week. Join us from the NEC with podcasts every day at 4pm. If you’re at Highways UK, it’s a trusted guide to your event experience, and if you can’t make it, you’ll get a flavour of what’s going on. Don’t miss it!
What are the advantages of digitising your asset management? What impact can a digitised system have on councils and their communities?
These were the topics on discussion on this week’s Highways News podcast in association with Brightly.
The company’s campaign-Assets. United, is a joined-up approach to asset management from Brightly, which gives its users – UK councils – a holistic view of all assets within their jurisdiction, irrespective of asset class, so they can make smarter decisions.
The initiative uncovers synergies between assets while putting the systems’ users in control of the actions they need to take.
We take a deeper dive with Nick Vague, Senior Solutions Consultant at Brightly and Brightly customer Chris Faires, Digital and Technology Manager for Highways and Environment at Hertfordshire County Council.
Speaking on the podcast, Mr Faires said: “Our approach has been to develop a very mature Asset Management operating model, and we've been doing this for the best part of two decades. What we've done is draw on global expertise to create a risk-based view, which gives us a much better understanding of all of our assets both on and under the ground in one system.”
Brightly’s system has helped the shift to greater digitisation in asset management, which is opening doors for councils to overcome the challenges they face. By leveraging digital tools, such as Brightly Software, they can use smart asset data to help interrogate current operations, inform and defend financial decisions, and realise widespread cost-efficiencies that make budgets work harder for the council and benefit the community.
Our final Highways Voices featuring content gathered during the ITS World Congress in Dubai is a panel discussion looking at technical collaboration in transport between the UK and Europe.
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Recorded in front of an audience on the UK Pavilion at the heart of the event's exhibition floor, we hear from Joost Vantomme, CEO of ERTICO - ITS Europe and his colleague John Paddington - Head of ERTICO's Project Management Office, along with Department for Transport ITS Policy Lead Darren Capes, who is Transport Technology Forum Manager, and the Local Council Roads Innovation Group CEO Paula Claytonsmith.
We talk cross-border coordination, AI, regulatory frameworks and local government engagement plus the practical challenges of implementing new technologies, and, of course, the 2027 ITS World Congress in Birmingham.
The UK Pavilion was organised by the Transport Technology Forum and LCRIG, showcasing UK ITS and the work of stand participants AECOM, AGD Systems, ANGOKA, Aurrigo, Clearview Intelligence, Immense, Neology, Nicander, Now Wireless, Starling Technologies, Westcotec and Zenzic, with ITS UK also very active on the stand.
In the third of our special podcasts from the 30th ITS World Congress in Dubai, we find out how British companies can get help to build new business in the UAE, and we hear more about the World Congress in three years' time in Birmingham.
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We hear from the UK Ambassador in Dubai, Edward Hobart CMG who was joined in an address by the Vice Chairman of the Supreme Organising Committee of the World Congress, Director of Dubai's Transportation Systems, HE Khaled Al Awadhi who addressed the UK delegation with Mr Hobart and the Department for Transport’s Chief Scientific Adviser Professor Sarah Sharples.
Mr Hobart then expands on his team's role in helping build business in the UAE and why UK companies are welcome in the Emirates.
After that we look ahead to three years' time and the ITS World Congress in Birmingham, with the official international launch with Transport for West Midlands' Chris Lane, Anthony Ferguson from the Department for Transport, Joost Vantomme and Dr Angelos Amditis of ERTICO and then ITS UK Chief Executive Max Sugarman.
The UK Pavilion is organised by the Transport Technology Forum and LCRIG, showcasing UK ITS and the work of stand participants AECOM, AGD Systems, ANGOKA, Aurrigo, Clearview Intelligence, Immense, Neology, Nicander, Now Wireless, Starling Technologies, Westcotec and Zenzic, with ITS UK also very active on the stand.
This week, the Road Surface Treatments Association (RSTA) has launched Pothole Prevention Week as part of its on-going commitment to highlight the benefits of surface treatments that prevent potholes from forming in the first place.
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Joining us on Highways Voices for this conversation (see below), is Mike Hansford, the new Chief Executive of the RSTA and Craig Marshall, Head of Commercial at ASI Solutions, a RSTA member and provider of the RHINOPHALT asphalt preservation product.
Preventative or surface treatments protect and preserve roads so that they last longer and are protected from defects and potholes.
Once these treatments are applied, roads can last for up to 10-20 years longer or more, depending on the treatment. That’s roads without potholes for that long or even longer if re-application is possible.
In taking a more proactive approach, the life-expectancy of a road in the UK could be increased, and potholes significantly reduced, if local authorities and their private sector contractors adopt a more proactive approach to highway maintenance alongside other treatments such as resurfacing.
This would mean central government would eventually be spending far less on reactive repairs such as filling in potholes by adopting a ‘prevention is better than cure’ approach to highway maintenance funding, rather than ‘papering over the cracks’ with pothole repairs, for them only to appear again later in the medium term.
The UK Pavilion at the ITS World Congress in Dubai features a number of innovative British SMEs, and on this special podcast we meet them all.
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Highways Voices host Paul Hutton has a "pitwalk" style chat with participants on the stand, which is delivered by the Transport Technology Forum and LCRIG.
Hear from Starling Technologies, Clearview Intelligence, Westcotec, Nicander, Now Wireless, AGD Systems, ANGOKA, Aurrigo, Immense and Neology as they discuss their products and the international opportunities they have.
A whirlwind half hour and well worth a listen.
Join Highways Voices on the UK Pavilion at the 30th Intelligent Transport Systems World Congress in Dubai today for a quick tour around some of the big talking points at the global event.
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As 24,000 people are expected at the World Trade Centre in the first Congress to take place in the Middle East, host Paul Hutton talks to LCRIG's Paula Claytonsmith and the Department for Transport's Darren Capes, manager of the Transport Technology Forum, to talk about the importance of having a high-profile British presence.
We hear from Catherine Whitfield of WSP about inclusive mobility, starting with some shocking facts about the inequality between the sexes when it comes to road crash victims, and then from two of the exhibitors on the UK Pavilion, Pete Cattell of Clearview Intelligence and Kieran Corbally from AGD.
Danny Woolard talks about his client GEWI's new traffic products and about a session he spoke on eCall and road crash reactions in his role as co-founder of VESOS.
We then have a Highways Voices first - a song, made using AI, about every World Congress that, it's fair to say, has divided opinion.
The UK Pavilion is organised by the Transport Technology Forum and LCRIG, showcasing UK ITS and the work of stand participants AECOM, AGD Systems, ANGOKA, Aurrigo, Clearview ntelligence, Immense, Neology, Nicander, Now Wireless, Starling Technologies, Westcotec and Zenzic.
Highways Voices returns after its summer break with an interview recorded at the JCT Traffic Signals Symposium in Nottingham.
Andrew Caleya Chetty is our guest, CEO and Founder of Starling Technologies, talking about its innovative approach to pedestrian safety using computer vision and machine learning.
He explains how Starling's system, which can handle saturated pavements and different user types, has received positive feedback from UK and international authorities. The company's technology, which can platoon pedestrians to improve efficiency, also captures detailed behavioural data.
He's joined by Simon Rogers, Starling's sales lead, who discusses the business cases for their product, including financial, carbon, and safety benefits.
You'll also hear how Starling aims to expand globally, with installations in various countries and plans to showcase their solutions at the ITS World Congress in Dubai.
As Highways Voices reaches its summer break, we finish this series of podcasts with a look ahead to two of the key events for our industry in the autumn.
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Organiser of the JCT Traffic Signals Symposium John Nightingale joins us first to discuss the popular event, and how it's grown with ever more exhibitors and attendees, and how the programme of learned papers was completed earlier than ever, while the social events are a vital part, too.
He'll also hint at a fascinating-sounding session about security which will only be available to those in the room at Nottingham Trent University during the event on the 11 and 12 September.
After John, Claudia Davidson - Head of Content and Strategic Partnerships at Highways UK owner Terrapin - talks about the growing popularity of this event at the NEC on 16 and 17 October.
She discusses the ministerial visits and tours, and how many leading elected officials from across the country are attending. She also looks at some of the key subjects being discussed, new theatres and how to navigate the event and get the most out of it.
On top of that, you'll hear news from the Highways News website, and from our podcast partners LCRIG, the TTF, ADEPT and ITS UK, as well as why Transport for Greater Manchester wins "Adrian's Accolade".
This week on Highways Voices we talk about better traffic management using a new pre-emptive traffic management system being pioneered by AECOM and Derbyshire County Council.
Lee Street, Head of Technology Services, AECOM Transportation, Europe, and Neill Bennett, Assistant Director Highways Commissioning at Derbyshire County Council join us to discuss the system that can seamlessly integrate various data sources to provide driver information and optimise traffic flow.
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They talk about the challenge of getting people to use the solution and how it can grow beyond the borders of Derbyshire, and support highways authorities across the country.
You'll hear how it has it grown and how is it scaleable, how the council's initial ITS strategy has developed, and where this fits in with the DfT's Intelligent Traffic Management Fund.
You'll also hear why National Highways wins Adrian's Accolade, and about some key dates for your diary from our podcast partners.
In the second of our tours of this month's LCRIG Innovation and Learning Festival in Coventry, we hear from seven more guests about everything from autonomous pothole repair to road marking
You'll hear from a leading local authority, a company that’s booked millions through its participation with LCRIG, about off grid roadside solutions and from one of the leading trade bodies.
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The busy LCRIG Innovation and Learning Festival is an indoor-outdoor event bringing local authorities and the supply chain together over two days. This is the second of our special podcasts from there, you can hear part one here.
The podcast features:
1m04s – Sean Rooney, Head of Service, Oxfordshire County Council
5m45s – Toby Fitzsimmons, Business Development Manager, Miles Macadam
9m48s - John Warne, Business Development and Marketing Director, WJ
11m45s - Paulo Paoletti, Co-founder and CTO, Robotiz3d
16m22s - Brandon Weston, Head of Sales and Marketing, Kight Off Grid
20m41s - Kealie Franklin, CEO, ARTSM
23m30s – Paula Claytonsmith, CEO, LCRIG
Join Highways Voices on a whistle-stop tour of last week's LCRIG Innovation and Learning Festival in Coventry, as we hear expertise across the road maintenance, safety, EV and mobility industries.
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In the first of two podcasts from the event, we hear how LCRIG and the Rees Jeffreys Road Fund are working together to support career development for people in our industry, before JCB give an explanation of their latest machine used to dramatically improve the efficiency of pothole repair.
We discuss one of the demonstrations at the Festival, improving responses to road crashes by pairing eCall and Drone technology, then learn about a clean onsite energy solution and a clever way to deliver EV charging to people who live in homes without a driveway.
Finally we take a ride on a driverless pod, learning that the technology is no longer something of the future, but being delivered here and now.
The busy LCRIG Innovation and Learning Festival is an indoor-outdoor event bringing local authorities and the supply chain together over two days. There was so much to see and do that we'll be bringing you more from that event next week.
The podcast features:
0m58s - Paula Claytonsmith, CEO, LCRIG
3m46s - Andy Graham, Vice Chair, Rees Jeffreys Road Fund
8m08s - Ben Rawding, General Manager, JCB
11m53s - Andy Graham, co-founder, VESOS and Sunil Budhdeo, Transport Innovation Manager, Coventry City Council
18m 19s - Neil Levett, Managing Director, Levett Business Services
23m12s - Ben Whitaker, CTO, Kerbocharge
26m20s - Ian Pulford, Director, Ohmio UK and Sunil Budhdeo, Transport Innovation Manager, Coventry City Council
This week on Highways Voices we talk about driverless cars, road safety, and technology advancements in the transportation industry.
Guest Dr Henriette Cornet of the University of San Francisco joins us to discuss driverless car technology, regulation, and industry developments.
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Dr Cornet has recently joined the university after previously working on the European SHOW and ULTIMO projects, as well as being a member of the CCAM executive board and writing a book on the subject.
She explains how last mile solutions are becoming early examples of the technology: “So you would have autonomous vehicles maybe taking you to the first public transport station, metro station, and having like this collaboration between private partners and public partners working together,” she says. But she adds that robotaxis are effective too, explaining her experience of riding them in San Francisco: “That's kind of amazing, actually, and I think there's still many people in the world that don't believe it. Like, when you are in the bubble of CCAM, everybody knows that, but talking to people outside of it, it's still a bit of science fiction aspect. It's really very fast to get into a car. And I use them regularly.”
You’ll hear her views on regulation, how Europe can avoid being left behind, and why it’s not technology that’s stopping us getting in a driverless cab in London.
You’ll also hear why Yunex Traffic win Adrian’s Accolade this week, plus some headlines from the Highways News website.
This week on Highways Voices we hear about new features being added to LCRIG's Innovation and Learning Festival, which takes place next month (2 and 3 July).
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The event sees local authorities find out about new innovations from the supply chain that can help to meet their current and future challenges, as products, solutions, new innovations and techniques from across the highways sector are showcased.
Local Council Roads Innovation Group CEO Paula Claytonsmith is our guest, discussing the indoor and outdoor exhibitions plus a range of live demonstration sessions at the new venue of Stoneleigh Park in Warwickshire.
"It's nice to move to a new venue, which we know will have better facilities, better food facilities, better networking facilities, and more compact," she says.
"I think there's a bit of a misnomer that the Innovation and Learning festival is more on that civils, highways maintenance side, when actually it's both highways, maintenance, civils, and also technology. So they are actually both present at the event, and what we've worked hard this year to do is bring new sort of innovations."
She discusses the need for stakeholders to work together to address industry challenges, including sustainability and technology integration as well as the need to book as soon as possible.
Away from the main interview, you’ll hear news from our partners including the clock ticking on early bird ticket rates for the ITS UK President's Dinner, and why Adrian has chosen Coventry University as the winners of his accolade this week.
This week, Highways Voices hears ideas on how to overcome challenges in staying close to customers, adapting to their needs, and future-proofing a company portfolio.
Our guest is the CEO of SWARCO, Michael Schuch who discusses the the problems facing the industry because of differing regulation around the world, especially when it comes to adherence to patents and to carbon limits.
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Mr Schuch talks about how we must make sure that countries that produce outside Europe and want to deliver into Europe, are not having an advantage. "A mechanism was put in place called CBM - Cross Border Adjustment Mechanism," he explains. "But this mechanism only applies for certain industries, like steel like aluminium, like fertilisers and other materials, but glass is not part of it. So if you produce in Europe, you pay this tax. But if you produce outside Europe and want to import into Europe, you don't pay."
He also gives his thoughts on the issues around securing public sector funding for transportation innovation, discussing how money is often not available for major deployments after the concept has been proved: "When it is about small scale deployment, it's one thing," he says. "So putting a demo somewhere in place or a pilot in place, that's one thing - money is spent there. But when it comes to wide scale deployment, this is missing."
You'll also hear his thoughts on the importance of a customer-centric approach to innovation, as well as allowing a culture where people can get things wrong in order to get things right.
Away from the main interview, you'll hear news from our partners including LCRIG's great offer for start-ups and micro companies, and why Adrian has chosen Transport for London as the winners of his accolade this week.
Effective management of highway assets is on the agenda this week on Highways Voices.
We speak with Brightly, one of the UK’s leading providers of asset management software in the highways sector. Local authorities and contractors have been using the company’s asset management solution for over 20 years now, helping them make the correct decisions around prioritising and scheduling highway works.
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The secret to successful and effective asset management, according to Chris Thompson, Director of Sales at Brightly, is to provide a platform that delivers as much data as possible to help inform the best possible decisions, as local authorities come under more pressure than ever to repair as many potholes as well as deliver a proactive asset management plan.
“They need access to the correct data at the time they need it. And so, through continued development over the years of Confirm, managers, budget holders and senior leaders have had the visibility that they need to make the correct decisions,” he says.
He's joined by Business Development Manager Matthew Kelley to discuss effective management of all highway infrastructure - not just the surface of the road and their thoughts on highways funding.
You’ll also hear news from our partners ADEPT, LCRIG, the TTF and ITS UK and why Cormack wins “Adrian’s Accolade” this week.
“If I speak locally, in Sussex, we have a high number of cars, of sports cars, and bikers who come to visit the coast in the weekends, for example, and there’s little doubt that the communities through which they drive really do on average speed cameras and other safety cameras to assist them to reduce both the noise and also the speed of that traffic," says Sussex Police Chief Constable Jo Shiner on this week's Highways Voices, "But then there are others who will persistently put pictures of where the safety cameras are, whether it’s on Facebook or other social media, almost to say this is here, and almost make it ineffective.”
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The head of roads policing in the UK joins us on this week's podcast to discuss making our roads safer, and the role of technology in doing so. She also discusses a graduated driving license, eCall, and tougher sentences for drivers breaking the rules.
“If you actually compare some of the sentences that drivers who do kill people, because of their way in which they drive on the roads, versus maybe some other crimes in society, predominantly, you see that those sentences are lower,” she said. “And that’s just one example where I think families are not feeling that they do get the justice that sometimes they deserve.”
She even talks about why, when you’re driving perfectly safely and legally, if you see traffic police, for some reason you feel guilty!
You'll also hear news from our partners ADEPT, LCRIG, the TTF and ITS UK and who wins "Adrian's Accolade" this week,
"Don't try and talk to the politicians - the truth is actually having good relations with... politicians will have very little impact on the actual decisions government takes," explains former Transport Secretary Chris Grayling on this week's Highways Voices.
He joined an ITS UK meeting last week and was interviewed by Highways Voices host Paul Hutton, who recorded the chat for you to feature on this week's podcast.
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Mr Grayling was asked how to influence policy, and pointed out what ministers don't do: "Ministers have no involvement in procurement, they have little involvement in decisions about technology," he said. "A recommendation come from a civil servant to say we've evaluated these three things - we need this change the regulations in order to make that happen, do you agree? But that will come from the civil service, I will come from expert panels set up to look at individual issues. It may come from local authority pressure, it may come from outside bodies, like the RAC and the AA. Actually, the last people you want to be focusing all your time and effort on is politicians, because government doesn't work like that."
In the conversation, Mr Grayling discusses his past before parliament, his experience in the role and key issues around smart motorways and road safety and public opinion, plus the "elephant in the room" - Road User Charging.
"I don't think we're going to wake up one morning and have a government white paper saying we're going to introduce a pay per mile on every stretch of road in the UK," he said. "What I do think is we're going to see more... paid for miles for lorries on motorways, for example, it may mean pay per mile in and around urban areas. I think that the Treasury is going to have a deep desire to introduce road user charging in order to offset the loss of revenue from electric vehicles, but I'm not convinced it's going to get its way anytime soon."
You'll also hear the latest from our pages on Highways News, plus reaction to the Transport Technology Forum's conference, the latest from Live Labs 2, ITS UK's briefing for newly-elected politicians, and a new invention to be shown off at this year's LCRIG Innovation and Learning Festival.
"A lot of our time is firefighting, fixing day to day problems, maybe some signal timings, but it's hard to look into the future when we don't have time," admits City of York Council's Sean Bulmer in a panel discussion at the SWARCO User Group meeting in Coventry, featured on this week's Highways Voices.
Mr Bulmer was joined by Emily Madsen from Staffordshire County Council who admits she struggles for time in her day job so "coming to events like this helps me think about the future".
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The local authority representatives were joined by CEO of the Local Council Roads Innovation Group (LCRIG), Paula Claytonsmith and SWARCO's MD in UK and Ireland, John Pickworth. They discussed Innovation and planning for the future, strategies for more efficient transport around technology and localised approaches.
The need for incremental progress and the role of private sector involvement were also discussed to help, for example, the ability for an authority to make the most out of the data it has. "It's how you use that data, how you present that data," Mr Pickworth explains. "Is it presented in a way that enables decisions to be made?"
Ms Claytonsmith added that support for authorities is vital. "I spoke to [one] who says they've literally got 20 or 30 different systems, each holding different sets of data, not communicating. And I think now that we're in a much more complex environment, the fact that we don't have as many people in our teams... So actually having an integrated system that allows you to make complex decisions drawing in different data becomes ever more important."
You'll hear more on this fascinating discussion, recorded in a rather echoey hotel conference room, which also covers infrastructure obsolescence and funding priorities as well as risk taking, innovation, challenges and priorities.
Despite bringing you daily podcasts last week thanks to our sponsors SWARCO and AGD Systems, we still couldn’t fit in everything we gathered, so in this bonus podcast we talk about road safety, companies coming together and artificial intelligence.
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The Australian company Acusensus has proved it’s not just speed that can be enforced by technology on our roads thanks to its technology to spot people using their hand-held phones whilst driving, and those who aren’t wearing a seatbelt. We catch up with founder and Managing Director Alexander Jannink, before talking to smartmicro CEO Ralph Mende about the company's new products and its acquisition of a British company.
A new name to us since the last Intertraffic is Umovity, a partnering of American signals technology company Econolite, and the well known PTV Group. VP, Engineering, Sunny Chakravarty explains how, by better combining hardware, software and now transport modelling, intersections can become safer and more efficient.
Many, many companies talked AI across Intertraffic, so McKinsey’s expert in the subject, Alberto Chiulli, cuts through the hype before we close the programme with the CEO of Yunex Traffic, John Newhard, who hosted a panel session at Intertraffic Amsterdam 2024 looking at AI, the Cloud and Mobility, and how new technologies and computing could affect our industry. He reflects on what was discussed.
The last of this week’s Highways Voices podcasts from Intertraffic Amsterdam 2024 explores more of the cutting-edge technology and leading opinion, thanks to the sponsorship of SWARCO and AGD Systems.
In today’s programme we hear about the Australian invention Multipatcher, a safe one-person operated way to fix our roads, which has been making a difference Down Under for decades and is now on streets in the UK.
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We meet two leading executives from enforcement company Jenoptik about how technology is making our roads safer, while the importance of safety and adherence to speed limits is underlined by the European Cyclists’ Federation.
We also catch up on driverless technology from Germany, with the latest from pioneers MOIA, while we talk start-ups with Kevin Borras as he looks forward to Friday at Intertraffic.
Whether you’re at Intertraffic or not, we give you a valuable flavour of the event – timed for you to listen to while you’re getting strolling through the Amsterdam showers to the RAI, or getting ready for a Friday working from home.
As we enter the second half of Intertraffic Amsterdam 2024, we’re back with more fascinating conversation about the transport and mobility industries from Amsterdam, thanks to the sponsorship of SWARCO and AGD Systems.
In today’s programme we hear about an important collaboration between former competitors SWARCO and Dutch data experts Monotch, who have announced a new initiative to expand Cooperative, Connected, and Automated Mobility services to large-scale deployment.
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We speak to a leading expert in autonomous vehicles from the University of San Francisco as we discuss the take-up of the technology, and where it’s really getting traction.
It’s party time on the Clearview Intelligence stand as they celebrate 50 years as a business, and AGD Systems explain important traffic management solutions they’re delivering with partners in Canada.
Kevin Borras also joins us with a pick of some of the must-attend sessions in the summit theatre.
Whether you’re at Intertraffic or not, we give you a valuable flavour of the event – timed for you to listen to while you’re getting ready in your Amsterdam hotel room, or, if you’re not at the event, on the commute to your office.
On the second of our Highways Voices podcasts from Intertraffic Amsterdam, we’ll hear from the winners of the Intertraffic Awards, with Valerann, Intelligent Instruments and Sealed Air telling us about their winning solutions.
AGD Systems explain the relative values of video analytics and radar to monitor transport, while we chat to the CEO of their fellow sponsors SWARCO about how people are key to everything the company does and achieves.
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We hear from one of the world’s leading experts in driverless technology explaining data-driven solutions for driverless vehicles, while Highways News’s new reporter, the vastly experienced Kevin Borras, looks at some of the key issues being discussed in the summit programme.
Whether you’re at Intertraffic or not, we give you a valuable flavour of the event – have a listen while on the tram or Metro to the RAI, or while walking the dog at home!
Intertraffic Amsterdam is firmly rooted in the calendar as the huge smart mobility, infrastructure, traffic management, road safety and parking exhibition and summit.
So we’re here for the whole week, joining more that 30 thousand traffic technology and mobility professionals to learn and connect. You can join in whether you’re in the venue or listening from home or work, as we give you a flavour of the event, thanks to the support of our sponsors SWARCO and AGD Systems.
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In this first programme, we talk to the organisers about what to expect over the next four days, learn about new initiatives from SWARCO and meet road safety companies Quazar International and Cover Me, and find out what they’re up to this week.
Plus, with a packed summit programme, we are joined by Highways News’s new reporter, the vastly experienced Kevin Borras, with his take an in-depth look at some of the key issues being discussed at the Summit Programme.
This week’s Highways Voices looks ahead to the biggest single event we cover at Highways News - Intertraffic Amsterdam.
Ahead of four special podcasts direct from the RAI in Amsterdam thanks to the support of SWARCO and AGD Systems, we find out what we can expect, as we hear from the organiser Carola Jansen-Young and long-term friend of Highways Voices, Richard Neumann of SWARCO.
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"I think we're close to 900 registered exhibitors, and on top of that, there's a lot of interest from the ITS Nationals that are actually bringing more companies that are members of their organisation over to Intertraffic," explains Carola Jansen-Young. "It's bigger, and not only from the floor surface or the number of organisations participating, but it's definitely also bigger from summit programme perspective, from a demonstration perspective, and as well, all signs indicate that it will also be bigger from an attendee perspective."
Having the biggest stand at the huge event is great kudos for SWARCO but a lot of work for the man who organises it, Richard Neumann, who admits to looking forward to midday on Tuesday when the event is up and running and he can relax, and meet the company's clients and friends: "We will look after them as they deserve because they are part of the success of SWARCO," he says. "So there is a big bistro area again on our stand where you can sit down have the meetings with our salespeople, but there is also some culinary delights and drinks from Austria."
In the podcast you'll hear about SWARCO's drinks reception on Wednesday from 5-7.30pm including those culinary delights from Austria, and you'll hear what to expect from our daily podcasts and who might turn up on it.
There's also our partner news from the Transport Technology Forum, LCRIG, ADEPT and ITS UK, and Adrian Tatum's pick of stories from the Highways News website, along with Adrian's Accolade going this week to the Rees Jeffreys Road Fund for its latest promise of bursaries, and a reminder you can hear from previous Bursary winners on a previous podcast recorded from the Royal Automobile Club last year - click here to listen.
See you next week in Amsterdam!
Sometimes at Highways News, a company pitches for an article or podcast interview that is so intriguing, we just say yes to find out more.
Tactile Mobility is one such company, delivering enhanced road data using existing technologies found throughout our cars, utilising AI and sensors to map out road conditions, forecast changes in roadway friction and accurately predict maintenance issues.
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Podcast guest Boaz Mizrachi, Founder and CTO of Tactile Mobility explains how the solution is based on onboard processing, for offboard understanding: "On one hand, we need a lot of information, okay, large bandwidth of information that exists today in the vehicle, which cannot be uploaded to the cloud due to limits of communication bandwidth, even today, even in the next few years," he says. "So there is a need to have edge computing software that aggregates the same information inside the vehicle gets to the conclusion in the vehicle inside the ECU and only the outcomes, those insights with very low bandwidth transmission can be uploaded to the cloud."
He explains how manufacturers have had to collaborate with software providers for four-to-five years before production to integrate software, and that the value of virtual sensor technology lies in providing new features to vehicle manufacturers, who can then sell these features as premium upgrades.
The data could also be used for post-accident investigation, if rules around data privacy allows it. "Changing of the friction due to situations like rain... or banking, or curving... this is part of the road signature that we provide with these vehicles," he adds, calling it "surface DNA". "So surface DNA will provide this information that you can analyse".
The podcast also features information from our partners the Transport Technology Forum, LCRIG, ADEPT and ITS UK, and you'll also hear why the CAV Forth project wins Adrian's Accolade this week.
The Department for Transport's Intelligent Transport Systems Policy Lead has praised local authorities and suppliers in their role in providing the evidence needed to justify the latest multi-million pound funding for traffic signals.
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Speaking on this week's Highways Voices, Darren Capes explains that the total of £70 million allocated in the Government's Plan for Drivers was made possible by the work of authorities who received a share of £15 million to tune up signals in 2021.
"That 15 million pounds delivered something like like... 300 different traffic schemes in 39 different authorities," he says. "So in terms of actually showing the benefits, showing new equipment going up, showing junctions has been improved, and showing the government that that the authorities would spend this money wisely in the sector and the suppliers were ready and able to do the work - absolutely we proved that we the money would be spent wisely."
That led to the £30 million Signal Obsolescence Grant and £20 million more for the Green Light Fund which is being distributed to a hundred authorities across England. In the podcast, Mr Capes discusses how it was allocated and what difference it will make to the travelling public. He also alerts signal engineers to make sure their Chief Executives are alerted so they work on the next steps.
He also discusses the excitement of potential of the £20 million for the Intelligent Traffic Management Fund which will be open next week (w/b 1 April) where authorities, supported by their suppliers, can bid for around £2 million of funding to try out new signals technology.
"This is for research funding, rather than maintenance funding and the aim of the ITMF is to set up a small number of more significantly funded beacon sites around England where we provide funding to authorities to implement the next generation of traffic management," he continues. "Now, again, IMTF does exactly what it says on the tin - it's funding that's intended to allow authorities to procure the next generation of traffic management."
Find out how to get involved, and also hear news from our website, our podcast partners ITS UK and ADEPT, and who wins Adrian's Accolade, all on this week's Highways Voices.
"I remember sitting at VicRoads, back in 2012, telling our CEO at the time, cooperative ITS is here, autonomous vehicles are going to be here," comments Dean Zabrieszach of HMI Technologies in Australia and New Zealand on this week's Highways Voices, "We need to deploy equipment all over the countryside, because they'll be here in two or three years - and here we are in 2024, and we haven't quite got there!"
Dean joins Paul Hutton to discuss a new driverless pod project in Milton Keynes which brought him from Melbourne in Australia to the UK, and to consider what the autonomous vehicle industry has achieved since the hype of a decade ago, and how the "The biggest hurdle has been the safety aspect that all the agencies, all the authorities, all the jurisdictions want to actually nail down completely."
Passengers in Milton Keynes will be able to use the Ohmio self-driving shuttles from as early as October, and Dean discusses why the last mile, slower speed pods have been successful when deployed, while fully automated Level Five vehicles haven't become quite as widespread.
He also talks about the technology from the viewpoint of his time as Director of Roads Operations at VicRoads in Victoria, Australia, and whether he'd have embraced the technology: "I think it would have been a tough discussion," he admits. "But if it was a discussion that was seen as being something that was good for Melbourne, good for Victoria, that could ultimately lead to better safety outcomes, I would have had a try - I would have had a go at it."
You'll also hear latest news about the ALARM survey, about the traffic signals funding announcement from the Government, and why friends of Highways Voices VESOS and Valerann are among this week's winners of "Adrian's Accolade".
"The world runs on maps," explains HERE Technologies executive Jason Jameson on this week's Highways Voices, "And if you look at from the early days of creating a map, to find directions, or to map out how to move from place to place, it's always been with us as a society. But if you look at what's happened, there's been this shift to digitisation... and having it more accurate... this is really enabled a lot of the things that we take for granted in society - you couldn't do ride sharing, if you didn't have a digital map, you really would struggle to do e-commerce, and logistics would would start to really become very inefficient without digital maps."
In the conversation, the company's Chief Customer Officer explains how maps are put together, kept fresh and keep adding more and more information that can be used by the world's mobility planners and modellers, and Intelligent Transport Systems solutions providers.
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He explains how these added layers are leading to new solutions to change how we travel, such as the detail needed for Electric Vehicles.
"That includes things like charge point point of interest search, multi stop routing, you get a range on map, when you look on the screen and say how far can I drive... and has estimated charging times at each charging station," he says. "It's just designed to very simply allow folks now to take their EVs and plan longer journeys and know that they're not going to get stuck without a charging station and know that they have enough energy to get where they need to go."
And the data goes further than this - "It isn't just about its distance travelled, it's to do with elevation so the topography - you need to know how steep how big the hills are, you need to know the curvature of the road, you need to know even things like road roughness to determine friction."
Jason also discusses autonomous vehicles, the company's latest partnerships with Uber and What3Words and last mile delivery.
You also hear news from our partners, including a former Transport Secretary joining the next ITS UK Enforcement Forum, and why a project in the West Midlands wins Adrian's Accolade this week
This week on Highways Voices we hear how technology is ending the delivery driver free for all as we see a new kerbside management scheme in Westminster.
We’re at the site of one of two loading bays in Westminster which Electric Vehicle delivery drivers can book using a new online booking system from Grid Smarter Cities, reducing battery consumption and removing the stress having to drive around finding a place to unload, or having to park illegally.
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“There’s huge competition for kerbside space,” explains Councillor Paul Dimoldenberg, who is Westminster Council’s Cabinet Member for City Management and Air Quality. “We recognise more than 40 different users of the kerb, and it’s impossible to keep up unless we are on top of it 24 hours, seven days a week. So what we’re trying to do is try new ways of managing the kerb, so that we can keep on top of it, we can keep the city moving, we can reduce congestion.”
The Kerb platform allows a driver to pre-book loading and unloading space for up to 90 minutes, 24 hours a day. This means drivers get surety of a space in advance for delivery drivers, reducing idling and search time and also allowing them to park long enough to make onward deliveries by greener modes, such as by foot or cargo bike.
“There’s no driving around looking for a space in a busy central London location, like Covent Garden or Victoria, where we’ve got the first two trials,” Cllr Dimoldenberg continues. “This gives the distribution companies the ability to pre plan where are they going to park, so they’ve got a defined time to deliver the goods. And they can do it quickly, efficiently and without any fuss or delays.”
In the podcast we also hear from the man whose idea this booking system was, Grid Smarter Cities CEO Neil Herron. He explains that local authorities can use the system now, because it was designed with present laws in mind: “We can use the local authority traffic order procedures to create the experimental or permanent orders, whatever is needed,” he says. “It doesn't need any new primary legislation or secondary legislation, it can be done with what we have now.”
Hear the views, too, of two delivery drivers who were the first to use the new bay, and how Westminster Council plans to assess the scheme’s success to build a business case for rolling out kerbside booking across the whole of the city.
You’ll also hear the latest headlines from the Highways News website, news from our partners and who wins Adrian’s Accolade this week.
"You can't change behaviour if you don't know what the behaviour is," comments Darren Divall, Regional Road Safety Manager from the West Midlands Combined Authority on this week's Highways Voices. "You can't increase enforcement of speed limits until you know what the reason is why people are speeding, and it might be that that's the behaviour issue, it might be that it's an infrastructure issue where we don't have a very well designed road for the speed limits that we've got or that we've not got a self enforcing environment. So it can be a mixture of things, but the evidence drives everything."
So how do you get the evidence? Joining Darren as a guest this week is Flora McFarlane, Head of Growth and Partnerships at VivaCity who discusses a solution using AI to learn about near misses and alert highways managers to where potential crash sites.
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"We are providing sensors that are continuously monitoring the road space and able to see everything that is going on," she explains. "We can identify lots of different types of road users... and provide insights and analytics based on what's actually happening at real time, and before and after safety interventions. Now, what that means is that we're able to continuously see levels of road danger as well, so we can see interactions such as near misses, problematic passes, dangerous left turns, right turns at junctions, and provide that data to the likes of transport for West Midlands to understand where - and it's a horrible phrase - accidents are waiting to happen."
The pair also discuss road safety partnerships and prevention strategies, and issues around funding road safety solutions and how budgets work.
You'll also hear some of the latest headlines from the Highways News website, news from our partners including ITMF funding guidance from the Department for Transport and ITS UK's call to the Chancellor ahead of the budget, plus who wins Adrian's Accolade this week.
If ever there’s a real must-listen Highways Voices, this is it, as we get a sneak preview of the guidance for the bidding for a share of the £20 million Intelligent Traffic Management Fund with Darren Capes from the Department for Transport.
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He's currently finishing the guidance at the moment and tells us about what you’ll see in it.
"I expect each of the winners to use technology in a different way to solve particular problems, whether you're a large urban area with traditional traffic problems we see in urban areas, whether you're a smaller authority wants to use technology to better manage a rural network, or deal with rural exclusion and all kinds of other issues," he says. "I expect each successful bid to be different in flavour, even if it's built on the same core technology."
The intelligent traffic management fund gives authorities a chance to deploy advanced technology for traffic signals, using emerging technologies to optimise traffic flow and balanced traffic across city centres. The application process will be underway in April, with applications closing at the end of July.
"I think what we will come up with here is a whole range of a whole selection box of technologies that people can then go and pick," he says, as he likens them to a box of chocolates in the interview. "If you're if your particular city needs the needs the strawberry cream, that's fine, if it needs if it needs the caramel fondant, that's fine, you can pick what you want from the selection box."
Find out what you're going to get, by checking out this podcast, and remember the guidance, when published will be shared with you on Highways News.
"It actually started when we were engaging with Karl at the TTF Conference in Leeds last year, where effectively they were saying that they were looking at bringing in new technologies to complement improved white lining..." explains Ralph Bates of Clearview Intelligence as he explains how he got involved in ADEPT's Live Labs 2 project which was being discussed at a meeting in the East Riding of Yorkshire that Highways News were invited to. "At that point, we started talking about how we were going to sort of roll out this type of solution in replacement to street lighting, based on our history and legacy with route safety solutions, making sure that we start heading towards net zero and Vision Zero initiatives in partnership."
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The Karl Ralph was referring to is Karl Rourke of East Riding of Yorkshire Council who is leading a future lighting testbed investigating decarbonising and rationalising street lighting, and testing lower carbon alternatives.
The solution, he explains, is "using modern technologies around white lining, around signage, and crucially around road studs. So what we've installed currently is white lines that are reportedly by the manufacturer, around 10 times more reflective than standard. And we've installed solar powered illuminated road studs to provide Lane delineation without the need for reliance on reflectivity."
The project is looking at how solar road studs can be used instead of streetlighting, cutting carbon and light pollution while maintaining safety. In the podcast Karl and Ralph explain the concepts, explain how they're being implemented using Clearview's SolarLite road studs, and how other authorities across the country will benefit from what has been learned.
"The locations will be monitored from a safety aspect we will be putting up CCTV cameras, we've developed a system to be able to monitor driver behaviour, both in daylight and in the darkness," Karl Rourke explains. "So we will be keeping a very close eye on on safety and hoping to baseline driver behaviour prior to the straight line being switched off to then compare driver behaviour once it's been switched off and the new interventions are in place to be able to make those decisions and quantify the difference between the two."
"Rather than local authorities designing in swathes of street lighting on on new road developments, because that's what they've always done... they can actually now be better informed," Ralph Bates concludes. "We can show that there's a better way of doing things with huge carbon savings [and] huge financial savings."
In today's podcast you'll also hear news from our partners and why a cross-council initiative in Essex wins Adrian's Accolade this week.
Highways Voices returns for a new series today, and we start with a special interview with friend of the programme and regular contributor Richard Neumann of SWARCO.
Usually we chat to him in an exhibition hall somewhere in the world, but here we talk at the SWARCO headquarters in Wattens, near Innsbruck in Austria, and take a tour of SWARCO Traffic World, the company’s exhibition of all things transport.
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"If you talk to the people on the street, they orient themselves at our products every day without knowing that it's SWARCO behind them," Richard explains. "Here, the people come to the SWARCO Traffic World... and then they get introduced into everything you need to know about road marking systems and about intelligent transport systems. And here we have the exhibits, we have hardware, we have software. In the meantime, we even add virtual reality and augmented reality to this room to even explain in a more illustrative way, how SWARCO is managing traffic."
You can find all about it without the travel, where you'll hear about road markings, roadside technology and software.
In the podcast, you'll also hear about the ADEPT Live Labs event, ITS UK and Transport Technology Forum conferences and why you need to get in quickly to grab a place at LCRIG's two popular events.
Why would a highways and transport technology-focussed podcast have discussed dehumidifiers, fast fashion and taking a shop's takings to Barclays? Because all, in their own way, can be used as examples of things that affect our industry, and you'll find out why if you listen to this quick round-up of some of our content from 40 podcasts across 2023.
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We've picked out some of our main guests from the 75 or so people we have spoken to in the year and today you'll hear from, among others, National Highways CEO Nick Harris, Grand Tour host Richard Hammond and National Active Travel Commissioner Chris Boardman and LCRIG CEO Paula Claytonsmith.
You'll also hear inspirational stories about getting the disenfranchised back into the workplace, from a Roads Minister and his shadow, a British Ambassador and some great thoughts on what to consider beyond speed and time metrics when delivering a transport network people actually want.
See you in 2024 - happy Christmas to you from the Highways Voices team!
This week on Highways Voices, we talk about real world here-and-now driverless solutions.
We're joined by the former President and CEO of ITS America, Scott Belcher who is now Executive Director of ACES Mobility, a group looking to boost last mile Autonomous, Connected, Electric and Shared journeys with a new American initiative.
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"Our coalition is laser focused - we're focused on one use case, and that one use case is first and last mile shared use mobility," he explains. "The challenge that we have in the United States is that regulators want to look at autonomous transportation holistically as if it's all the same. And when you look at first and last mile shared use mobility, you're talking about a very unique use case and a very defined solution."
Scott explains some of the examples of where public ACES solutions are now in regular operation rather than simply trials or demonstrators.
"We're now seeing that the deployments are being placed in places where people actually use them," he explains. "There's a lot that goes into the public outreach. There's a lot that goes into the outreach to first responders. There's a lot that goes into safety information. And there's a lot that goes into making sure that the routes are actually needed and can be used."
You'll also hear how people elsewhere in the world can get involved and learn from what the project is doing.
On top of this, we have our partner news, some headlines from the Highways News website and who wins the last Adrian's Accolade of 2023.
This week on Highways Voices talk about the new guidance for local highways authorities about consistent carbon measurement and reporting, that includes Scope 3 emissions.
Simon Wilson from the Future Highways Research Group updates us about guidance around consistent carbon measurement and reporting. He joined in March last year to talk about Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions measurement, and is now back to talk about his work looking at Scope 3.
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Scope 1 covers direct carbon emissions from Local Authority-owned or controlled sources, Scope 2 is all about indirect emissions from the generation of purchased electricity, steam, heating, and cooling consumed by the authority while Scope 3addresses supply chain emissions, including emissions from purchased goods and services.
"It comes with a cluster of problems on the basis that the supply chains are typically really very complicated," Mr Wilson explains. "Especially for highways authorities - they're multi tiered, you have multi disciplines and multiple disciplines across the supply chain. So you have different people doing different things with different materials using different processes, working seasonally, and you also have a huge diversity of readiness, some supply chain partners are very ready to report carbon, but probably not in a consistent way."
In the chat he talks about the work done alongside ADEPT, what the value is in quantifying emissions and how it will have an effect on decision making in the future.
You'll also hear why National Highways wins Adrians Accolade, and, in our partner news, about more help for local authorities around bidding for a share of the Government's £70 million traffic signals funding.
This week on highways voices, we focus on specialist testing of roads, runways and racetracks
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Dr David Woodward is Reader in Infrastructure Engineering at Ulster University and Senior Scientific Officer at R3, an independent testing consultancy service for Roads, Runways and Racetracks. The company was established to bring years of academic research and knowledge from the highways laboratory at Ulster University to the wider industry and Dr David has developed extensive knowledge of the quarrying and asphalt industries and their products.
In his chat with Adrian Tatum he talks about a better understanding of road surfaces, tyres and vehicles, putting the technology together to improve efficiency, and how you might well have driven on some Yellow Pages at some point.
You'll also hear the latest news from the Highways News website and from our podcast partners, and why CAV Forth wins Adrian's Accolade this week
Last month, the Transport Secretary Mark Harper announced £70 million of investment to deliver a raft of measures to make traffic signals more efficient, including the replacement of old equipment, a new “Green Light Fund” and new technology to better manage city centre traffic. This is being described as “the biggest investment in traffic signals in decades”.
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On this week's Highways Voices we get an update on the application process. With letters and guidance being sent to council Chief Officers across England, we hear from ITS Policy Lead at the Department for Transport Darren Capes.
Darren gave an update to the Transport Technology Forum Autumn update meeting yesterday, 14 November.
"There isn't an 87 page questionnaire to fill in," he explains. "For those of you that filled in the funding process for 2020-21 for TSM [Traffic Signals Maintenance grants], you will remember we asked you seven questions to probe your understanding of your network, probe your policy framework, probe your readiness to deliver we'll do the same thing we will ask questions that allow you to provide us with evidence."
As well as Chief Officers, councils’ signals managers will be contacted by the Department for Transport in the coming days, urging them to consider which funds they wish to apply for. The Transport Technology Forum is working with by the Local Council Roads Innovation Group (LCRIG) to manage the challenge process on behalf of the DfT.
Read the guidance here.
You'll also hear news from the sector and our partners, and who wins "Adrian's Accolade" this week.
On this week's highways voices, a new way of managing temporary roadworks.
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Dr Darren Hudson of Traffic Group Signals is uor guest, where he talks about a concept he calls the tortoise and the Hare, which involves modelling road user micro journeys to determine accurate inter-green times.
Dr Hudson explains that traditional timings don't take really into account the sort of geometry that vehicles have got to pass through, or their characteristics. "So what we've produced is something that is exactly how different vehicle types behave, and can then figure out exactly how long each type of vehicle takes to get through the precise geometry of that site," he says.
He describes how bends in the road and gradients can have an effect, and that it can all be worked out virtually.
"Doing that on a sort of desktop exercise has got a lot of value, versusfiguring things out at the roadside," he adds.
These findings were also demonstrated at the JCT Traffic Signals Symposium so take a look at the JCT YouTube channel on Friday when the video is published.
Please note, Paul, who produces the podcasts, is on holiday at the moment so this week does not include the normal features of news, partner news and Adrian’s Accolade. They’ll be back next week.
Today on Highways Voices we talk about the important subject of effective water management, and the growing emphasis for the sector to ensure roads are not only safe for users, but also for the surrounding environment.
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In the podcast, Adrian Tatum talks to Adam Cane is sustainability lead at ACO Water Management, which has a campaign running at the moment.
"Absolutely huge amounts of water are coming off the infrastructure, and that's only going to increase with with climate change," Adam says. "We have to manage it for the maximum benefit of the amenity, for ourselves, but also the biodiversity around us."
In this important discussion, they talk about the shift in attitudes towards how highways are designed and maintained with surface water treatment playing a more prominent role in this design process, and how there is need for highways industry to ensure measures are in place to positively impact the quality and management highway runoff, given how road networks contribute to water contamination.
Please note, Paul, who produces the podcasts, is on holiday at the moment so this week does not include the normal features of news, partner news and Adrian's Accolade. They'll be back in two weeks' time.
We collected more content than we could fit into our podcasts from the highly successful Highways UK show last week, so here's an extra podcast with more conversation and thought leadership at the event.
These are brought to you thanks to the sponsorship of AGD Systems and Traffic Group Signals, Kiely Bros, Re-flow, Stantec and Yunex Traffic.
We start by hearing a key road safety initiative from VESOS demonstrated, followed by a conversation with host of the Highways UK gala dinner, the travel journalist Simon Calder.
We talk road safety initiatives with Westcotec and Jenoptik, before finishing up with chats about surface treatments with Roadtechs and bid writing with the expert Pippa Birch.
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After hearing from the Roads and Local Transport Minister on Highways Voices yesterday, you can hear from his Shadow Bill Esterson MP on today's Highways Voices from Highways UK 2023 today.
These are brought to you thanks to the sponsorship of AGD Systems and Traffic Group Signals, Kiely Bros, Re-flow, Stantec and Yunex Traffic.
In the third podcast from the NEC this week you'll also hear from Yunex Traffic about new traffic control technology, an AI-powered radar produced by AGD Systems, new technology from Stantec and also some Virtual Reality on the SWARCO stand, from Core Highways and about a major event coming to the NEC in four years' time.
We have so much more content to fit in, that there'll be an extra Highways Voices with Highways UK content next week.
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We hear from the Roads and Local Transport Minister and the CEO of National Highways on a busy Highways Voices from Highways UK 2023 today.
These are brought to you thanks to the sponsorship of AGD Systems and Traffic Group Signals, Kiely Bros, Re-flow, Stantec and Yunex Traffic.
In the podcast from Birmingham's NEC, Richard Holden MP tells Paul Hutton about the National Parking Platform, his promise to "go after" authorities not taking advantage of lane rental schemes, and how the £70 million traffic signals funding will make sure we're keeping traffic flowing.
We don't get a date for RIS3 announcement from Nick Harris of National Highways, but we do talk about planning, rebuilding and not road building and his targets for the future.
On top of that you'll hear from a range of exhibitors and speakers, including Reflow, Traffic Group Signals, Acusensus and Clearview Intelligence, plus you'll hear Conference Director Claudia Davidson's advice on the must attend sessions during Thursday.
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This is the first of three podcasts from the huge Highways UK show at Birmingham's NEC.
These are brought to you thanks to the sponsorship of AGD Systems and Traffic Group Signals, Kiely Bros, Re-flow, Stantec and Yunex Traffic.
In today's programme we hear from Conference Director Claudia Davidson with details of some of the must-attend sessions on Wednesday, and we also hear from industry veteran and friend to everyone Martin Duffy who talks about Isla's Trail, where you can give a cone a cuddle for a very good cause.
Adrian Tatum chats to Stantec about biodiversity in transport and to Reflow about real time data, while we also hear from Yunex Traffic about their new Fusion product which is an alternative to SCOOT, Steve Spender talks about the latest from the Institute of Highway Engineers and we hear about new talent in the industry with Kiely Bros.
There'll be a fresh podcast every day from the NEC, don't miss them.
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This week's Highways Voices is a must-listen if you work in the traffic signals industry, as we hear all about three new pots of money totalling £70 million to be spent on improving traffic signals across England.
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In the Transport Secretary's plan for drivers money was earmarked to upgrade traffic signal systems, tune up traffic signals to better reflect current traffic conditions and get traffic flowing, and to deploy advanced technology for traffic signals, making use of emerging technologies to optimise traffic flow and balance traffic across city centres.
The money's distribution will be administered through the Transport Technology Forum, with the help of LCRIG, and TTF Manager Darren Capes, who is ITS Policy Lead at the Department for Transport, gave an indication on distribution of the funds when he spoke at LCRIG's Strictly Highways last week.
In this special Highways Voices, you hear what he had to say.
It might have a new brand as Hanson turns to Heidelberg Materials, but the company is still making significant progress on its journey to net zero-helping produce highway maintenance materials that are more durable and lower in carbon.
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The company has spent many years developing a sustainable range of asphalt products which are used on local roads and the strategic network including several major trials in recent years, supporting the need to decarbonise the maintenance process.
"The one benefit we have with asphalt is that it is 100% recyclable. That in its self is fantastic for the sector in terms of the circular economy. That recyclability and reusability is a excellent benefit, reducing the amount of virgin aggregate and bitumen-a real positive for the asphalt industry," says Adrian Hadley, Head of Technical - Asphalt and Aggregate at Heidelberg Materials.
In this podcast Heidelberg also talks about is long-term relationship with Dorset Council which has also been used as a test-bed for new asphalt material innovation for more than a decade.
You'll also hear news from our partners, the Government's plan for drivers and who wins Adrian's Accolade this week.
With just three weeks to go to Highways UK at Birmingham's NEC, this week's Highways Voices gives you details of what to expect, talks to a couple of exhibitors and has some hints and tips to get the most out of your investment in being at the event.
These podcasts are sponsored by AGD Systems and Traffic Group Signals, Kiely Bros, Re-flow , Stantec and Yunex Traffic.
Senior Conference Producer Claudia Davidson tells us about how the event is 50% bigger than last year with a growing focus on local, as well as strategic, roads, about key sessions and speakers and the gala dinner and awards.
"We've added a couple more theatres, so we've got 12, including our National Highways Theatre, so I hope everyone's ready to get their walking shoes on because it's going to be across 18,000 square metres, so it's 6,000 meters bigger than last year.... I think what's great is we've got such a strong exhibition, but also paired with a really high level conference."
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We hear from two of our sponsors, Kieran Corbally of AGD Systems explains the new AGD 650 dual-lane stop line detector, while Neil Levett, representing Kiely Bros, talks about the new Multipatcher and the award-winning GlassMark that will be on show at Highways UK.
We also have advice from marketing expert Helen Blood of Boundary PR and Marketing who has some dos and don'ts for you if you're hosting an exhibition stand: "Do you look approachable?" she asks. "So the whole eating on your stand, being on the phone on your stand, arms crossed, sitting in a table on your laptop, is a complete waste of your time and money."
You'll also hear news from our partners including details an ADEPT Live Labs 2 project, a look ahead to Strictly Highways and how ITS UK is holding another Big ITS Conversation, and why Transport Scotland wins this week's "Adrian's Accoldade".
“I think allowing road pricing schemes to be designed by economists and only economists is really, really dangerous,” says Rory Sutherland on today’s Highways Voices Podcast, “Because there's a huge amount of price being a perception, and one of the big strong, really, really strong evolved instincts in humans is a sense of fairness.”
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The leading behavioural scientist and commentator gave the keynote speech at the JCT Traffic Signals Symposium, and you’ll hear some of what he had to say today. In his address, which he gave with his book co-writer Pete Dyson, he discusses how transport planners too often consider the average instead of different needs by different people.
Talking about ideas they give in the book Transport for Humans, he warned against simply delivering services based on things which are easily measurable. “We think it's all about speed and capacity and time,” he says, “And I think as a result, transport innovation has been held back, because we're only looking at the metrics that we know.”
The whole of the speech will be shared on the JCT Traffic Signals Symposium in due course, but for now enjoy some of Rory’s speech, plus you’ll hear on the podcast from TTF Manager Darren Capes, ITS Policy Manager at the Department for Transport. In his address at the Symposium, he challenges the industry to use traffic signals to deliver better, more reliable journeys, promote active travel by making it easier for vulnerable road users and people who walk and cycle to access our roads more safely, and to prepare for the future technology and travel needs.
(Darren Capes starts at 3m58s and Rory Sutherland at 19m52s).
We’ll also have news from our partners, including a new video from ADEPT giving an overview of the Live Labs 2 programme, and we’ll hear the latest news and why a road safety initiative in London wins Adrian’s Acolade.
On Monday we broke the news that the final legal paperwork for the National Persistent Offender Database has been completed and a trial of the solution can now begin in and around London.
But what is NPED? This week on Highways Voices we hear from founder Alan Wood, who explains how it’s “Santa’s naughty list, but for cars,” identifying vehicles sought for non-payment of parking tickets and linking them to other offences such as no MOT, insurance or vehicle excise duty.
“I guess it's nearly 15 years of what my partner described as mild curiosity that led to an unhealthy hobby,” Mr Wood explains. “It started with me as an enforcement agent travelling residential streets with automatic number plate recognition, looking for vehicles with unpaid warrants for parking offences, and it's only when doing that over a period of time finding vehicles with 20, 40, 50 or 100 warrants, it dawned on me that this was probably a behavioural flag for other things.”
It turned out to be, with him estimating that more than ten million vehicles are not complying with some sort of motoring law. Furthermore, legislation is not keeping up, so while the Police are able to prosecute offenders, they can be seen as not having the time or inclination, while local authorities do not have the powers.
“We've really started the push towards government for this situation to be corrected with new legislation,” he says, “Government needs to be ready for that, because I'm coming for them – I’m amassing my army of supporters.”
Although some of what Mr Wood says may annoy you because he reveals how many people are getting away with not paying their way, he may inspire you with a solution. Find out what you think on this week’s Highways Voices!
“We are doing work in the area of skills working with Salford Council and Salford College, helping them put on their first apprenticeship programme for highways operatives, something that we are looking to perhaps potentially roll out into other regions,” says Local Council Roads Innovation Group CEO Paula Claytonsmith, as she tells Highways Voices how the organisation is so much more than an events organiser. “I'm also behind the scenes looking at how innovation adoption is more likely to happen in some authorities than in other authorities, and also, there's the work that we do connecting councils to councils.”
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In the podcast, the new CEO, who took over running LCRIG in July does talk about the forthcoming Strictly Highways event in Blackpool in October and November’s Transport Technology Forum Autumn Update in Birmingham: “There are so many impactful policies coming out next year, whether it's the national parking platform, whether it's digital TROs, whether it's quantum computing… whether it's all the other areas that we know are happening around connected vehicles and so forth. So definitely a must attend.”
You’ll also hear about other events you can be part of and how to enter the DfT Special Recognition awards, news from the Highways News website and why Adrian Tatum has chosen an idea in Lincolnshire to win this week’s Adrian’s Accolade.
When I go to site, I love it, and I just feel like I'm in a little sweet shop or something," says National Highways Civil Engineer Abigail Filby on this week's Highways Voices - "It is so fun, and you learn so much, and there's so much experience on site."
Abigail and colleague Mitchell Mackenzie, who's a Project Controls Apprentice, join Adrian Tatum on the podcast to discuss attracting people into the industry and how, as Mitchell puts it, "When I was watching Bob the Builder, I never realised how much goes in and how many different roles there are in this industry."
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The pair have been leaders in National Highways' social value delivery, presenting on the subject at the organisation's Engagement Council meeting in Leeds back in March.
"We organised a whole conference, a whole day around that [social value], and we split the day into five main sections, we had breakout rooms, we had a director Q&A panel, we had a CEO Q&A panel, we had like a networking area as well," explains Abigail, "and then we also had an area where we could get other supply chain companies in to talk about how they're involved as well," while Mitchell adds that "The thing about social value, especially within national highways is it's the key thing that graduate apprentices actually get involved in."
The pair also talk to Adrian about what more needs to be done to produce more recruits to the industry, their passion for it, and how we could engage better with the travelling public.
On the podcast, you'll also hear news from our partners including exciting road safety technology and a new guide to industry terminology, and you'll also year why Stocksigns win our Accolade this week.
“People did not want self driving vehicles to protect the occupants more than other road users,” Professor Nick Reed explains on this week’s Highways Voices podcast as he discusses how to program driverless cars ethically. “The participants in our survey and workshops are quite clear that other road users have not necessarily chosen to be exposed to the risk that these vehicles are presenting to the world, therefore, they should not be at an increased risk compared to the occupants of those vehicles who have chosen to board them.”
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Professor Reed has written a report for the Rees Jeffreys Road Fund on what driverless vehicles should do and whether they should ever break the rules of the road. “Should they always follow the rules of the road, or should they be allowed to break them?” he asks. “What are the circumstances, when you might want them to break the rules of the road, for example, crossing a double white line to avoid a pedestrian who stepped into the road.”
In the podcast, Prof Reed looks at a number of scenarios and discusses the public’s view of driverless vehicles, and commenting on how vehicles don’t necessarily work as well as some might think. “In some of the work I've been doing around AI, it's interesting to see [how] it can give very convincing answers to questions unless you actually know the subject when you can start to spot the holes in the text that it produces,” he says. “I think there's a parallel here with self driving vehicles because the way they behave out on the roads might look very convincing, but they might be behaving in strange ways in the way in what their programming is doing. So I think we need to have that confidence in how self driving vehicles perceive the world and how they are deciding how to drive.”
In the podcast you’ll also hear news from our partners ADEPT, the TTF, LCRIG and ITS UK and why the Road Emulsion Association aand the Road Surface Treatments Association jointly win Adrian’s Accolade this week.
"I can see this event can see this practically being the whole show ground at some point,," comments new LCRIG CEO Paula Claytonsmith on today's Highways Voices podcast, as she reflects on the success of the second Innovation Festival in Newark.
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Todays programme hears all about the major event, as we take a walk through the vast indoor and outdoor exhibition area to see the latest innovations, before taking a ride in a vehicle showing off the very latest in connected vehicle and in-car signage technology.
In a bumper, and very busy programme we hear about eCall, dynamic kerbside management, citizen-sourced roads information, pothole repair, road surfacing and delineation. We also hear about why the Transport Technology Forum is working so closely with LCRIG to liaise with local authorities.
The Innovation Festival, which is twice the size of its inaugural event a year ago, brings together local authorities, central government, the supply chain, associations and academia to see the latest ideas in highways maintenance and transport technology. More than 175 local authority delegates from 70 authorities are here, meaning around than two-thirds of all the English highway authorities outside London are represented, along with nearly 90 exhibitors.
Interview timings:
Alec Peachey, LCRIG, 1m11s
Andy Graham, White Willow and George Brown, KL Systems, 10m35s
Andy Graham regarding eCall, 17m15s
Laura
Ten thousand visitors, around 300 speakers and nearly 250 exhibitors are expected at Highways UK in October, and with that many people involved, we need to know more about it.
So this week on Highways Voices, we catch up with Highways UK’s Senior Conference Producer Claudia Davidson who tells us all about the ever-growing event and how the team behind it keep innovating year after year to keep it relevant and fresh.
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In the chat she talks about how the conference focusses not only on the strategic road network but local roads too, and how more focus is being placed on technology and innovation and asset management.
There are also details of the keynote sessions taking place, which this year involves Highways News co-owner Paul Hutton leading the discussions on the first day with National Highways CEO Nick Harris and other key industry leaders.
Highways UK takes place on 18 and 19 October at Birmingham's NEC.
In the podcast you'll also hear a look ahead to next week's LCRIG Innovation Festival at the Newark Showground with details of all the live demonstrations you can take part in, plus a reminder of the key elements of the JCT Traffic Signals Symposium taking place from 13-15 September in Nottingham.
There's also news of work by ADEPT and a new campaign from ITS UK, and why Oxfordshire's Highways Department and Milestone Group win this week's "Adrian's Accolade"
When Bafour Beatty joined forces with Flannery Plant Hire two years ago to create a ‘best-in-class’ operators skills hub they never would have imagined the success it would have in just a short time.
The Operator Skills Hub- a purpose-built facility in Birmingham offers innovative training programmes to inspire young people and upskill current plant operators in the UK.
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With the construction and infrastructure industry rapidly scaling up to deliver some of the most ambitious schemes in history, the Operator Skills Hub delivered its first Trailblazer Plant Operative Apprentices in 2021, meeting its aim to support 30 young people in its first year.
Key in addressing the construction and infrastructure sectors significant skills shortage, the facility uses state-of-the-art training simulators as well as the latest semi-autonomous vehicles to prepare plant operators and apprentices for the modern-day, digitally-enabled construction site.
“It is an exiting place. You turn up and feel like you’re in the midst of a really modern environment with digitalisation at the forefront. You then put people on the equipment and they think these cabs and this machine is very sophisticated these days. Then they start to see what salaries they can earn in the industry and you can see them starting to think this is a really attractive place to be,” Andy Ormerod, Managing Director of Balfour Beatty’s Plant and Fleet Services business, tells this week’s Highways Voices.
You'll also hear latest news from our podcast partners and why Kier is praised in this week's Adrian's Accolade.
This week on Highways Voices we talk about how better managing the kerbside for deliveries saves fuel and time, raises revenue and cuts emissions.
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The founder of Grid Smarter Cities, Neil Herron, is the guest on the programme explaining that the current system just doesn't work, "We currently operate a first come first served approach, at the kerb space... which leads to... a lot of wasted time, a lot of wasted effort. All we've done is apply a degree of common sense. You wouldn't open an airport and just tell the planes to turn anytime you wished, or land wherever they want, we're treating the kerbside in the same sort of fashion."
In the interview, we talk about the role of the Smart Mobility Living Lab in helping test out the ideas, how the concept is now reality on the banks for the River Thames and how a small company with a big idea can scale up to deliver on globally.
He also explains how his solutions can have knock-on benefits for other areas of a council's obligations such as social care. "There's a lot of time wasted in vehicles having to go and park legally somewhere, the carer then having to walk from the car park to deliver care, and you might be losing five or ten minutes at the front end five to ten minutes at the back end," he says. "So 30 minutes worth of care ends up being 15 or 20 minutes, because of the parking provision that's required," with the kerbside solution allowing carers to book slots to legally and safely park nearby.
You'll also hear why those tackling roadworker abuse win Adrian's Accolade this week, about partnerships for LCRIG and ITS UK, connected vehicles at the Innovation Festival and ADEPTS views on the Strategic Road Network.
“People… buy a new football strip every six months because of the team they support," says motoring journalist Richard Hammond on this week's Highways Voices, "Or a new pair of trainers made on the other side of the world by somebody else’s children out of fossil fuels-derived oil-derived materials and then shipped around the world where you’ll use them for six months before putting them in landfill where they’ll sit for 100 years."
Speaking at a Rees Jeffreys Road Fund debate on the future of the car in society, the Grand Tour presenter gives a passionate defence of the private car on this week's podcast as he tells host Paul Hutton that the car will have to be with us, "because it's what it does for us, and what it's done, and what it continues to do is too important for it not to be. It's shaped our world. It won't go away, it will change, but it will be here."
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The debate held at the RAC in London also featured Active Travel England Commissioner Chris Boardman, who agreed the car will have to continue to be a key part of the transport mix because it's so useful. "Its utility is the problem, because it is so useful and so effective, the Olympic Gold Medallist, “The question I asked before, what happens if we don’t reduce car use? Every bit of data I’ve seen from both nationally and regionally [shows] we have to drive 30% less, and electrify, and shrink everything else. And that’s the only way you’re going to meet your carbon emissions targets. The only way to do that equitably and fairly is to give people an attractive choice and that’s what I’m in the business of.”
The Rees Jeffreys Road Fund exists to foster improvements in the engineering, management, design and use of roads to deliver safer, more environmentally sensitive, more aesthetically pleasing and more enjoyable outcomes. It does this by funding projects, research and events; and awarding bursaries to individuals pursuing relevant professional qualifications, and on the podcast you'll also hear from three of those indivuals.
On top of that, we have news of a partnership between Highways News and the leading conference and exhibition Highways UK, news from our partners LCRIG, ADEPT, the Transport Technology Forum and ITS UK, and why VESOS Solutions win "Adrian's Accolade" this week.
We hear from two CEOs, an inclusive mobility visionary and industry legend on Highways Voices this week.
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In interviews recorded at last week's ITS European Congress in Lisbon, ERTICO-ITS Europe CEO Joost Vantomme discusses UK-European co-operation after he signed a new agreement with the Transport Technology Forum.
We hear from Sandra Witzel, Chief Marketing Officer at Global Mobility as a Service tech provider SkedGo, talking about how much technology can be used to make the transport network more accessible, before learning from SWARCO CEO Michael Schuch about the company's new GoGreen initiative which takes on the challenge of talking to 112 European Green Deal cities about their environmental issues in just eleven months.
Finally we hear from an industry legend. More than 30 years ago, Professor Eric Sampson was one of the architects of the first ITS World Congress, and he's been to every in-person event since. He's now retiring as adviser to ERTICO and this was his last congress as Chief Rapporteur. We hear his memories and highlights in a fascinating and emotional interview, and how commonplace concepts such as satellite navigation and real-time data into vehicles were both showcased for the first time at Congresses.
Plus you'll hear about more about the TTF-ERTICO partnership, who are ADEPT prize winners, details of LCRIG's Innovation Festival and why June is a busy month for ITS UK, along with the reasons National Highways win Adrian's Accolade this week.
We have a record 13 guests on today's Highways Voices as we hear from the delegation from who exhibited on the UK Pavilion, and also the views of the British Ambassador who visited the exhibition.
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The whistle-stop tour hears from the 12 exhibitors: Navtech Radar, Clearview Intelligence, Nicander, Now Wireless, ANGOKA, Ito World, Neology, Arup, Grid Smarter Cities, See.Sense, VESOS and Zenzic.
Because this is a longer-than-normal episode, to help you, you can find specific interviews by going to the timings below:
Nora Ali Clearview 1m09s
Sam Brierley Nicander 4m07s
Laura Jacklin Grid Smarter Cities 6m51s
Danny Woolard VESOS 9m15s
Chris Sainty Ambassador 12m48s
Paul Hudson Now Wireless 16m30s
Deborah Kobewka Ito World 19m09s
Steve Berry ANGOKA 23m53s
Rebecca James Navtech Radar 27m23s
Irene McAleese See.Sense 31m18s
Luke Normington Neology 35m04s
Francis McKinney Zenzic 39m32s
Tristan Joubert Arup 43m38s
We'll hear more from the European Congress on next week's Highways Voices when we'll also welcome Adrian Tatum back on the podcast.
"The site went down all day - completely bust - couldn't fix it had to dig everything up, and after that," explains Sean Bulmer of the City of York Council on this week's Highways Voices as he discusses equipment obsolescence. "We now have the TSAR project, which is the asset renewal project in York, so every year we do X amount of sites, and then next year, x amount of sites, and this, we're being told, will go on forever."
Mr Bulmer was one of a panel of four people you'll hear from today on Highways Voices discussing the challenges facing local authorities in delivering efficient, sustainable and safe transport networks, who were appearing at the SWARCO User Group meeting in Coventry.
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In the discussion hosted by Highways Voices producer and presenter Paul Hutton, fellow panellist Emily Madsen explains that attracting people into the industry is tough with remuneration as it is "We need to raise the pay," she says, "so that it does get people interested and stay and get that retention of people," while David Hilton-Barber from Derbyshire also agreed retention was an issue, "Obviously, you're gonna go somewhere where you get a better job," he says, "but as a council we spend all this time training someone, spending the effort and the money, and [they leave and] get paid twice as much going anywhere else."
Industry challenges discussed in the session were highlighted by all participants at the meeting, made up of representatives from 30 local authorities. The panel discussed not only equipment obsolescence and recruitment and retention, but also active travel, environmental issues, public and private sector collaboration, plus budgetting, funding and procurement, which SWARCO's UK Managing Director John Pickworth explained was more than just being able to do the job: "So the question 'can you deliver the project' - you might deliver perfectly, do all the right things, but if it's not got the right attachments to it in terms of the board members seeing or DfT seeing that actually this delivers this result, and we're talking about and shouting about it, and telling the world about it, then the next bit of funding doesn't follow."
Enjoy the full, enlightening discussion, on this week's Highways Voices!
"It's nice to have all these companies and institutions showcasing their nice things," says Joost Vantomme on this week's Highways Voices podcast, "but what does the user think of that? What does the citizen think of that? There's a lot of questions on the new technologies. How do they work? What do they promise?"
The ERTICO - ITS Europe CEO is looking ahead to this year's ITS European Congress in Lisbon which runs from 22-24 May, and explains how new technology in transport will be put into the context of improving mobility with real-world examples.
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His colleague Lisa Boch-Andersen, who is Director of Communications, Congress and Events at ERTICO adds that Lisbon is a living example of transport technology, "It really is one of the major economic centres with a very busy transport network," she explains. "It has a lot of different mobility initiatives. It has major container ports, big bridges, and they just informed that there would be no major traffic in the centre of Lisbon."
You'll hear all about the different themes of the congress and also from LCRIG Director Kerry Winstanley about the UK Pavilion and how a range of British SMEs are exhibiting at the European Congress thanks to support from the Department Business and Trade, the Transport Technology Forum and LCRIG. These are; Zenzic, Navtech Radar, Clearview Intelligence, Nicander, Now Wireless, Angoka, Ito World, Arup, Neology, Grid Smarter Cities, See.Sense and VESOS. Members of the Department for Transport, Innovate UK and Intelligent Transport Systems UK will also be participating on the stand and there will be a visit to it from His Majesty’s Ambassador to Portugal, Chris Sainty.
On top of this you'll hear the latest news from the podcast partners, Adrian Tatum's pick of stories that have caught his eye on the Highways News website, plus why Kapsch Traficom wins this week's "Adrian's Accolade".
We get the views of six different experts and users of transport technology in today's Highways Voices, as we chat to people at the Transport Technology Forum Annual Conference in Leeds.
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One of the ITS industry's leading experts Andy Graham is the first of our guests discussing connected vehicle solutions and the importance of patience when it comes to seeing user take-up, but also of the industry itself maximising the benefits of technology.
Cyber Dr Liz James, who has contributed to the newly-launched Manual for Smart Streets discusses whether the industry is taking cyber security seriously, while Pete Cattell of Clearview Intelligence urges local authorities to talk to technology suppliers as a matter of course during their transport planning, to get great ideas and save work later.
Also in the podcast, you'll hear from Agne Vaitekenaite from ERTICO and also the views of two local authorities, Matt Shelton of Transport for West Midlands and Staffordshire's Emily Madsen.
There's no partner news or Adrian's Accolade this week - they return next week.
This week the Highways Voices podcast heads to the Smart Mobility Living Lab in Woolwich, London, to learn about the important work that takes place there, and the value of collaboration to all the lab’s members as it makes a real difference to the way we travel.
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You'll meet three of the team at the TRL-led facility - Thomas Tompkin, Head of Network and Infrastructure, gives us a tour of the control room, and he's joined by Director Jo Evans and James Long, Head of Technical Consulting.
They talk about how they have benefitted from learning in the real world, along with virtual testing, some of the work that has been done, the value of being a part of the community and integrating a product into the infrastructure.
You'll also hear news from the podcast's partners and who Adrian Tatum has picked to receive "Adrian's Accolade" this week.
Following Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's decision to halt the building of new smart motorways, this week's Highways Voices discusses the implications.
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Highways News co-owners Paul Hutton and Adrian Tatum look into what went wrong with the concept, focussing on communication failures and the varied roll-out of technology.
They discuss statistics around the real safety situation on all-lane running and dynamic hard shoulder smart motorways compared to traditional highways, and discuss why this isn't more widely known. They also look into the public perception, and why when a smart motorway is flowing well because of the extra capacity, drivers do not notice.
Paul and Adrian also look at the implications for the industry, and what will happen to the money that was to come into the sector.
You'll also hear the latest news from partners ADEPT, LCRIG, The Transport Technology Forum and ITS UK, and why PTV Group wins "Adrian's Accolade" this week.
"I do find that the naysayers, for want of a better expression, around these systems are almost giving the providers and the utilisers backhanded compliments," says John Piper of Jenoptik on this week's Highways Voices podcast as he talks about critics of enforcement technology. "Because what, in effect they are saying, is they know it works - they know that there's no way around it, it is going to modify their behaviour."
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The company's Sales and Marketing Director discusses how technology makes roads safer and is now able to do everything from enforce 20-mile an hour limits, remote roads without access to the grid, Innovation and collaboration in implementation and enforcing speed limits based on vehicle classification.
They also discuss the use of ANPR enforcement data to deliver a wider range of traffic management solutions, such as origin-destination analysis, live traffic information, if legislation allows. "This is a topic that we've been very much looking at and advocating for, for for a long period of time," John explains.
In the podcast you'll also hear a pick of stories on the Highways News website, the latest from our podcast partners and why Transport for West Midlands wins this week's "Adrian's Accolade".
This week on our Highways Voices podcast we look forward to one of the most popular events in the highways and transport technology industry, the JCT Traffic Signals Symposium in Nottingham.
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We chat to organiser John Nightingale, a director at JCT, who describes how the symposium started as "a very sort of gentlemanly type affair, where people would turn up, they would share a little bit about what they were doing with signals".
It is now a three day event (including the MOVA User Group and opening social event) with a series of learned papers and an exhibition, and in the podcast, Mr Nightingale explains what we can look forward to this year, including a major session on traveller behaviour with Rory Sutherland and Pete Dyson.
You'll also hear about the networking events, including the Yunex Gala Dinner which John Nightingale explains is "a very affordable dinner, we deliberately we don't charge £150 per seat, like other events - It's actually only £35 for the gala dinner this year... and that includes the [free] sponsored bar!"
You'll hear all about exhibitors, and the video archive of events and why this really is an event you need to keep time for this September.
The JCT Traffic Signals Symposium takes place on Thursday 14 and Friday 15 September at Nottingham Trent University, with the MOVA User Group and opening networking barbecue on Wednesday 13. Find out more and sign up here.
"HGV drivers have been on the National Risk Register for quite a long time, recognising that a significant proportion of them are over 50s, and are likely to retire in the next 10 years," comments Professor Phil Blythe on this week's Highways Voices, as he explains why automating logistics isn't a threat to jobs, but a technical solution to jobs that risk not being filled.
He comes on the podcast this week to discuss a report published recently launched in an event in Parliament looking into how the benefits of connected and autonomous logistics technology can be realised in the short and medium term.
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The former Chief Scientific Adviser at the Department for Transport explains how delivering CAL in "closed" environments without general traffic might be a short-term win for the technology, "In the northeast, we understand the challenges from the technology point of view, the operations point of view, and what the logistics companies need," he explains. "There's a few more steps required to understand what is really safe... I think we get to a point in the not too distant future, where you could see automated logistics in private operations."
Prof Blythe and host Paul Hutton also discuss the wider use of technology in transport and government enthusiasm to support it, as well as his experiences as Chief Scientific Adviser and how he is inspiring the next generation of the world's Intelligent Transport Systems experts.
You'll also hear news from our podcast partners and why LCRIG's Paula Claytonsmith is this week's recipient of "Adrian's Accolade".
It has been a year of records in the ALARM survey as the Asphalt Industry Alliance (AIA) delivers its 28th edition, according to its Chairman, Rick Green, our guest on this week’s Highways Voices.
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Local authorities have once again shown their commitment to the survey with a record 81% return, improving the data available to produce the report.
“However, the other records that show up, are maybe slightly more depressing,” Rick Green tells Highways Voices. “The shortfall in the budget for the year is now some £1.3 billion more than the local authorities said they need in order to maintain the network ,” he added. “The average time between resurfacing with local authority worlds now stands at more than 100 years.”
The ALARM survey, published today reports that local authority highway teams in England and Wales only received around two-thirds of what they needed to stop our local roads from further deterioration and that more than £14 billion is now needed to fix the backlog of carriageway repairs.
Despite the small increase in overall highway maintenance budgets reported, less is being spent on the carriageway itself and rising costs due to inflationary pressures mean engineers have reported being forced to postpone or cancel road schemes to make savings.
You'll also hear the news from our partners and who Adrian's tipping his hat to in "Adrian's Accolade" this week.
“I fear if you were to drive along any road - be it a rural road or a motorway - this afternoon or this evening, and you looked carefully around you, you would probably notice a lot of people who are distracted who are not doing the right thing, and frankly, are a hazard both to themselves and everybody around them.”
So says enforcement and road safety expert Geoff Collins, who is this week’s guest on Highways Voices podcast discussing distracted driving, driver behaviour and the role of technology in improving the road safety situation.
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Mr Collins has taken on the role of UK Manager for Australian company Acusensus, which uses artificial intelligence and camera footage to spot people using hand-held phones. The technology is being used in a series of National Highways and Police trials across the UK. People using their phones or not wearing a seatbelt are spotted automatically as they drive past specially-equipped camera vans which have technology to see through the windscreen and into the vehicle.
The magnitude of the problem was highlighted in recent trials in Sussex where 200 offences were spotted in checks of 10,000 vehicles at three locations. Furthermore professional drivers accounted for 32% of illegal mobile phone use and 82% of seatbelt offences.
Geoff Collins told Highways Voices he is confident that this technology will be welcomed by the majority of motorists who are fed up with distracted drivers: “I get plenty of anecdotal examples when people tell me that it really annoys them,” he explains. “You can see the head going down, then the car is veering left and right a little bit, and then they look up again and they go straight. It's because they're looking at their phone, and they're checking a text message. The level of acceptance of that type of behaviour is I think, really low, which is good because we want the roads to be safer for everybody.”
The podcast not only features details of how the technology works, and what it can be used for, but also how it can impact driver behaviour without becoming draconian. “You can actually use that as an opportunity for an educational intervention,” Mr Collins says. “So it might be that someone needs to be told the error of their ways, and the way of doing that is through an education intervention, which means they should be less likely to do it again in future, and I think that's a very good approach. So, you catch someone who say you shouldn't be doing that [and] here's why you shouldn't be doing that. There will be a fine, you do need to attend a training course, but at the moment, we won't put points on your license. But if we catch you again, we absolutely will.”
Also in today's programme you can hear the latest news from LCRIG, ADEPT, the Transport Technology Forum and ITS (UK) plus why Strada Imaging wins "Adrian's Accolade"
Recognising National Careers Week and International Women’s Day at the same time, this week Highways Voices hears from Donna Howard, Head of Social Sustainability at Kier Highways, as the company launches its Kier Pathways Scheme.
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The strategy aims to engage vulnerable groups, schools and colleges and career returners.
In the chat with Adrian Tatum, Ms Howard says the Pathway scheme will help address the skills gap and our ageing workforce, increase diversity and inclusion, meet the company’s clients social and economic priorities and increase the profile of the highways and infrastructure careers.
Meanwhile, discussing supporting women at Kier, she says: “What we wanted to do is come up with a programme that was able to help people gain better routes into the highways industry and enjoy careers within the industry.
“We want to make Highways an employer of choice for people when they want to come into the industry. The aim is to obviously reach those what some people would class as vulnerable groups, and help them on their journey into a career opportunity.”
You'll also hear a round-up of the latest news on the Highways News website, what's happening among our podcast partner organisations ADEPT, TTF, LCRIG and ITS (UK), and why Oxfordshire County Council win Adrian's Accolade this week.
This week's Highways Voices podcast features one of the leading journalists specialising in the how the transport and energy sectors are working together to deliver a cleaner future.
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Alec Peachey, publisher of the website TransportAndEnergy.com explains how the two sectors are coming together to find solutions needed to achieve the Government's 2030 deadline on the end of petrol and diesel car sales.
"Ultimately, this is about collaboration," he says. "The only way that it will be achieved is by these different stakeholder groups working together, we have to remove the silos that have existed up to now and getting the stakeholder groups in the room together to understand again, what those challenges are, and work out how they can actually work together to deliver on this."
He discusses the need for Government support and investment saying, "We need direction from the Government. There needs to be that focus on things like Giga factories being built in the UK. At the moment, we're running the risk where auto manufacturers will move away from this country, because if they don't see investment in the supply chain."
Alec talks about powering HGVs, the availability of EV chargers and where hydrogen fits into the mix, but that ultimately it's "all about going further and faster".
You'll also hear why Grid Smarter Cities wins this week's Adrian's Accolade, and news from our partners, LCRIG, ADEPT, ITS (UK) and the Transport Technology Forum.
“The first thing they do on your first day, at the end of the day, they say, there's the takings - can you take it down to Barclays at the end of the road?” explains Bridge of Hope founder James Fellowes on this week’s Highways Voices. “Now, some people look at them go, you do realise that I was an armed robbery in my earlier days, or I had a big fraud or whatever, and the answer is hurry up - Barclays closes in 15 minutes. And nobody's run off with the takings.”
James is talking about his inclusive recruitment service Bridge of Hope which helps people who have been institutionalised in their lives – either through prison or mental health issues - back into the workplace.
He describes in detail his highly personal journey from Eton and ex-pat executive to being sectioned and losing everything, and how work helped him get his life back together, and why he wants to offer the same opportunity to others. He then talks about a new partnership with carriageway and footpath surfacing and surface treatments company Kiely Brothers who are using Bridge of Hope to help find new talent for its workforce.
In the interview, James discusses with Kiely business consultant and highways sector specialist Neil Levett the inspiration for Bridge of Hope and the team delivering the solutions and why companies who use what he calls Returning Citizens get loyal, hard working staff who help win business.
You’ll also hear our partner news, and lots of collaboration, and who wins this week’s Adrian’s Accolade.
“Nobody talks about the traffic jam they didn't experience because the motorway had been inexpensively widened,” comments behavioural scientist Rory Sutherland on this week’s Highways Voices podcast as he discusses the challenges facing the perception of Smart Motorways, “so, passenger feedback or driver feedback on its own is not going to be a reliable measure of how good an idea this is. Because they'll go ‘Oh, that was a car broken down on the lane’ and that's noticeable. The fact that the last 17 times you drove between junction five and junction six of the M25 there wasn't a traffic jam at Clacket Lane - nobody's going to talk about that because nobody notices non-events.”
Rory, who with Pete Dyson wrote the book Transport for Humans, will be speaking at the JCT Traffic Signals Symposium in September about how we can often use psychological solutions to fix transport challenges.
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“It occurred to us that the transport industry was mostly missing a trick, but in some cases significantly misdirecting effort, by focusing on the quantitative aspects of transport,” he explains. “Those things that are easy to measure, typically SI derived units like time and distance and so on, and missing out on much easier low hanging opportunities to improve the passenger experience. And to change passenger behaviour in general, simply using psychological means, whether that be information, persuasion, reframing, whatever it may be.”
In the chat he talks about how the things humans care about may be very different to measure than the things transport professionals tend to measure and use as proxies for the idea of a good service.
Talking of his appearance with JCT in Nottingham, he comments, “I hope I hope they like what I have to say, because what I'm undoubtedly doing is massively elevating the relative importance of signalling, signage and wayfinding and other forms of information over the people who are normally considered higher status in the world of road building - widening and everything else.”
Enjoy 30 minutes of very entertaining and informative chat, plus the latest partner news and headlines from the Highways News website.
The JCT Traffic Signals Symposium takes place at Nottingham Trent University on 14 and 15 September, with the MOVA User Group and opening barbecue networking the day before. Find out more and book delegate and exhibitor places here
ADEPT link mentioned in the partner news is here.
In such a fast paced, rapidly changing industry, local authorities have to keep up with many challenges, as we not only change the way we travel and how we travel, but also become more sustainable, and think about how we create an effective, efficient network of the future.
Our guest today on Highways Voices is Paul Hudson, head of sales at Now Wireless, a company that has been working closely with local authorities for more than 30 years developing technology in answer to some of these challenges.
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"I think it's more important than ever really to listen and learn to the challenges local authorities have," Paul says. "Over the last 20 years, we've built up a really good relationship with our customers, and we often ask them, what do you need, rather than, oh, we have this new product."
He explains how this guides research and development and helps deliver solutions to make the most of the budget they have, especially as revenue budgets are disappearing rapidly.
"It's important to see for them to see if they're one requirement could actually be used for other solutions," he says.
You'll also hear a reminder of two of the most popular previous guests on Highways Voices, Rory Sutherland and Pete Dyson, who'll be our guests again next week as they look forward to their appearance at this September's JCT Traffic Signals Symposium. There's also our partner news and Adrian's Accolade.
“Every single member I've met has been really positive and optimistic about the industry, really excited about ITS (UK) as an organisation and their role in it,” says new ITS (UK) CEO Max Sugarman on the Highways Voices podcast - his first major interview since taking over from long-serving Secretary General Jennie Martin last month. “What's been clear,” he adds, “is that we're at the cutting edge of transport, and we are a really dynamic and fascinating industry.”
Max Sugarman joined ITS (UK) after a career working in communications with bodies including the Rail Industry Association and Catapult network.
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In this interview, he explains his background, talks about some of the technology he thinks is key to the future of transport and how he plans to use ITS (UK) to influence government policy to the benefit of Intelligent Transport Systems.
“It is about keeping a single message on behalf of the sector and, and sticking with it,” he explains. “Government wants to hear from representative bodies and membership bodies, it needs to know what they're thinking what their challenges are, and what it can do to help. I think the Government will welcome Intelligent Transport Systems UK having a bigger voice and a bigger role.”
In today’s podcast you’ll also hear a round-up of our partner news from ADEPT, LCRIG and the Transport Technology Forum, and why a project in Milton Keynes wins “Adrian’s Accolade” this week.
As 2023 draws to a close, the final Highways Voices of the year hears Highways News co-owners Adrian Tatum and Paul Hutton discuss some of the key topics covered on the site through the year.
In this 25 minute chat they discuss industry funding, and how maintenance contracts seem to be a lot more focused on innovation and and working differently.
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Active travel features heavily in the conversation, talking about the implementation of schemes and the need to deliver safety, and the perception of safety.
This leads into a discussion about smart motorways and how the industry must do more to reach the public with reassurance that new schemes are as safe as the figures suggest.
They also cover, among other things, speed cameras and road worker safety.
As traffic monitoring and data analytics company Valerann announces it has deployed its Lanternn by Valerann product on the Costa Arauco motorway in Chile, this week’s Highways Voices podcast finds out how they did it.
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Co-founder Michael Vardi says this “revolutionises” the mobility sector and reduces deployment costs for advanced traffic management systems.
“This is a super exciting moment for us because, to the best of our knowledge, we have done the first completely remote deployment of a full ATMS [Advanced Traffic Management System] system,” he says. “We have deployed cloud-based ATMS that integrates all their systems to one place, and done it completely remotely within only a few weeks from contract sign to full deployment.
“Now, that is in contrast to the previous kind of processes whereby an ATMS would take months, if not over a year, to deploy with many engineers on the ground, [and] on premise to make things happen. Now, the reason this is so important is because what such remote semi-automated deployments allow us to do is to make active traffic management available to many more roads make the advantages of it is available to many more roads. Because now you can deploy everywhere. Deployment and servicing becomes cheaper. System deployments becomes more effective and more efficient.”
He also explains the company’s eventual plan is that the whole implementation of ATMS can be automated when, “an operator can go online, say these are my camera APIs, these are the data sources I want, these are my roads, click and immediately get a full ATMS system available to them.”
Find out all about it, plus some of the latest news on the Highways News website, plus the latest from Highways Voices partners LCRIG, TTF, ADEPT and ITS (UK).
Even though the Chancellor’s budget, delivered just two weeks ago, indicated that budgets to maintain the local road network appear to have escaped further cuts, although as we sit in the middle of a three-year funding cycle-no further increase are expected for at least another two years.
On this week’s Highways Voices podcast, we explore the subject of proactive highway maintenance and the need for local authorities and those contractors that work on behalf of councils to strike a balance between reactive and proactive maintenance as part of a proactive asset management plan.
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One person that knows all about that is Dr Howard Robinson, MD of ASI Solutions and former Chief Executive of the Road Surface Treatments Association.
In this episode he talks about how RHINOPHALT asphalt preservation is helping protect and preserve both the local and national network, keeping it in a better condition for longer. He also tells us why the funding mechanism for highways maintenance needs to change to help incentivise local authorities to be more proactive in their use of surface treatments and why that will lead to less reactive spending in the future.
Now more than ever, increasing numbers of roads asset managers are seeing the economic and sustainable benefits of whole carbon and cost lifecycle management and harnessing proactive surface treatments to maintain their networks, stretching their budgets and significantly reducing their carbon.
You'll also hear why TRL Software and KL Systems win this week's Adrian's Accolade, news from our partners and some top stories from Highways-News.com.
This week's Highways Voices returns to the keynote session at Highways UK to discuss the important subject of decarbonising our roads.
The discussion featured representatives of National Highways, Mott MacDonald, Arcadis and Costain, who discussed goals, commitment and how to change behaviour.
The panel also discusses the move to electric vehicles and whether we can adequately decarbonise freight.
In this podcast you will hear from:
Stephen Elderkin, Director of Environmental Sustainability, National Highways
Kim Yates, UK & Europe Climate Change operational lead at Mott MacDonald
Ramin Massoumi, Global Solutions Director, Arcadis
Lara Young, Group Climate Change Director at Costain
You'll also hear news from our partners and why TMP Solutions are this week's winners of "Adrian's Accolade"
Given it's Road Safety Week, it's the right week to hear from four leading experts about their thoughts on how we can reduce the number of collisions on our roads.
In this discussion, recorded in the keynote session of Highways UK, you'll hear from:
- Neil Greig, Policy & Research Director, Institute of Advanced Motorist,
- Mike Wilson, Chief Highways Engineer, National Highways
- Suzy Charman, Executive Director, Road Safety Foundation
- Dave Conway, IMS & Road Safety Manager FM Conway
They talk about, among others, vehicle design and ADAS, driver behaviour, enforcement and roadworker safety.
You'll also hear news from the Highways News website and why Re-flow win this week's Adrian's Accolade.
We had so much material left over from the highly successful Highways UK event last week in Birmingham that we bring you some content we didn't have time to fit in on our podcasts from the show last week.
These podcasts are brought to you thanks to the support of Re-flow, Kier Highways, Causeway Technologies, Navtech Radar and SWARCO.
You'll hear presenter some of Paul Hutton's on-stage conversation with keynote speaker Sir John Armitt of the National Infrastructure Commission where they talk levelling up and road pricing.
"The Treasury has got to fill a hole of 30 billion pounds a year from the loss of fuel duty," he explains. "How's it going to do that we're all going to pay some way. So do we want to pay more income tax? Or do we want to pay by how much we use our cars and the transport choices we make? I would rather be have it left to me to decide by what choice I'm going to make when I'm going to drive when I'm not going to drive and pay accordingly rather than just have to be added on to income tax."
You'll also hear from Kier, Hocktief, Smart Video and Sensing and Valerann, about an important event next week looking at us decarbonising transport now, and talking of carbon, how the RSTA has a solution to dramatically reduce the environmental impact of road maintenance.
Links to: Adept conference, TTF Autumn Update.
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We can only scratch the surface of the huge Highways UK event on these podcasts, but we're bringing you a great flavour of what the estimated 8,000 industry professionals have experienced over two days at Birmingham's NEC. These podcasts are brought to you thanks to the support of https://re-flow.io/ (Re-flow), https://www.kier.co.uk/sectors/highways-bridges/ (Kier Highways), https://www.causeway.com/ (Causeway Technologies), https://navtechradar.com/ (Navtech Radar) and https://swarco.com/ (SWARCO). Today we bounce around the exhibition floor to hear about the ever-expanding SWARCO and their solutions, discuss road surfacing, Kier's work on diversity in the workforce (which we hear is good for staff and the bottom line) and tunnel safety and technology, and meet a fascinating start-up. We've also recorded the keynote panel sessions on Day 2, which we'll use in future Highways Voices podcasts. Subscribe to Highways Voices free on https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/highways-voices/id1551975855 (Apple Podcasts,) https://open.spotify.com/show/0U6BbFBYLr5eeX0HuZtPv8 (Spotify), https://highways-voices.captivate.fm/amazon (Amazon Music), https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5jYXB0aXZhdGUuZm0vaGlnaHdheXMtdm9pY2Vz (Google Podcasts) or https://pca.st/7a3xxskl (Pocket Casts) and never miss an episode!
Thousands of our industry colleagues have gathered in Hall 1 of Birmingham's NEC for Day 1 of the huge Highways UK event, and we've been gathering a flavour of the event on Highways Voices. These podcasts are brought to you thanks to the support of https://re-flow.io/ (Re-flow), https://www.kier.co.uk/sectors/highways-bridges/ (Kier Highways), https://www.causeway.com/ (Causeway Technologies), https://navtechradar.com/ (Navtech Radar) and https://swarco.com/ (SWARCO). In today's podcast we hear some of National Highways CEO Nick Harris's comments in the keynote session about smart motorways, the future and why investment in the industry is necessary right now. You'll hear about stopped vehicle detection from Re-flow plus the latest thinking from Causeway Technologies and Re-flow, while connected vehicle expert Andy Graham talks all about the latest innovations as demonstrated by the Transport Technology Forum https://highways-news.com/here-and-now-connected-vehicle-solutions-explained-in-new-video/ (here). We also head into the start-up zone and get details of tomorrow morning's keynote theatre session. Subscribe to Highways Voices free on https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/highways-voices/id1551975855 (Apple Podcasts,) https://open.spotify.com/show/0U6BbFBYLr5eeX0HuZtPv8 (Spotify), https://highways-voices.captivate.fm/amazon (Amazon Music), https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5jYXB0aXZhdGUuZm0vaGlnaHdheXMtdm9pY2Vz (Google Podcasts) or https://pca.st/7a3xxskl (Pocket Casts) and never miss an episode!
The huge Highways UK show is taking place at Birmingham's NEC on 2 and 3 November and Highways Voices brings you the build-up from inside the exhibit hall. These podcasts are brought to you thanks to the support of https://re-flow.io/ (Re-flow), https://www.kier.co.uk/sectors/highways-bridges/ (Kier Highways), https://www.causeway.com/ (Causeway Technologies), https://navtechradar.com/ (Navtech Radar) and https://swarco.com/ (SWARCO). Join Paul Hutton and Adrian Tatum who talk to the organisers about a record number of exhibitors, start-ups, speakers and registrations and what to expect on day one of the event. If you're an exhibitor, make sure you listen to PR expert Helen Blood who gives you vital tips on how to entice people to your stand, while Adrian also talks to Kier Highways and Clearway Technology. Subscribe to Highways Voices free on https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/highways-voices/id1551975855 (Apple Podcasts,) https://open.spotify.com/show/0U6BbFBYLr5eeX0HuZtPv8 (Spotify), https://highways-voices.captivate.fm/amazon (Amazon Music), https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5jYXB0aXZhdGUuZm0vaGlnaHdheXMtdm9pY2Vz (Google Podcasts) or https://pca.st/7a3xxskl (Pocket Casts) and never miss an episode!
"It's a huge event - it's the biggest we've done in terms of floor space," explains Highways UK Senior Conference Producer Claudia Davidson on this week's Highways Voices, "The biggest event that we do, as organisers." In this podcast, we look forward to the event next week, where we'll be reporting for you bringing podcasts on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Claudia discusses key speakers, topics and the exhibition, as well as the awards dinner that takes place on the first day. Subscribe to Highways Voices free on https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/highways-voices/id1551975855 (Apple Podcasts,) https://open.spotify.com/show/0U6BbFBYLr5eeX0HuZtPv8 (Spotify), https://highways-voices.captivate.fm/amazon (Amazon Music), https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5jYXB0aXZhdGUuZm0vaGlnaHdheXMtdm9pY2Vz (Google Podcasts) or https://pca.st/7a3xxskl (Pocket Casts) and never miss an episode! These podcasts are sponsored by Reflow, Causeway Technologies, SWARCO, Kier Highways and Navtech Radar. You'll hear from Reflow talking about its workflow management system, Navtech Radar talks about the use of radar to manage traffic safely and Causeway Technologies discuss the integration of Yotta into the Company. You'll also hear why you should attend the keynote session on the Thursday morning hosted by our own Paul Hutton, some of the top stories on the Highways News website and why Will Britain of LCRIG wins Adrian's Accolade this week.
“One thing I think that has been key to our success is actually delivering tangible value to customers with the solution that we provide,” explains One Network founder James Harris on this week’s Highways Voices podcast as he discusses how his company has cornered the roadworks information and management market in the UK, and is now expanding into the US. Subscribe to Highways Voices free on https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/highways-voices/id1551975855 (Apple Podcasts,) https://open.spotify.com/show/0U6BbFBYLr5eeX0HuZtPv8 (Spotify), https://highways-voices.captivate.fm/amazon (Amazon Music), https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5jYXB0aXZhdGUuZm0vaGlnaHdheXMtdm9pY2Vz (Google Podcasts) or https://pca.st/7a3xxskl (Pocket Casts) and never miss an episode! “We've been lucky in that the benefits of digitalising, that process are really quite self evident,” he says. “So there are some safety benefits to the ability to communicate work zones to drivers, and we're doing some really interesting work in Florida at the moment, rolling our solution out so that people can get alerts in advance of driving into a work zone area.” In the conversation recorded at the ITS World Congress in Los Angeles, Mr Harris talks about using everyday technology to deliver your solution, finding reasons why local authorities should spend money on a product and the difference between doing business in the US and the UK. “We're actually speaking to about ten State DOTs at the moment,” he says, “We've launched our solution in Florida, and the first part of the conversation with all the other nine is that slightly disappointed not to be first.” On today’s podcast you’ll also hear news from our podcast partners, some of the latest news stories on the Highways News website with Adrian Tatum and you’ll find out why he’s chosen Iomob to be this week’s “Adrian’s Accolade”.
“I think in general, the company's done done pretty well, and there's certainly been some significant successes,” says Harry Garnham of the Office and Rail and Road talking about National Highways performance on this week’s Highways Voices website. “But it's not to say there haven't been challenges, and there haven't been areas where we have concerns and think they can improve.” The ORR’s Head of Performance, Roads, chats to Adrian Tatum on this week’s podcast, where he discusses smart motorways, the environment and communications in a wide-ranging interview. On safety, he says, “The company… is ambitious, and we want them to set out how they're able to do that, and then just maybe more specifically, in terms of a key point, we do also monitor national highways around the safety of smart motorways, in particular, the delivery of the action plan that DFT set.” Find out his thoughts in the podcast today where you can also hear the latest news from our partners including a major collaboration and who win’s “Adrian’s Accolade” this week.
Highways News brought you daily podcasts from the 2022 ITS World Congress in Los Angeles, and now here’s one final podcast featuring content we couldn’t fit into the daily programmes. In today’s show, sponsored by https://gewi.com/ (GEWI), https://www.swarco.com/ (SWARCO), https://www.nota.ai/ (Nota AI), https://one.network/ (one.network) and https://navtechradar.com/ (Navtech Radar), you’ll hear an explanation of a revolutionary new way of maximising the value of eCall, why MaaS is still relevant, and how LIDAR can deliver solutions for intersection safety and traffic counting. Talking eCall, Danny Woolard, one of the founders of VESOS, explains, “I think one of the one of the things that we identified following the work we did for in the was very much that there was a very big education piece missing. Now to be fair on national highways, they've done a lot. They've run campaigns, we've been working with them, helping them build those campaigns to get that message across. But there is still a problem, that the value chain particularly at the automotive side, and particularly the dealership side has no idea how you know how it works, what what its real value is.” Mr Woolard explains the value of eCall in giving emergency services details about a collision, from vehicle type, including whether it is an electric vehicle, to how bad the situation might be. After this, Andy Taylor of Cubic, who is one of the world’s leading experts on Mobility as a Service, explains why the concept remains relevant. “It's still happening. If you look at the headlines, there are more and more companies who are folding, and I'm getting phone calls all the time from different organisations saying, ‘Would you be interested in acquisition?’ Now that's come about because of COVID. There's the reduction in ridership, but because of COVID, as well, this has actually helped mobility as a service in the long run - cities have had their services decimated, and it's been absolutely tragic to see the reduction in ridership - but at the same time agencies are now looking at, with the limited funds that they have, how can they build back a more flexible, resilient network that is available for all of the citizens within the city?” You’ll also hear about solutions from Aeye and Ouster, two companies new to Highways News who were exhibiting at the event.
The 2022 ITS World Congress comes to a close, and this Highways Voices brings you chat about some of the key issues to come out of the event. All our podcasts for the World Congress are thanks to the generous support of our sponsors https://gewi.com/ (GEWI), https://www.swarco.com/ (SWARCO), https://www.nota.ai/ (Nota AI), https://one.network/ (one.network) and https://navtechradar.com/ (Navtech Radar), all of whom you can meet in LA. In today’s programme with Paul Hutton we hear about the must-attend sessions on the final day with Chief Rapporteur Professor Eric Sampson, we find out from Navtech Radar why roadside infrastructure will be vital for driverless cars, and on the same theme, SWARCO explain why we need to be taking road marking standards more seriously. Nota AI explain how AI-powered technology can turn ordinary CCTV cameras into a powerful traffic management tool, Cohda Wireless talk about a device that can connect using any technology, ERTICO look forward to the next major gathering in Europe – Lisbon 2023 and we get a final list of ideas for things to do in LA. Subscribe to Highways Voices free on https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/highways-voices/id1551975855 (Apple Podcasts,) https://open.spotify.com/show/0U6BbFBYLr5eeX0HuZtPv8 (Spotify), https://highways-voices.captivate.fm/amazon (Amazon Music), https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5jYXB0aXZhdGUuZm0vaGlnaHdheXMtdm9pY2Vz (Google Podcasts) or https://pca.st/7a3xxskl (Pocket Casts) and never miss an episode!
On today's Highways Voices from the ITS World Congress in Los Angeles we talk spotting accidents at intersections, live roadworks updates and cutting edge traffic controller technology, plus bring you some breaking news about next year’s international ITS events. As next year's official ITS World Congress in China goes hybrid, we have news about how the world's ITS community can meet in Melbourne in August as ITS Australia expand their annual Summit into a global event. You'll hear about how AI is improving pedestrian safety at intersections, about how Florida is using a British idea to improve its management of roadworks and the latest in next-generation traffic signal controllers. On top of this, Professor Eric Sampson gives his advice on sessions to go to on Day Three in LA (including one involving our podcast host Paul Hutton) and Alan Clelland gives his guide to entertainment options in LA. oh and don’t forget Alan’s guide to LA where we talk movies and sports, and Eric Sampson’s ideas for the must attend things on Wednesday at Congress…
It’s all thanks to our sponsors SWARCO, GEWI, Navtech Radar, Nota AI and one.network
Day two of the ITS World Congress from here in Los Angeles hears talk of, among other things, low carbon transport, start up opportunities and radar technology as we hear from WSP, SWARCO and Navtech Radar. All our podcasts for the World Congress are thanks to the generous support of our sponsors https://gewi.com/ (GEWI), https://www.swarco.com/ (SWARCO), https://www.nota.ai/ (Nota AI), https://one.network/ (one.network) and https://navtechradar.com/ (Navtech Radar), all of whom you can meet in LA. The show also includes your your trusted guide to the must-do things on Tuesday in our preview with Chief Rapporteur Professor Eric Sampson, while we also meet more companies on the UK pavilion. You also get your essential guide to things to see and do in LA with our local expert, British ex pat Alan Clelland of ITS consultancy DKS Associates with great places to shop and first things to do here in the City of Angels.
We look ahead to Monday at the ITS World Congress on today’s Highways Voices from Los Angeles. In the podcast we hear Professor Eric Sampson’s comments on the main topics being discussed in the sessions, including an international forum on sustainability and resiliency, with mobility network management, moving transit to zero emissions. And a number of special interest sessions that have caught his eye. All our podcasts for the World Congress are thanks to the generous support of our sponsors https://gewi.com/ (GEWI), https://www.swarco.com/ (SWARCO), https://www.nota.ai/ (Nota AI), https://one.network/ (one.network) and https://navtechradar.com/ (Navtech Radar), all of whom you can meet in LA. Danny Woolard from GEWI discusses a new software solution that seamlessly co-ordinates workzones, from permit through conflict awareness to traveller information, and we chat European issues with ERTICO CEO Joost Vantomme. We meet three exhibitors on the UK Pavilion and UK visitor Alastair King of Clearview Intelligence gives a first impression of the event. We also look at things to do here in LA that aren’t ITS with our local expert, British ex pat Alan Clelland of ITS consultancy DKS Associates with great places to eat here in the city. This podcast is published a day early as the beginning of the event coincides with the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II… Many UK, Canadian and Australian visitors will be gathering in the early hours of Monday morning in LA to watch the funeral, and the UK pavilion won’t be opening until the afternoon.
This week's Highways Voices looks at the key way you can manage traffic in a town or a city - by discussing the latest in signals technology. Presenter Paul Hutton is at the JCT Traffic Signals Symposium in Nottingham, as he talks to Mark Crabtree of TRL, who's been in the industry for 47 years and has been coming to this event for 21 of them. He discusses what's changed in that time, how some of the kit installed then is still in use today and why we shouldn't necessarily get carried away about what changes might take place in the next ten years. We also hear from organiser John Nightingale about the key talking points in Nottingham this week and from six different exhibitors, AGD Systems, Clearview Intelligence, PTV Group, Messagemaker Displays, Smart Video and Sensing and SRL. You'll also hear some of the stories making the headlines on the Highways News website with co-owner Adrian Tatum and about next week's Highways Voices specials from the ITS World Congress in Los Angeles, sponsored by https://gewi.com/ (GEWI), https://www.swarco.com/ (SWARCO), https://www.nota.ai/ (Nota AI), https://one.network/ (one.network) and https://navtechradar.com/ (Navtech Radar), all of whom you can meet in LA.
With fewer than two weeks to the start of the 2022 ITS World Congress, Highways Voices looks ahead to the World Congress by finding out about the key themes of the event, hears from exhibitors and gives you an idea of some things to do when you're in Los Angeles. Highways Voices will be reporting every day at the event with fresh podcasts for you that will be of interest if you're in LA or if you're at home and wanting to find out what is happening at this major event. "I think the first thing I want to say is it's going to be big," explains our guide to the Congress, Professor Eric Sampson who has been to every single World Congress. "it's going to be big for two reasons. There hasn't been a World Congress in the United States, as opposed to North America, since 2014. And it's clear from the rest of the registrations, there's a big pent up demand. The other reason it's going to be big is that it's in Los Angeles, California, a city known for cars - famous for congestion. It's also got some politicians who are being very forward looking in how to solve it. It's got the Olympics coming in 2028, and they've got a programme of 28 big transport linked projects to address the Olympics." Professor Sampson talks about how the Congress looks at delivering transport for all, and how technology can deliver the solution, and what politicians should see when they are there. He'll be your trusted guide to the whole event discussing the key themes every day. Meanwhile Richard Neumann of SWARCO talks about the new branding for its subsidiary McCain, SWARCO My City and a new solution for vulnerable road users, while sticking with vulnerable road users, Haejin Lee of Nota AI discusses spotting crashes before they happen and Danny Woolard of GEWI talks traffic information for bicycles. Then you hear our guide to LA, Alan Clelland of DKS Associates giving ideas for what to do with your downtime in that great city. All our podcasts for the World Congress are thanks to the generous support of our sponsors https://gewi.com/ (GEWI), https://www.swarco.com/ (SWARCO), https://www.nota.ai/ (Nota AI), https://one.network/ (one.network) and https://navtechradar.com/ (Navtech Radar), all of whom you can meet in LA.
The world's leaders in Intelligent Transport Systems will be heading to Los Angeles in two weeks' time for the ITS World Congress, and Highways News will, of course, be there to report with daily Highways Voices podcasts. There is always a danger that people who head to big events end up spending their time in airports and planes, then hotels and convention centres and they see little of the city they're visiting. Therefore, Highways Voices has spoken to British-born ITS expert and 33-year LA resident Alan Clelland of DKS Associates to give us a guide to his adopted city. These interviews were recorded to be used on the preview podcast and daily programmes from LA, but Alan is so insightful that we've put together his entire guide into one special podcast that is invaluable if you're heading to LA. In this podcast he talks about the city, the cuisine, entertainment venues, arts and museums, getting around and, of course, chilling on the beach. All our podcasts for the World Congress are thanks to the generous support of our sponsors https://gewi.com/ (GEWI), https://www.swarco.com/ (SWARCO), https://www.nota.ai/ (Nota AI) and https://navtechradar.com/ (Navtech Radar), all of whom you can meet in LA.
This last Highways Voices before the August break features a look ahead to three major events we'll be covering this autumn. First, we chat to John Nightingale, organiser of the popular JCT Traffic Signals Symposium about what's in the event, who are the key speakers, how it's the biggest ever exhibition and why the bar won't run dry. Then Prof Eric Sampson, Chief Rapporteur of the ITS World Congress gives us a flavour of the event we'll be reporting from in Los Angeles, thanks to our sponsors SWARCO, Nota AI and GEWI. The chat features the key themes, demonstrations and how you can get the most of it, even if you're not able to make it to California. Finally we chat to Highways UK Senior Conference producer Claudia Davidson. She talks about the ever-growing event, who are the keynote speakers lined up and how there are two more theatres of content this year, as well as the huge exhibition. Add in the latest news from the website, our partner updates and why Kier win Adrian's Accolade, and it's a great Highways Voices to see us into the summer.
"I have been talking about making the case for local roads for a number of years, so the fact that LCRIG sees that as at the heart of what it does is close to my heart," says Paula Claytonsmith, the LCRIG's new Director, Government and Strategy on this week's Highways Voices. She talks about the LCRIG - the Local Council Roads Innovation Group - mission to make the case for local roads, explaining that "The reality is that local roads are always going to be at the heart of how our communities operate, and become more successful and economically viable, and how they become more connected on a more societal level. "So making the case for local roads is as much about the communities that received their day to day services, how to get to the office, how to get young people to colleges, schools, and everything that a network entails. If you think about it, people talk about universal service. But in some respects, a road is a universal service, and that road is evolving all the time." Ms Claytonsmith talks about active travel, procurement, technology at the roadside, political viewpoints and funding in a wide-ranging fascinating interview. You'll also hear why GRAHAM win this week's "Adrian's Accolade" and plenty of interesting content in our partner news. Join Adrian Tatum and Paul Hutton for this week's half hour of transport chat.
“There's something like 46 action plans now, across the company, I'm really clear that what we can't do is have a big central team that is delivering on carbon, and everyone else carries on working as they did before,” explains National Highways’ Director of Environmental Sustainability Steve Elderkin on this week’s Highways Voices podcast. “Carbon needs to become part of everyone's role and everyone's decision making. So my team are going to remain pretty small actions are going to be owned across the business, and if we deliver against the commitments in the plan, then we will deliver the carbon reductions that we need to.” Mr Elderkin took on this role at the beginning of the year, with a remit to lead the implementation of National Highways Net Zero Plan and Environmental Strategy, connecting the country sustainably. He gave a wide-ranging interview on the podcast, telling Adrian Tatum that, “All of our governance decisions, needs to be thinking about not just financial affordability, but carbon affordability. and decision makers need to have good carbon information in front of them. But also for partners and contractors, they need to have the understanding of where the carbon is coming from, which parts of their design are carbon intensive, so that they can target their efforts to find alternative, lower carbon ways of delivering the benefits from the projects.” The interview features discussions about connected vehicles, the supply chain’s role in carbon reduction and how we need to rethink the way roads are actually built. “If we cannot rise to the challenge of constructing and operating our roads in a net zero carbon way, then we're not going to have a lot of call for construction jobs,” adds Mr Elderkin, “and so the success and the vibrancy of the sector relies on us working together.” You’ll also hear news about events from our podcast partners ITS (UK) and the Transport Technology Forum, details of a successful LCRIG Innovation Festival and a warning from ADEPT, as well as why Marlborough Highways wins this week’s “Adrian’s Accolade”.
"We constantly monitor and we survey our members in terms of what they think they need in terms of training, and we look at the sector, find out where the sector is, is identifying training needs are required," explains Institute of Highway Engineers CEO Steve Spender on this week's Highways Voices as he discusses training and recruiting the next generation of industry professionals. "One of the things that we are doing is running an initiative called a professional development partnership, in which we're signing a memorandum of understanding with partners that want to work with the institution." Training is key to the IHE, which provides professional development opportunities, support and leadership for individuals to achieve and maintain professional recognition. Steve talks about how the IHE is "linked through the work that we do with the Royal Academy of Engineering in developing new engineers, and we get involved in the forums that carried out by the Royal Academy of Engineering and others in new engineers," and how he speaks to students at universities, telling them why our industry is such a great career. He also talks about how things have changed since he was President ten years ago. You can also hear why https://www.nota.ai/ (Nota AI) wins Adrian's Accolade, lots of details of events in the Partner News and a pick of stories on the Highways News website.
Understanding the needs of rural communities is a vital part in planning an effective rural mobility strategy. These are the thoughts of Peter Ramsey, Associate Director for future mobility at WSP, our guest on this week’s Highways Voices. In it, we explore: why rural mobility is essential to meet Net Zero targets and grow local economies – by reducing car dependency and providing people greater access to local jobs, essential services, and economic centres of activity. Also, we discover how greater rural connectivity can be achieved, through cross-sector collaboration, local council engagement, and planning reform WSP has recently been appointed to design the first ever rural mobility strategy at the sub-national level for the South-West of England, with Peninsula Transport and Western Gateway sub-national transport bodies. “Our starting point hasn't just been around the issues that we find there is understanding the different people who live there. We had to take a deeper dive into the understanding of all those issues.” Last year, WSP published its ’30-minute Rural Community’ research report which reflects on the key issues rural areas can face, such as social isolation and lacking employment opportunities, and solutions to this making our rural communities more prosperous and sustainable. “We have studied all those different communities to better understand that network of settlements and communities and how they might work better together so a range of publicly available mobility, whether that be public transport, shared cycles can be the choice, not just focusing on private car use but improving mobility for a wider range of people, particularly those who don't have access to a car,” added Mr Ramsey. Last month, the All-Party Parliamentary Group on the Rural Powerhouse said that https://www.constructionnews.co.uk/news/poor-rural-infrastructure-costing-economy-43bn-per-year-28-04-2022/ (inadequate rural infrastructure costs the UK economy £43bn per year). In today's podcast you'll also hear our partner news with https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/digitalroadsforlocalroadssurvey/ (details of a new survey) to help create Digital Roads for Local Roads, the categories for the https://its-uk.org.uk/awards (ITS (UK) Awards), more about https://lcrig.org.uk/events/innovation-festival-making-the-case-for-innovation (LCRIG's Innovation Festival) and the thoughts of the new https://adeptnet.org.uk/ (ADEPT) President Mark Kemp.
"I think when it was first brought in as a role to government departments, the Chief Scientific Adviser was expected to be the wise expert who knew everything about science," says the Department for Transport's Chief Scientific Adviser Professor Sarah Sharples on this week's Highways Voices podcast. "I hope I don't disappoint you, I don't know everything about science," she went on, "But what my job is to do is to make those connections between people who do have that deep knowledge and embedded in the work of the department. So I'm going to talk a little bit about the role of science and technology within the department." This week's main audio on this week's Highways Voices is Prof Sharples' speech at the Transport Technology Forum in Liverpool last month that is so good, it's worth hearing in full. In the address she talks about how technology is crucial in delivering the transport networks of the future, how “We are seeing evolution and revolution in transport," and that the priorities are environment, improving transport for the user, global impacts, and levelling up and growing the economy. Hear the whole address, plus news from our partners, why Transport for Wales win this week's "Adrian's Accolade" and the reunion of hosts Paul Hutton and Adrian Tatum, meeting up in person for the first time in more than two years, and for the first time since they set up Highways News! Follow Highways News on https://twitter.com/highways_news (Twitter), https://www.linkedin.com/company/42942684/admin/ (LinkedIn) and https://highways-news.com/subscribe/ (subscribe to our daily newsletter here). Links: http://lcrig.org.uk/ (LCRIG website) https://its-uk.org.uk/ (ITS (UK) website) https://ttf.uk.net/ (TTF website) https://adeptnet.org.uk/ (Adept website)
This week's Highways Voices again features conversations from the south of France and the ITS European Congress 2022 in Toulouse. This podcast is brought to you thanks to the support of our 2022 Congress sponsors https://www.swarco.com/ (SWARCO), https://www.nota.ai/ (Nota.ai) and https://gewi.com/ (GEWI), who’ll also be supporting us heading to Los Angeles for the World Congress in September. Subscribe to Highways Voices free on https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/highways-voices/id1551975855 (Apple Podcasts,) https://open.spotify.com/show/0U6BbFBYLr5eeX0HuZtPv8 (Spotify), https://highways-voices.captivate.fm/amazon (Amazon Music), https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5jYXB0aXZhdGUuZm0vaGlnaHdheXMtdm9pY2Vz (Google Podcasts) or https://pca.st/7a3xxskl (Pocket Casts) and never miss an episode! In this week's podcast we hear about European Commission transport priorities, along with a warning about money, before talking traffic management through AI and how to properly deliver active travel information to better manage the network. There's also a chat with the Connected Places Catapult about sharing best practice through the Manual for Smart Streets before we talk to an executive from Google Cloud about the transport industry's need for more expertise in machine learning to get the most out of the data collected. There's also our partner news from our partners the Transport Technology Forum, ADEPT, ITS (UK) and LCRIG, and of course Adrian Tatum brings you top stories from the Highways News website and his Accolade this week. Follow Highways News on https://twitter.com/highways_news (Twitter), https://www.linkedin.com/company/42942684/admin/ (LinkedIn) and https://highways-news.com/subscribe/ (subscribe to our daily newsletter here). Links: http://lcrig.org.uk/ (LCRIG website) https://its-uk.org.uk/ (ITS (UK) website) https://ttf.uk.net/ (TTF website) https://adeptnet.org.uk/ (Adept website)
This week's Highways Voices comes from the south of France and the lovely city of Toulouse for the ITS European Congress 2022. This podcast is brought to you thanks to the support of our 2022 Congress sponsors https://www.swarco.com/ (SWARCO), https://www.nota.ai/ (Nota.ai) and https://gewi.com/ (GEWI), who’ll also be supporting us heading to Los Angeles for the World Congress in September… Subscribe to Highways Voices free on https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/highways-voices/id1551975855 (Apple Podcasts,) https://open.spotify.com/show/0U6BbFBYLr5eeX0HuZtPv8 (Spotify), https://highways-voices.captivate.fm/amazon (Amazon Music), https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5jYXB0aXZhdGUuZm0vaGlnaHdheXMtdm9pY2Vz (Google Podcasts) or https://pca.st/7a3xxskl (Pocket Casts) and never miss an episode! In this week's podcast we hear about data, and competitors getting together to talk sustainability. We'll also have a ride in Europe’s first Level 4 driverless vehicle in mixed traffic and hear a round-up of the major talking points with Professor Eric Sampson. There'll also be our partner news from our partners the Transport Technology Forum, ADEPT, ITS (UK) and LCRIG. Follow Highways News on https://twitter.com/highways_news (Twitter), https://www.linkedin.com/company/42942684/admin/ (LinkedIn) and https://highways-news.com/subscribe/ (subscribe to our daily newsletter here). Links: http://lcrig.org.uk/ (LCRIG website) https://its-uk.org.uk/ (ITS (UK) website) https://ttf.uk.net/ (TTF website) https://adeptnet.org.uk/ (Adept website)
"I started with an outcome of what do we want the places we live to be like, what do we want that to be for our families and our kids, and then what do we need to get people there - and easy is the is the first word. It's got to be easy." The words of Chris Boardman MBE, Interim Commissioner at Active Travel England and the main voice on this week's Highways Voices podcast, in conversation at last week's Transport Technology Forum conference in Liverpool, with Anthony Ferguson of the Department for Transport. Subscribe to Highways Voices free on https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/highways-voices/id1551975855 (Apple Podcasts,) https://open.spotify.com/show/0U6BbFBYLr5eeX0HuZtPv8 (Spotify), https://highways-voices.captivate.fm/amazon (Amazon Music), https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5jYXB0aXZhdGUuZm0vaGlnaHdheXMtdm9pY2Vz (Google Podcasts) or https://pca.st/7a3xxskl (Pocket Casts) and never miss an episode! In the fascinating chat, Mr Boardman talks about getting people out of their cars safely, and making it easy for people to walk and cycle. "Amsterdam's 408 miles from where we're sitting now - same climate," he says. "60% of kids get to school under their own steam, largely largely riding bikes... and they do that every day. And that's just normal 408 miles from here. That's just normal. And we asked the question, wouldn't you want that for your kids?" Hear how Mr Boardman plans to make it happen for kids, and adults across the country. You'll also hear news from our partners including an expanded ITS (UK) Awards, and why that's the winner of Adrian's Accolade this week, plus there's news from the Highways News website. Note - in Mr Boardman's chat, he uses the word sh*t. Please don't listen if you or someone nearby may be offended by that. Follow Highways News on https://twitter.com/highways_news (Twitter), https://www.linkedin.com/company/42942684/admin/ (LinkedIn) and https://highways-news.com/subscribe/ (subscribe to our daily newsletter here). Links: http://lcrig.org.uk/ (LCRIG website) https://its-uk.org.uk/ (ITS (UK) website) https://ttf.uk.net/ (TTF website) https://adeptnet.org.uk/ (Adept website)
In a couple of weeks, Highways Voices will be back out and about bringing you chat from the ITS European Congress in the French city of Toulouse. The podcasts are thanks to the generous support of https://www.swarco.com/ (SWARCO) and https://www.nota.ai/ (Nota). Subscribe to Highways Voices free on https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/highways-voices/id1551975855 (Apple Podcasts,) https://open.spotify.com/show/0U6BbFBYLr5eeX0HuZtPv8 (Spotify), https://highways-voices.captivate.fm/amazon (Amazon Music), https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5jYXB0aXZhdGUuZm0vaGlnaHdheXMtdm9pY2Vz (Google Podcasts) or https://pca.st/7a3xxskl (Pocket Casts) and never miss an episode! In this week's programme, host Paul Hutton finds out about the five strands of the Congress and the key themes with ERTICO Director of Communications, Congresses and Events, Lisa Boch-Andersen, before chatting to Richard Neumann of SWARCO about his company's support for the Congress and how it keeps freshening up its stands to keep visitors engaged. Finally, you'll hear from Toulouse-based driverless vehicle pioneer EasyMile about how you can ride a driverless vehicle and see many more in action. On top of this, you'll get news from Highways Voices partners ITS (UK), the Transport Technology Forum, LCRIG and ADEPT and find out why Adrian's Accolade goes to Estonia this week. Follow Highways News on https://twitter.com/highways_news (Twitter), https://www.linkedin.com/company/42942684/admin/ (LinkedIn) and https://highways-news.com/subscribe/ (subscribe to our daily newsletter here). Links: http://lcrig.org.uk/ (LCRIG website) https://its-uk.org.uk/ (ITS (UK) website) https://ttf.uk.net/ (TTF website) https://adeptnet.org.uk/ (Adept website)
Subscribe to Highways Voices free on https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/highways-voices/id1551975855 (Apple Podcasts,) https://open.spotify.com/show/0U6BbFBYLr5eeX0HuZtPv8 (Spotify), https://highways-voices.captivate.fm/amazon (Amazon Music), https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5jYXB0aXZhdGUuZm0vaGlnaHdheXMtdm9pY2Vz (Google Podcasts) or https://pca.st/7a3xxskl (Pocket Casts) and never miss an episode! It’s a world first this week on Highways Voices. We delve deeper into the story behind the world’s first roadside deployment of wind turbines on Telford & Wrekin’s network, with the company who developed the technology Alpha 311. Its Chief Executive Officer, Barry Thompson, told us the business model has been created so local authorities can generate revenue from the electricity generated from the turbines. He said: “We are starting to see a huge possibility with regards to utilising the road infrastructure as a revenue generator. For example, we are talking to another council in the north that want to look at generating the energy from the turbines for electric vehicle charging. Councils need to look at every possible opportunity with regards to how they can help fund the road network or use the energy generated in local communities and there is obviously a strong carbon reduction element which everyone is searching for.” The turbine turns in low wind speeds, and can not only power the street lights, but will also produce surplus energy that Telford & Wrekin Council can use for local amenities or sell to utility partners to generate a secondary revenue stream. Installation begins later in the year, and the scheme could include up to 181 turbines delivered to the council. Telford & Wrekin Council has 20,000 lighting columns, and these 181 turbines will render them all carbon neutral, which goes some way to helping the council meet its climate goals. Find out all about this on this week’s Highways Voices, where you’ll also hear news from podcast partners ADEPT, LCRIG, Transport Technology Forum and ITS (UK) plus why Yunex Traffic wins this week’s “Adrian’s Accolade”. Follow Highways News on https://twitter.com/highways_news (Twitter), https://www.linkedin.com/company/42942684/admin/ (LinkedIn) and https://highways-news.com/subscribe/ (subscribe to our daily newsletter here). Links: http://lcrig.org.uk/ (LCRIG website) https://its-uk.org.uk/ (ITS (UK) Website) https://c22.ttf.uk.net/ (Details of TTF Conference) https://adeptnet.org.uk/ (Adept website)
Subscribe to Highways Voices free on https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/highways-voices/id1551975855 (Apple Podcasts,) https://open.spotify.com/show/0U6BbFBYLr5eeX0HuZtPv8 (Spotify), https://highways-voices.captivate.fm/amazon (Amazon Music), https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5jYXB0aXZhdGUuZm0vaGlnaHdheXMtdm9pY2Vz (Google Podcasts) or https://pca.st/7a3xxskl (Pocket Casts) and never miss an episode! "When we started designing our new modern mobility management system... we started by interviewing more than 400 cities globally," explains the new SWARCO CEO Michael Schuch on this week's Highways Voices podcast. "And what we learned was actually the most critical topics that they have are throughout the same." In the interview Mr Schuch outlines those challenges which fall into ten problem statements including predictable issues such as congestion and air quality along with other global problems such as budget constraints and interoperability. The interview features discussions on procurement, Net Zero, collaboration and support for start-ups, and international expansion as well as connected vehicles. "We can demonstrate proof of concept of those seeking solutions with connectivity with communication, and everything between vehicles and infrastructure and vice versa," Mr Schuch says. "Now, it's about the first deployments and the focus about the quality of the service and the scalability of the service, and there is really the question, who is investing that that money? What are the business cases that really make this a wheel that starts spinning?" Find out his thoughts on this week's Highways Voices, where you'll also hear news from podcast partners ADEPT, LCRIG, Transport Technology Forum and ITS (UK) plus why Telford and Wrekin wins this week's "Adrian's Accolade". Follow Highways News on https://twitter.com/highways_news (Twitter), https://www.linkedin.com/company/42942684/admin/ (LinkedIn) and https://highways-news.com/subscribe/ (subscribe to our daily newsletter here). Links: http://lcrig.org.uk/ (LCRIG website) https://its-uk.org.uk/ (ITS (UK) Website) https://c22.ttf.uk.net/ (Details of TTF Conference) https://adeptnet.org.uk/ (Adept website)
Subscribe to Highways Voices free on https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/highways-voices/id1551975855 (Apple Podcasts,) https://open.spotify.com/show/0U6BbFBYLr5eeX0HuZtPv8 (Spotify), https://highways-voices.captivate.fm/amazon (Amazon Music), https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5jYXB0aXZhdGUuZm0vaGlnaHdheXMtdm9pY2Vz (Google Podcasts) or https://pca.st/7a3xxskl (Pocket Casts) and never miss an episode! This week's Highways Voices analyses how a refresh of the way software is delivering the most efficient transport network based on existing roadside hardware. Paul Campion of TRL discusses the best way to manage traffic in towns and cities using a refresh of what we've always known as SCOOT and MOVA traffic management in what is now called Unified Traffic Control. "It's incredibly important for the cities to have the confidence that their massive installed base of equipment can continue to be used," he explains. "No one wants to dig up the roads in order to put in some new software. So we have to respect that legacy, respect the fact that all these cities, and their citizens depend on this software and have been doing for many years, but take it forward in quite a different and we think, very valuable way." The conversation also talks about how funding such upgrades could be justified if both the environmental and road safety aspects were considered holistically. "That's quite difficult to do in governmental budgeting, but you know what the challenges like decarbonisation challenges like levelling up, I think are going to require us to do some of these things, which is simultaneously creative, innovative, look like they're really difficult and the same time common bloomin' sense," he adds. Follow Highways News on https://twitter.com/highways_news (Twitter), https://www.linkedin.com/company/42942684/admin/ (LinkedIn) and https://highways-news.com/subscribe/ (subscribe to our daily newsletter here). The podcast also hears the latest news from Highways Voices partners the Transport Technology Forum, ITS (UK), ADEPT and LCRIG. You'll hear how LCRIG has revealed more details about its upcoming Innovation Festival. The event will be a first of its kind for the highways sector – with a number of local authorities already committed to making their road networks available for trials along with funding for qualifying innovators who participate in the event. The new event, which will take place from 6-7 July at Newark Showground, has been established to ‘make the case for innovation’ and will bring together local authorities, central government, the supply chain, associations and academia. Exhibitors are able to request to be included as a qualifying innovator to be eligible for innovation funding and/or trials and the Infrastructure Innovation Board and delegates will judge the qualifying innovations. Councils including NY Highways, Blackpool Council and Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council are making their networks available for innovation trials. LCRIG is inviting organisations to attend and exhibit at the Innovation Festival with a contribution from all exhibitors being put towards the LCRIG ‘Steve Berry – Think Exceptional’ Innovation Fund – a pot of money that will be used to help facilitate and speed up innovation in the highways sector. For more information visit the LCRIG website - https://lcrig.org.uk/ (https://lcrig.org.uk) https://its-uk.org.uk/ (ITS (UK) Website) https://c22.ttf.uk.net/ (Details of TTF Conference) https://adeptnet.org.uk/ (Adept website)
Subscribe to Highways Voices free on https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/highways-voices/id1551975855 (Apple Podcasts,) https://open.spotify.com/show/0U6BbFBYLr5eeX0HuZtPv8 (Spotify), https://highways-voices.captivate.fm/amazon (Amazon Music), https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5jYXB0aXZhdGUuZm0vaGlnaHdheXMtdm9pY2Vz (Google Podcasts) or https://pca.st/7a3xxskl (Pocket Casts) and never miss an episode! "Two or three years ago people thought we were a little bit nuts and a bit sort of fringy - now, actually, people are properly on board and are wanting to come and have a conversation with us - we've almost become the cool kids." That's the experience of this week's main guest on Highways Voices, Chris Pateman-Jones who is CEO of the EV chargepoint provider Connected Kerb. He discusses how the EV charging network will come about in the next eight years, and what challenges there are, but that he is confident it can be delivered. "When you think of the fibre deployment that's taken place across the UK," he says, "This isn't impossible, there is huge opportunity here." In the chat with Highways Voices presenter Paul Hutton, he discusses how to deliver a socially equitable charging network, the different sorts of chargers and locations and why chargepoint operators should have the opportunity for long contracts with local authorities. They also talk about educating the public to understand EVs, "I think there is real need for centralised campaigns to really help people to understand what the transition is like, from a non commercial perspective," he says, "Almost like during the 1980s with the Buckle Up campaign. That's the sort of thing that needs to be done here to really help people to understand what's going on." In the podcast you also hear news from podcasts partners LCRIG, ADEPT, ITS (UK) and the Transport Technology Forum and find out why Clearview Intelligence wins Adrian Tatum's "Adrian's Accolade" this week. Follow Highways News on https://twitter.com/highways_news (Twitter), https://www.linkedin.com/company/42942684/admin/ (LinkedIn) and https://highways-news.com/subscribe/ (subscribe to our daily newsletter here). Links: http://lcrig.org.uk/ (LCRIG website) https://its-uk.org.uk/ (ITS (UK) Website) https://c22.ttf.uk.net/ (Details of TTF Conference) https://adeptnet.org.uk/ (Adept website)
Subscribe to Highways Voices free on https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/highways-voices/id1551975855 (Apple Podcasts,) https://open.spotify.com/show/0U6BbFBYLr5eeX0HuZtPv8 (Spotify), https://highways-voices.captivate.fm/amazon (Amazon Music), https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5jYXB0aXZhdGUuZm0vaGlnaHdheXMtdm9pY2Vz (Google Podcasts) or https://pca.st/7a3xxskl (Pocket Casts) and never miss an episode! In this Highways Voices we return to Amsterdam for more conversation from the exhibition floor of the huge Intertraffic event. We talk to the CEO of Yunex, Marcus Schlitt about the pace of change in the newly-branded company and then CEO Alex Torday, the new CEO of Yunex's subsidiary Aimsun detailing fixing traffic jams before they happen. We also introduce Smartmicro… a company known in the UK through its distributor Smart Video and Sensing, who’re doing interesting things with detection, as founder Ralph Mende explains, while on the huge Kapsch stand we talk next-generation connectivity with VP of Demand Management Michael Ganser before rounding up the show with Michael Tooker, an SVP with Redflex's new owners Verra Mobility. On top of that we hear news from our partners, Follow Highways News on https://twitter.com/highways_news (Twitter), https://www.linkedin.com/company/42942684/admin/ (LinkedIn) and https://highways-news.com/subscribe/ (subscribe to our daily newsletter here). Links: http://lcrig.org.uk/ (LCRIG website) https://its-uk.org.uk/ (ITS (UK) Website) https://c22.ttf.uk.net/ (Details of TTF Conference) https://www.adeptnet.org.uk/news/what-skills-do-you-need-fast-track-innovation-across-local-highways-live-labs-white-paper-6 (ADEPT press release) https://www.adeptnet.org.uk/documents/live-labs-white-paper-6-–-skills-innovation-programmes (ADEPT White Paper) https://www.adeptnet.org.uk/live-labs-blog (ADEPT Blogs)
Subscribe to Highways Voices free on https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/highways-voices/id1551975855 (Apple Podcasts,) https://open.spotify.com/show/0U6BbFBYLr5eeX0HuZtPv8 (Spotify), https://highways-voices.captivate.fm/amazon (Amazon Music), https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5jYXB0aXZhdGUuZm0vaGlnaHdheXMtdm9pY2Vz (Google Podcasts) or https://pca.st/7a3xxskl (Pocket Casts) and never miss an episode! This week's Highways Voices comes from the huge Intertraffic event in Amsterdam. In this podcast, where we scratch the surface of the event you can hear Paul Hutton talk to two CEOs, Michael Schuch of SWARCO and TRL's Paul Campion, plus Ian Hind of AGD Systems and the winners of the Intertraffic Awards. You'll also hear from organiser Carola Jansen-Young plus, of course, our partner news from LCRIG, TTF, ADEPT and ITS (UK) and the latest news from Highways News HQ with Adrian Tatum. Follow Highways News on https://twitter.com/highways_news (Twitter), https://www.linkedin.com/company/42942684/admin/ (LinkedIn) and https://highways-news.com/subscribe/ (subscribe to our daily newsletter here). Links: https://www.adeptnet.org.uk/ (ADEPT website) http://lcrig.org.uk/ (LCRIG website) https://its-uk.org.uk/ (ITS (UK) Website) https://c22.ttf.uk.net/sponsorship-booking (Details of TTF Conference)
Subscribe to Highways Voices free on https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/highways-voices/id1551975855 (Apple Podcasts,) https://open.spotify.com/show/0U6BbFBYLr5eeX0HuZtPv8 (Spotify), https://highways-voices.captivate.fm/amazon (Amazon Music), https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5jYXB0aXZhdGUuZm0vaGlnaHdheXMtdm9pY2Vz (Google Podcasts) or https://pca.st/7a3xxskl (Pocket Casts) and never miss an episode! “The shortfall and the backlog continue to rise,” Asphalt Industry Alliance CEO Rick Green tells this week’s Highways Voices podcast, as he reviews the 2022 ALARM survey. “Hard working local authority engineers are having to make difficult choices. They've got a statutory obligation to keep local roads safe, but they haven't got enough money to do it with.” This year’s Annual Local Authority Road Maintenance research, known as the https://highways-news.com/local-roads-repair-backlog-increases-by-nearly-a-quarter-in-a-year-reports-alarm-survey/ (ALARM survey) has found that the cost of the backlog of carriageway repairs to fix local roads in England and Wales has reached £12.64 billion, compounded by increased costs caused by rising inflation. This is up from £10.24 billion last year, and despite an increase in average highway maintenance budgets of four per cent, the proportion being invested in the carriageway itself is down and the reported backlog of carriageway repairs has increased by almost a quarter on last year’s figure to £61,700 for every mile of local road in England and Wales. “It's difficult to get local authority highway funding to the top of the agenda,” Mr Green tells Highways News co-owner Adrian Tatum. “But we continue to try and continue to press our case and point out that local modes are so important, every journey starts or ends on a local mode, and they’re falling to bits.” In the podcast you’ll hear the challenges faced by Local Authorities and how new techniques and technologies may not be getting the cut-through because of funding challenges. “I suppose what we're trying to do is shine a light on it as best we possibly can,” Mr Green concludes. In the podcast you’ll also hear news from our partners including about the winner of the ITS (UK) Apprentice Essay competition, a new Chair for ADEPT’s Transport and Connectivity Board, LCRIG’s meeting with the Department for Transport and fully-funded places available at the Transport Technology Forum Annual Conference in Liverpool this May. Plus, of course, who wins this week’s “Adrian’s Accolade” and a summary of some of the many stories on the Highways News website. Follow Highways News on https://twitter.com/highways_news (Twitter), https://www.linkedin.com/company/42942684/admin/ (LinkedIn) and https://highways-news.com/subscribe/ (subscribe to our daily newsletter here). Links: https://www.adeptnet.org.uk/ (ADEPT website) http://lcrig.org.uk/ (LCRIG website) http://its-uk.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Leora-Wilson-ITS-Essay-Awards-winner.pdf (ITS (UK) Essay Winner entry) https://ttf.uk.net/events/ttf-offers-fully-funded-annual-conference-places/ (Details of TTF Conference)
Subscribe to Highways Voices free on https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/highways-voices/id1551975855 (Apple Podcasts,) https://open.spotify.com/show/0U6BbFBYLr5eeX0HuZtPv8 (Spotify), https://highways-voices.captivate.fm/amazon (Amazon Music), https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5jYXB0aXZhdGUuZm0vaGlnaHdheXMtdm9pY2Vz (Google Podcasts) or https://pca.st/7a3xxskl (Pocket Casts) and never miss an episode! One of the most pressing issues faced by local highways authorities is consistent carbon measurement and reporting, and this is tackled this week on Highways Voices. The main guest is Simon Wilson of Proving Services, who is leading the work with the Future Highways Research Group for Adept, and has already launched a comprehensive guidance document for Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions. "A key aspect of any strategy for carbon reduction is going to be carbon measurement.," he explains. "Because otherwise, how can you ever monitor your progress? But he explains there is a problem in the sector, "At the moment, there is a serious degree of fragmentation around how things are measured, how things are consolidated how things are calculated, and therefore what each organisation's carbon position currently is." Find out how he's solving it, and why it is so important, on this week's Highways Voices. You'll also hear news of ADEPT's new policy position on speed management, about the Manual for Smart Streets launch next Monday, ITS (UK)'s Inclusive Mobility Forum to mark Disabled Access Day and LCRIG's webinar on "Practical Steps on the journey to Net Zero." We'll also hear Adrian Tatum announce this week's "Adrian's Accolade" plus a round-up of the week's news. Follow Highways News on https://twitter.com/highways_news (Twitter), https://www.linkedin.com/company/42942684/admin/ (LinkedIn) and https://highways-news.com/subscribe/ (subscribe to our daily newsletter here). Partner links: https://ttf.uk.net/projects/why-the-manual-for-smart-streets-will-help-level-up-authorities-transport-technology/ (Darren Capes's blog post.) https://www.adeptnet.org.uk/ (ADEPT website) http://lcrig.org.uk/ (LCRIG website) https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCY74yjk3PJ3lS0ZZD67fnJw (ITS (UK) YouTube channel)
Subscribe to Highways Voices free on https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/highways-voices/id1551975855 (Apple Podcasts,) https://open.spotify.com/show/0U6BbFBYLr5eeX0HuZtPv8 (Spotify), https://highways-voices.captivate.fm/amazon (Amazon Music), https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5jYXB0aXZhdGUuZm0vaGlnaHdheXMtdm9pY2Vz (Google Podcasts) or https://pca.st/7a3xxskl (Pocket Casts) and never miss an episode! Only by going beyond the traditional testing can you create something that breaks the mould in terms of product development, according to Bob Allan, Technical Director, Aggregate Industries, who was speaking with Richard Taylor, Global Technical Development Manager, Shell, on this week's Highways Voices. Last week Aggregate Industries and Shell launched the UK's first ever commercially available biogenic asphalt. http://www.aggregate.com/superlowcarbon (SuperLow-Carbon asphalt) has been developed in partnership with Shell Bitumen as a pioneering product for more sustainable pavement projects. In an industry first, SuperLow-Carbon uses Shell’s Low Carbon Bitumen in a unique formula that utilises improved production processes and alternative energy sources to lower its embodied carbon footprint. It also includes a biogenic material that effectively locks CO2 within the asphalt rather than releasing it back into the atmosphere, which creates a ‘carbon sink’ – something that absorbs and stores more carbon from the atmosphere than it releases. "From a research and development perspective, when you're assessing materials that are not traditional refinery residues, you have to go beyond the simple kind of index and empirical tests that we have today. And so when we were making the research for this particular biogenic material, we did quite a lot of fundamental tests around the chemistry of the product, how the product evolved with ageing, obviously, how it behaved, in simple terms in mixtures. And so it's not really a case of just making a simple substitution and then checking the index tests for material, you have to actually delve a lot deeper to actually understand whether this material is going to behave as a suitable road binder for the longer term," said Mr Allen. Mr Taylor added: "We are moving the industry towards a net zero asphalt pavement world, we're going to see the development of a net zero asphalt roadmap by National Highways soon, for example. And so it's important for us to develop the right kind of products that the industry is going to need going forward. I think there's a growing interest in how materials last, the thinking started to align very strongly with the circular economy in terms of longer lasting materials closing the loop recycling, but alongside a warm mix for minimising the inputs. There's also a need to minimise the embodied carbon within the bitumen." In the podcast you can also hear news from our partners including how ADEPT's Smart Places Live Labs programme sees half its projects led by women, who've released a video about it, that ITS (UK) has held a special meeting of its Women in ITS Forum to mark International Women's Day, more details of LCRIG's Planned Innovation Festival and the TTF reports about the latest on the Manual for Smart Streets. You'll also hear why Amey and Kent County Council win Adrian's Accolade. Follow Highways News on https://twitter.com/highways_news (Twitter), https://www.linkedin.com/company/42942684/admin/ (LinkedIn) and https://highways-news.com/subscribe/ (subscribe to our daily newsletter here). Links: ADEPT Live Labs: https://www.adeptnet.org.uk/livelabs (https://www.adeptnet.org.uk/livelabs) The Value of Trees project is funded by the Rees Jeffreys Road Fund https://www.reesjeffreys.co.uk/ (https://www.reesjeffreys.co.uk/) Information on how ADEPT is working on Climate Change can be found here: https://www.adeptnet.org.uk/projects/climate-change-hub...
Subscribe to Highways Voices free on https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/highways-voices/id1551975855 (Apple Podcasts,) https://open.spotify.com/show/0U6BbFBYLr5eeX0HuZtPv8 (Spotify), https://highways-voices.captivate.fm/amazon (Amazon Music), https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5jYXB0aXZhdGUuZm0vaGlnaHdheXMtdm9pY2Vz (Google Podcasts) or https://pca.st/7a3xxskl (Pocket Casts) and never miss an episode! "If you're out on your travels, know that there is a site in the locality and can just pop in and take a photograph." That's how, according to Rees Jeffreys Road Fund Chairman David Tarrant, Highways Voices listeners and Highways News readers can take part in a bit of fun - helping the Fund find dozens of scenic rest areas it has invested in over the years. The fund has given money to a wide range of road-related projects over the years - the latest being its £150,000 "Roads of the Future" competition - and one of them was to provide nice places for people to stop on their travels. However, trustees have realised that they don't actually know exactly where each of these areas is, and what sort of state of repair they might be in, so are enlisting the help of the industry. Mr Tarrant explains the fund needs help, "Confirming that there still is a roadside rest of the location, whether it's still possible to park there, can you confirm that the description on the list we've got is actually accurate? Is the correct road noted because it may be that that road has now been bypassed. Have we got the coordinates, you can even use What3Words. [We need a] few words on what the current condition is like - is it tidy, well maintained, totally overgrown? Is there a Rees Jeffrey's plaque there? And then a photograph or two, from a number of different viewpoints showing the roadside rest area itself." The list they have of the roadside rest areas is https://www.reesjeffreys.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/RJRF-Roadside-Rests-4.pdf (here) and more details about the project are https://www.reesjeffreys.co.uk/roadside-rests/ (here). Mr Tarrant also gives a history of William Rees Jeffreys, other things the fund has contributed to and how you could get a grant for an innovative project yourself. There's also news from Highways Voices partners about the https://ttf.uk.net/ (Transport Technology Forum) annual conference, an https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/unconference-tickets-261819879307 ("unconference") from https://its-uk.org.uk/ (ITS (UK)), that https://adeptnet.org.uk/ (ADEPT) and the Future Highways Research Group are publishing guidance on Scope 1 and 2 Greenhouse Gas emissions free to the sector and https://lcrig.org.uk/ (LCRIG)'s forthcoming event, "Practical steps on the journey to net zero: Understanding the challenge". Plus you'll hear a round-up of the news on Highways-News.com and why Milton Keynes wins this week's "Adrian's Accolade". Follow Highways News on https://twitter.com/highways_news (Twitter), https://www.linkedin.com/company/42942684/admin/ (LinkedIn) and https://highways-news.com/subscribe/ (subscribe to our daily newsletter here). Related links: https://lcrig.org.uk/news/panellists-confirmed-for-net-zero-webinar (https://lcrig.org.uk/news/panellists-confirmed-for-net-zero-webinar) https://lcrig.org.uk/news/agenda-for-project-amber-workshop-confirmed (https://lcrig.org.uk/news/agenda-for-project-amber-workshop-confirmed)
Subscribe to Highways Voices free on https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/highways-voices/id1551975855 (Apple Podcasts,) https://open.spotify.com/show/0U6BbFBYLr5eeX0HuZtPv8 (Spotify), https://highways-voices.captivate.fm/amazon (Amazon Music), https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5jYXB0aXZhdGUuZm0vaGlnaHdheXMtdm9pY2Vz (Google Podcasts) or https://pca.st/7a3xxskl (Pocket Casts) and never miss an episode! “The Transport Technology and Associated Services Framework enables the public sector to procure transport technology, and products covering the suite of cameras, and lighting, parking systems, barriers and signs,” explains guest Randeep Singh of https://www.crowncommercial.gov.uk/ (Crown Commercial Service) on this week’s Highways Voices podcast, “But you can also procure services to support some of the bigger government agenda, for example, in terms of professional services, and consultants and how you could potentially implement something like that.” This podcast is a must-listen for local authorities wanting to make their procurement easier and cheaper, and also explains to suppliers how to best get value out of their interaction with CCS. Plus, there’s advice on how to pay for services too, as Mr Singh explains, “Being sat in the Cabinet Office, we can we have the visibility of all the government grants or funds that are available.” Today’s Highways Voices is the first with new partners https://adeptnet.org.uk/ (ADEPT), the https://ttf.uk.net/ (Transport Technology Forum), https://lcrig.org.uk/ (LCRIG) and https://its-uk.org.uk/ (ITS (UK)) who will not only provide guests and insights in the weeks and months to come, but also news for each podcast. This week you can hear about LCRIG’s new webinar series bringing you practical steps to Net Zero and an update from the TTF about the 39 local authorities’ plans for spending the money they have received from the Traffic Signals Challenge funding initiative. ITS (UK) remind members the range of benefits they get from membership of the different technology forums, while we hear about the ADEPT Live Labs solar roads installation in Central Bedfordshire. On top of that, you’ll hear Adrian Tatum’s pick of the stories on the Highways News website, and who wins “Adrian’s Accolade” this week. Links: LCRIG https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/TTQPRGX (short survey) - details https://lcrig.org.uk/news/practical-steps-on-the-journey-to-net-zero-understanding-the-challenge (here). ITS (UK) https://its-uk.org.uk/the-its-uk-forums-introduction/ (member blog post). TTF https://ttf.uk.net/community/spatula/ttfs-traffic-signals-challenge-funding-recipients-detail-their-maintenance-and-upgrade-plans/ (Signals Challenge update). ADEPT https://adeptnet.org.uk/news/live-labs-blog-central-bedfordshire-looks-sun (Live Labs Blog). Follow Highways News on https://twitter.com/highways_news (Twitter), https://www.linkedin.com/company/42942684/admin/ (LinkedIn) and https://highways-news.com/subscribe/ (subscribe to our daily newsletter here).
Subscribe to Highways Voices free on https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/highways-voices/id1551975855 (Apple Podcasts,) https://open.spotify.com/show/0U6BbFBYLr5eeX0HuZtPv8 (Spotify), https://highways-voices.captivate.fm/amazon (Amazon Music), https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5jYXB0aXZhdGUuZm0vaGlnaHdheXMtdm9pY2Vz (Google Podcasts) or https://pca.st/7a3xxskl (Pocket Casts) and never miss an episode! "You will not find me in legacy industries where everything stays the same - otherwise, I would be boring," explains the new CEO of ERTICO - ITS Europe on this week's Highways Voices. Joost Vantomme explains his passion for taking on the challenge of running the European ITS Association, taking over from Jacob Bangsgaard who'd run the organisation for five years. Mr Vantomme explains his background, which seems perfect for running such an organisation, given he's worked in telecoms, the postal/freight industry and most recently in European automotive. "In the UK, we have quite a number of projects running," he explains about the UK's position in the sector. "Also Transport for London, there are some interesting projects. That's why every time we have European project, we think about how to assemble a consortium where we have national interests." You'll also hear the latest news and why JCB and Stoke on Trent City Council win this week's "Adrian's Accolade". Follow Highways News on https://twitter.com/highways_news (Twitter), https://www.linkedin.com/company/42942684/admin/ (LinkedIn) and https://highways-news.com/subscribe/ (subscribe to our daily newsletter here). Read more about the Manual for Smart Streets https://ttf.uk.net/resources/mfss/here (here).
Subscribe to Highways Voices free on https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/highways-voices/id1551975855 (Apple Podcasts,) https://open.spotify.com/show/0U6BbFBYLr5eeX0HuZtPv8 (Spotify), https://highways-voices.captivate.fm/amazon (Amazon Music), https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5jYXB0aXZhdGUuZm0vaGlnaHdheXMtdm9pY2Vz (Google Podcasts) or https://pca.st/7a3xxskl (Pocket Casts) and never miss an episode! “The main thing interested me was the fact that it's not just in a warehouse picking this stock all day, you can one day be 20 miles down the M6 or round the corner on the M62 doing all sorts of bits,” explains Amey apprentice Josh Dudley about why he loves his job in Highways on this week’s Highways Voices. Josh is one of three apprentices who are guests on the podcast this week, marking National Apprenticeship Week, where he talks about his experience of being one of the lads, how he’s loving the variety, his ideas for informing the public and even how he helped a driver who was having a suspected heart attack. Before Josh on the show, Lauren Cooper and Lauren Weaver of Kier tell us about their apprenticeships and why they chose to go down that career path. “I was going to do a levels and then go on university… but then I heard about the apprenticeship route, which I wasn't too aware of to be honest,” explains Lauren Cooper adding that “I decided to go into highlights because it kind of interests me… working on the infrastructure around us,” while Lauren Weaver said she didn’t want to learn five days a week anymore by doing a degree. “I knew the apprenticeship route for being able to continue my learning, but also starting to get experience,” she explains. “I wanted to start earning and… actually doing the job that I knew I wanted to be in.” The trio have some great insights into what it’s like to start a career, and give some food for thought who are recruiters, and why going down the graduate route may not always be the best option. The podcast also hears who this week’s Adrian’s Accolade goes to, and a summary of some of the stories brought to you over the past few days on the Highways News website. Follow Highways News on https://twitter.com/highways_news (Twitter), https://www.linkedin.com/company/42942684/admin/ (LinkedIn) and https://highways-news.com/subscribe/ (subscribe to our daily newsletter here). Read more about the Manual for Smart Streets https://ttf.uk.net/resources/mfss/here (here).
Subscribe to Highways Voices free on https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/highways-voices/id1551975855 (Apple Podcasts,) https://open.spotify.com/show/0U6BbFBYLr5eeX0HuZtPv8 (Spotify), https://highways-voices.captivate.fm/amazon (Amazon Music), https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5jYXB0aXZhdGUuZm0vaGlnaHdheXMtdm9pY2Vz (Google Podcasts) or https://pca.st/7a3xxskl (Pocket Casts) and never miss an episode! "20 years ago, the ITS sector itself wasn't even 20 years old, so what we've achieved in less than 40 years, it's really quite amazing," explains ITS (UK) Secretary General Jennie Martin on this week's Highways Voices podcast. "20 years ago, an awful lot of signalised junctions weren't anywhere near as clever there as they are now with now. We got the ability to react to incoming data and change phases in real time, now we use in predictive analysis." That, she says is just one of many ways the travelling public get better journeys, and how that it is incredible what transport operators can do now, not only in traffic management but also traveller information and services. Mrs Martin, who has been at the helm of ITS (UK) for more than two-thirds of its existence also talks about the Society itself and how its members deliver so much for each other. "As long as they get an income from somewhere to pay their bills. British people tend to be very relaxed about doing all sorts of unpaid work if it's something that they believe in or something they're interested in." Hear her thoughts on this, the future of transport technology and where ITS (UK) fits in, along with the latest news and why the people of Guildford win this week's "Adrian's Accolade". Follow Highways News on https://twitter.com/highways_news (Twitter), https://www.linkedin.com/company/42942684/admin/ (LinkedIn) and https://highways-news.com/subscribe/ (subscribe to our daily newsletter here). Read more about the Manual for Smart Streets https://ttf.uk.net/resources/mfss/here (here).
Subscribe to Highways Voices free on https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/highways-voices/id1551975855 (Apple Podcasts,) https://open.spotify.com/show/0U6BbFBYLr5eeX0HuZtPv8 (Spotify), https://highways-voices.captivate.fm/amazon (Amazon Music), https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5jYXB0aXZhdGUuZm0vaGlnaHdheXMtdm9pY2Vz (Google Podcasts) or https://pca.st/7a3xxskl (Pocket Casts) and never miss an episode! As an early careers professional, how do you work and learn when you’re not among people absorbing the office life? Many worried about the situation, but our guest on the Highways Voices podcast this week makes us feel better about it all. "I'd say it's a double edged sword," says Alastair King, Product and Marketing Manager at Clearview Intelligence. "Obviously, the negative side of it is that you're not with people, you're not breathing it, you're not feeling it, you're almost relying on having a phone call, at times to just pick up on that piece of information that you need to know. But the other side of it is, and I found meeting platforms to be very clinical, in that it was a set meeting at a set time with a set audience. You could prepare yourself better for that. You could prepare the content better." Alastair discusses his career development during lockdown, which actually started on the day he started a new role in the company, and also how he has developed new products. He's also got some wise words about procurement, when solutions cover a wide variety of benefits, but don't fit into any single budget. "And, you know, communication, especially through larger organisations, larger authorities, the people that we're talking to might not necessarily have that complete bigger picture and overview of budgets and and how to look at installing solutions and best approaching what solutions would suit an application better." Have a listen to him and also find out why Kier Highways and National Highways win this week's Adrian's Accolade. Follow Highways News on https://twitter.com/highways_news (Twitter), https://www.linkedin.com/company/42942684/admin/ (LinkedIn) and https://highways-news.com/subscribe/ (subscribe to our daily newsletter here). Read more about the Manual for Smart Streets https://ttf.uk.net/resources/mfss/here (here).
Subscribe to Highways Voices free on https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/highways-voices/id1551975855 (Apple Podcasts,) https://open.spotify.com/show/0U6BbFBYLr5eeX0HuZtPv8 (Spotify), https://highways-voices.captivate.fm/amazon (Amazon Music), https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5jYXB0aXZhdGUuZm0vaGlnaHdheXMtdm9pY2Vz (Google Podcasts) or https://pca.st/7a3xxskl (Pocket Casts) and never miss an episode! “The Manual for Smart Streets is intended to provide guidance to support local authorities in implementing technology that supports traffic management and the operation of streets,” explains New Mobility Technology Integration expert Daniel Hobbs of the Connected Places Catapult on this week’s Highways Voices podcast. “Things like how traffic signals will develop to connect to vehicles in the future, how new sources of data can link into implementing other services in the local authority like information for how people should be around, providing a wider control and management of the network to the to the local authority.” The initiative is by the Department for Transport and the Connected Places Catapult through the Transport Technology Forum. It is designed to complement the 2007 document the Manual for Streets, by helping local authorities enhance their network with the application of technology. Daniel Hobbs is joined on the podcast by Darren Capes, ITS Policy Lead at the DfT who explains that it’s all about delivering efficiencies using what local authorities will already have. “It's not about nuclear powered space hoppers, it's not about the future,” he says. “It's about, in large part, how we do the jobs we do now better.” The podcast discusses the ways equipment can be used better, how connected car technology is becoming a game-changer for authorities and why authorities with differing transport management capabilities will all be able to benefit. This latest Highways Voices also hears the latest news from the industry and why connected vehicle start-up Eloy win this week’s Adrian’s Accolade. Follow Highways News on https://twitter.com/highways_news (Twitter), https://www.linkedin.com/company/42942684/admin/ (LinkedIn) and https://highways-news.com/subscribe/ (subscribe to our daily newsletter here). Read more about the Manual for Smart Streets https://ttf.uk.net/resources/mfss/here (here).
Subscribe to Highways Voices free on https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/highways-voices/id1551975855 (Apple Podcasts,) https://open.spotify.com/show/0U6BbFBYLr5eeX0HuZtPv8 (Spotify), https://highways-voices.captivate.fm/amazon (Amazon Music), https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5jYXB0aXZhdGUuZm0vaGlnaHdheXMtdm9pY2Vz (Google Podcasts) or https://pca.st/7a3xxskl (Pocket Casts) and never miss an episode! National Highways’ first Chief Safety Adviser has told the latest Highways Voices podcast that “things have to be addressed” when it comes to the perception of safety on smart motorways. As the Government announces a pausing of the rollout of any new All Lane Running motorways while safety data is assessed, Professor Nick Reed told the podcast that while statistically they are a safe form of motorway, “there is real risk, and there is also perceived risk, and we have to go about addressing both of those things”. Professor Reed, whose first project in the industry was related to the active traffic management solution on the M42, was in no way downplaying the need to address safety issues saying, “there have been some tragic incidents on smart motorways, and that's unacceptable. The target is zero harm, and that means things there are things that have to be addressed. “I think my role is making sure the network is used as best as it possibly can be, all the while heading towards that goal of zero harm.” The interview talks about his new role, what we can learn from driverless technology to make cars and roads safer now, learning from other countries’ innovations and why his position as an independent adviser may help to get more ideas flowing. The podcast also features a summary of some of the stories you’ll see on the Highways News website, and a very poignant “Adrian’s Accolade”. Follow Highways News on https://twitter.com/highways_news (Twitter), https://www.linkedin.com/company/42942684/admin/ (LinkedIn) and https://highways-news.com/subscribe/ (subscribe to our daily newsletter here).
Subscribe to Highways Voices free on https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/highways-voices/id1551975855 (Apple Podcasts,) https://open.spotify.com/show/0U6BbFBYLr5eeX0HuZtPv8 (Spotify), https://highways-voices.captivate.fm/amazon (Amazon Music), https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5jYXB0aXZhdGUuZm0vaGlnaHdheXMtdm9pY2Vz (Google Podcasts) or https://pca.st/7a3xxskl (Pocket Casts) and never miss an episode! This week's Highways Voices hears about the major Transportation Research Board meeting in the US, where guest Matthew Juckes of Aimsun explains how "it really started off more as an academic research oriented conference but over the last 10 years... operations and the systems people and just more of the professionals in the industry, not just the academic side, have come to it and use it as a working place for various committees." The company's President in the US explains how the event is significant for everyone because it looks at all aspects of transport. "TRB is all encompassing - from pavement and road surfacing to traffic signals, controllers, to traffic management operations, to academic research on new algorithms and new approaches," he says. He explains how a lot of the AI machine learning data analytics space has really taken off, bringing together systems engineering, product development, hardware and core engineering, bridge design and road surface design, tied in with what academia is researching. The interview also talks about the latest in modelling for pedestrians and cyclists and how you can use real-time data and modelling to inform on the best way to alleviate traffic jams before they even happen and, as he spoke with New York in the background, how a major city can benefit from this. You'll also hear why Professor Phil Blythe of Newcastle University wins Adrian's Accolade, plus a round-up of the week's news. Follow Highways News on https://twitter.com/highways_news (Twitter), https://www.linkedin.com/company/42942684/admin/ (LinkedIn) and https://highways-news.com/subscribe/ (subscribe to our daily newsletter here).
Subscribe to Highways Voices free on https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/highways-voices/id1551975855 (Apple Podcasts,) https://open.spotify.com/show/0U6BbFBYLr5eeX0HuZtPv8 (Spotify), https://highways-voices.captivate.fm/amazon (Amazon Music), https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5jYXB0aXZhdGUuZm0vaGlnaHdheXMtdm9pY2Vz (Google Podcasts) or https://pca.st/7a3xxskl (Pocket Casts) and never miss an episode! Back in January, Highways News created a new podcast series "Highways Voices". Thousands of listeners later, we're celebrating the end of the first year of programmes with a special highlights edition - and some examples of where things didn't quite go right first time. The programme features clips from some of the most popular interviews, including with TV legend Michael Rodd, newspaper columnist Peter Hitchens, behavioural expert Rory Sutherland and transport ministers past and present with Stephen Ladyman and Trudy Harrison. You can also hear clips from the first Highways Voice, John Pickworth of SWARCO, along with Geoff Collins of Jenoptik, Helen Blood of Boundary PR and Marketing, TfL’s Glynn Barton, White Willow Consulting owner Andy Graham, nutritionist Gilly Brunton and Adept’s Mark Corbin plus thoughts on leadership from Richard Tredwin of SRL, Clearview Intelligence’s Nick Lanigan and LCRIG’s Martin Duffy. Then there's a section showing how things sound before the editing software has been used, mostly pointing out mistakes by presenters Paul Hutton and Adrian Tatum, although there is the curious moment where one guest sounded like he'd turned into a dalek. Remember all the interviews are available in full on our podcast page. The bloopers are not. A Merry Christmas to you from all the Highways News team. Follow Highways News on https://twitter.com/highways_news (Twitter), https://www.linkedin.com/company/42942684/admin/ (LinkedIn) and https://highways-news.com/subscribe/ (subscribe to our daily newsletter here).
Subscribe to Highways Voices free on https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/highways-voices/id1551975855 (Apple Podcasts,) https://open.spotify.com/show/0U6BbFBYLr5eeX0HuZtPv8 (Spotify), https://highways-voices.captivate.fm/amazon (Amazon Music), https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5jYXB0aXZhdGUuZm0vaGlnaHdheXMtdm9pY2Vz (Google Podcasts) or https://pca.st/7a3xxskl (Pocket Casts) and never miss an episode! "Inspire them and lead them to higher performance, quicker outcomes, better customer service, improved health and safety, performance, better engagement of their teams." The words of Peter Anderson, Amey's Managing Director - Transport Infrastructure speaking about leadership on the latest Highways Voices podcast. In the latest conversation with one of our industry's leaders, Peter tells Adrian Tatum about his views on what makes a good leader, "I think the leader needs to be honest, I think the leader needs to be authentic... because that's how that leaders are better able to, to create followership. What a leader needs above all other things is a team that that follows the vision, follows the direction of travel, and feels valued and gets feedback by the leader." He describes the leadership process as giving staff the tools to do the work and make decisions themselves using a triangle with management, commercial and finance at each corner and asking themselves if what they are doing is "the right thing to do", and then backing their decision. "When you've got in your triangle, and you've come up with a collective decision, then I'll back you 100%, you make that decision, it's your call, you make it for the right reasons," he says. But then there's a warning if you don't follow the process. "If you are a lone wolf, and you make a decision entirely on your own, without consultation. If you're right, then that's fine, but you're looking, if you're wrong, and you have not consulted with your colleagues in the triangle, then we'll have a very difficult and very different conversation." Hear Peter's views on work in the communities, focussing on outcomes, and what our industry should do to lead. You can also hear a round-up of the latest news and who wins the penultimate "Adrian's Accolade" of 2021. Follow Highways News on https://twitter.com/highways_news (Twitter), https://www.linkedin.com/company/42942684/admin/ (LinkedIn) and https://highways-news.com/subscribe/ (subscribe to our daily newsletter here).
Subscribe to Highways Voices free on https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/highways-voices/id1551975855 (Apple Podcasts,) https://open.spotify.com/show/0U6BbFBYLr5eeX0HuZtPv8 (Spotify), https://highways-voices.captivate.fm/amazon (Amazon Music), https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5jYXB0aXZhdGUuZm0vaGlnaHdheXMtdm9pY2Vz (Google Podcasts) or https://pca.st/7a3xxskl (Pocket Casts) and never miss an episode! The acting director for roads development in National Highways has explained how a new initiative to add storage capacity to enable more rapid EV charging at service stations is all about supporting range anxiety and making sure that the network's users have got regular intervals at which they can actually charge their vehicles. Dr Joanna White was discussing the https://highways-news.com/nh-plans-energy-storage-to-support-rapid-motorway-ev-charging/ (government-owned organisation p)lans to invest in Energy Storage Systems – essentially giant battery packs – for service stations where the grid supply is not enough for rapid charging infrastructure. "It's a really interesting project that we're leading, working with the Office for zero emission vehicles to look at how we can support motorway service areas with the their capacity to enable delivery of at least six rapid charging electric vehicle charging points by 2023," she explains. "So we're working with those have to focus on those service areas, which have got lower grid capacity grid connection... or have got lower footfall, and where we can install a battery type solution to charge up overnight or in low periods of demand and enhance the capacity connection that that motorway service area has." The wide-ranging discussion covers initiatives to decarbonise freight, standards in low carbon transport, liaising with local authorities and then National Highways' own decarbonisation efforts. "We are looking at our own corporate carbon, we're looking at where we get our energy from that that runs our offices, runs the lighting in our offices," she says. "We're looking at converting the lighting on the network to LED lighting and obviously reducing emissions to that we've invested in plug in hybrid electric vehicles for our traffic officer service."
The ADEPT Live Labs projects have brought local authorities closer to innovation than they have ever been before, providing them with new, more efficient and better ways of working. These are the comments of Programme Director Giles Perkins, who spoke to Highways Voices ahead of the upcoming ADEPT Smart Places Live Labs Expo, taking place on December 1st in Derby. Mr Perkins, who is also Head of Future Mobility at WSP told Highways Voices: "The Key to the success of Live Labs has been the collaboration between local authorities and the private sector, and out there to maintenance providers, but also new entrants into the market that they may not have had relationships with before SMEs, academia, all sorts of people, the sharing of that innovation, the roles and responsibilities. "The opportunities that have come from that really is built on collaboration. Everybody has been pitching in together playing to the strengths, but learning along the way. But one could argue that given what we've got to address with climate change, etc, we are all going to have to innovate and innovation is something that we will all need to do as business as usual, we will all need to be agile, we will all need to understand how we can make change, but also response and move on from failure if failures occur. The best way to do that is to do that collaboratively." Mr Perkins said that a portal, where all the information and learning from the eight Live Lab projects so far, is being developed to help extend the learning to every local authority in the UK, as well as to consider any potential future projects. You can register for the ADEPT Smart Places Live Labs Expo here: . https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/live-labs-expo-2021-tickets-180037024587 You can find the JCT Traffic Signals Symposium highlights video here: https://highways-news.com/jct-launches-highlights-video-from-popular-traffic-signals-symposium/ Subscribe to Highways Voices free on https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/highways-voices/id1551975855 (Apple Podcasts,) https://open.spotify.com/show/0U6BbFBYLr5eeX0HuZtPv8 (Spotify), https://highways-voices.captivate.fm/amazon (Amazon Music), https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5jYXB0aXZhdGUuZm0vaGlnaHdheXMtdm9pY2Vz (Google Podcasts) or https://pca.st/7a3xxskl (Pocket Casts) and never miss an episode!
Two of the UK's leading experts on the behaviour of people while travelling are urging engineers to redefine how they measure a successful transport system. Rory Sutherland and Pete Dyson have written a book https://www.amazon.co.uk/Transport-Humans-Nearly-There-Perspectives/dp/1913019357/ref=sr_1_1?crid=RTOR7OC8EDNW&keywords=transport+for+humans+are+we+nearly+there+yet&qid=1637055060&qsid=257-1545814-6368569&sprefix=transport+for+h%2Caps%2C158&sr=8-1&sres=1913019357%2CB08XWFGHZH%2CB00HFAY8IS%2CB006UN3K4O%2CB07NWVFHKP%2C0141194626%2CB0778WX5JW%2C0946535175%2C1849909687%2CB00STMP68M%2CB000SNUQRQ%2CB01BNL63J6%2CB087KLKN7T%2CB07DY5S5BX%2CB07ZRZL6F3%2CB00IA52LF4 ("Transport for Humans - Are We Nearly There Yet") which they discuss on this week's Highways Voices podcast. In the book they write how engineers plan transport systems, but people use them, and the ways in which an engineer measures success – speed, journey time, efficiency – are often not the way that passengers think about a good trip. "We are not cargo," they write, "We choose how and when to travel, influenced not only by speed and time but by habit, status, comfort, variety – and many other factors that engineering equations don’t capture at all. "As we near the practical, physical limits of speed, capacity and punctuality, the greatest hope for a brighter future lies in adapting transport to more human wants and needs. Behavioural science has immense potential to improve the design of roads, railways, planes and pavements – as well as the ways in which we use them – but only when we embrace the messier reality of transport for humans." "An understanding of human psychology offers far more potential for ingenuity in transport solutions, than simply looking at what you might call real world SI derived metrics of speed and punctuality and capacity," Rory Sutherland, who is Vice Chairman of brand agency Ogilvy, told the podcast. "So the scope for ingenuity is much, much greater. If you're prepared to actually wrestle with some of the counterintuitive, and sometimes eccentric mysteries of human perception. "We don't perceive the world objectively, we have, you can see this from English language, time flies, when you're having fun, or it was the longest ten minutes of my life, you know, we don't perceive time, like a metronome or a stopwatch". He explains that we plan for the average, but that nobody is average. "We spend an awful lot of time trying to solve for the average, we take the average traveller, solve for him or her, or rather it because it's an average and then impose that optimal solution on everybody, regardless of their varying preferences and comparative sets." The authors worked together at Ogilvy until Pete Dyson moved to a role within the Department for Transport, looking at new ways to deliver transport. "Has transport fully realised the key product that it is selling?", Pete comments in the podcast. "On the one hand, it's the get the person from A to B point. But if you only think of it in those terms, then you get to this reductionist area of we'll get them to be faster than a is the best possible option. But thinking of it differently leads to some more cheeky ideas." Using the example of the Caledonian Sleeper between London and Scotland which is more expensive and slower than a flight, but still a very attractive travel option he suggests, "What if the sleeper train were a room on AirBnB, and when you're looking for rooms in Aberdeen, you can book the sleeper train, because after all, that could be your first night in Aberdeen, or vice versa if you wanted to stay in London, and now suddenly the cost feels a little bit different because after all you're paying for a nice accommodation." The conversation discusses a range of topics from multi-modal travel to smart motorways, from road charging and parking pricing to route choices and working on trains. Subscribe to Highways Voices free...
A five-year settlement for local authorities and a change to the Highways Act to allow delivery in accordance to the imperatives of the time are two of the most important things that should be considered to help support future investment and planning for active travel, according to this week's guest on the Highways Voices podcast. The University of Westminster's Tom Cohen, report author for the latest report by the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Cycling and Walking (APPGCW). He tells this week's Highways Voices that there was an agreement among almost all those surveyed that a five-year funding settlement would be ideal to allow a ‘funding horizon’ of five years to enable transport/highway authorities to build teams and manage programmes successfully but at the same time giving central government the fiscal control it needs. A change to the Highways Act, he said would mean that local authorities could develop and manage their network in accordance with the need to achieve the goals of environmental sustainability and improved public health. "It would need to impose upon highways authorities, a requirement to act in accordance with the imperatives of the time, notably climate change and public health. And there would be an expectation that authorities would, whenever taking action on the highway network, always be looking to improve if at all possible, the arrangements for active travel, and at the very least not to make them any worse," said Mr Cohen. The report also recommends that a new standard is created for active travel to ensure councils adhere to issues of justice when planning further active travel. Subscribe to Highways Voices free on https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/highways-voices/id1551975855 (Apple Podcasts,) https://open.spotify.com/show/0U6BbFBYLr5eeX0HuZtPv8 (Spotify), https://highways-voices.captivate.fm/amazon (Amazon Music), https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5jYXB0aXZhdGUuZm0vaGlnaHdheXMtdm9pY2Vz (Google Podcasts) or https://pca.st/7a3xxskl (Pocket Casts) and never miss an episode!
As the UK's premier exhibition and conference for the highways and transport industry continues in Birmingham, Highways Voices delivers its second podcast frpom the event. Join Paul Hutton today when he talks with Jenoptik about the value of average speed cameras in delivering road safety, cleaner air and even significant economic benefits. Highways Voices first ever guest, John Pickworth of SWARCO returns to the programme to give a background on the company's partnership with SRL and you'll also hear from Clearway about their rapid deployment CCTV solution, ARTSM and the Road Industry Forum, and Messagemaker about their sustainable low power solutions. Finally friend of Highways Voices Andy Graham, the leading consultant and connected vehicle expert gives his views on why connectivity is delivering such benefits to the sector right now.
The UK's premier exhibition and conference for the highways and transport industry is taking place in Birmingham, and Highways Voices is the official podcast of the event. Join Paul Hutton today when he talks about the innovations in the industry, from roadworker safety to the environment, as well as discussing some of the new collaborations and innovations. Today he talks to independent consultant and IHE Council Member Neil Levett, finds out about roadworker safety with Connected Safety Net, learns about SRL's expansion in the last two years and how they're signed a new long-term deal with SWARCO, how Clearview Intelligence really does deliver a clear view for drivers, what Gaist are doing to make people safer and how ITS (UK) is supporting cleaner transport solutions. There will be another podcast from this show tomorrow - join us again around 3pm for more conversation.
We’ve had a welcome return to face-to-face events in this country over the autumn but nothing on the scale of Highways UK, so this week’s Highways Voices looks ahead to this major event at the NEC. In the podcast, Paul Hutton and Adrian Tatum chat to Highways UK content director Paul Wheeler who tells them, ”All sorts of big thinking areas are the Main Theatre or what we call a big thinking stage, which is a very high level strategic insights - almost TED Talks for road sector.” The two Highways News co-owners also talk to President of the Institution of Civil Engineers Rachel Skinner who’s leading a discussion on Getting Serious – Climate Action Towards Net Zero. “There won't be a single rulebook, we won't have all the answers,” she says. “We just need to get on across each of the sectors, across each of those lifecycle stages and be confident that we're all pulling in same direction to go as fast as we possibly can. Because this genuinely is urgent at the moment.” “Roads are a big emitter surface transport is the single biggest carbon emitting sector in the country and road transport makes up the vast majority of that,” adds National Highways’ Executive Director, Strategy and Planning Elliot Shaw, “So it's really imperative on those to drive the shift to net zero.” The official podcast provider of Highways UK also brings you some of the top stories on the Highways News website, and why SRL wins this week’s “Adrian’s Accolade”. Subscribe to Highways Voices free on https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/highways-voices/id1551975855 (Apple Podcasts,) https://open.spotify.com/show/0U6BbFBYLr5eeX0HuZtPv8 (Spotify), https://highways-voices.captivate.fm/amazon (Amazon Music), https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5jYXB0aXZhdGUuZm0vaGlnaHdheXMtdm9pY2Vz (Google Podcasts) or https://pca.st/7a3xxskl (Pocket Casts) and never miss an episode!
Highways Voices host Paul Hutton has returned from Hamburg and in this podcast he chats with Adrian Tatum about what he saw at the ITS World Congress 2021, and brings you four bonus interviews from the event, sponsored by https://swarco.com/ (SWARCO) and https://gewi.com/ (GEWI). As well as GEWI's new cycling information service, there were many other active travel solutions on display at the event which Paul talks about, as well as chatting to Cubic's Dave Powell about a camera solution which identifies pedestrians and cyclists to give them priority on the network. "The government seen the benefits of active travel - Covid taught us that people do want to be out and about and they do want to gain the benefits that provides," he said. "This is a response to that. I think we were early in the development of it and to see that need, but being able to use the technology to our benefit and continue the benefits that we've seen through Covid through increased active travel use is tremendously important." Teledyne FLIR also discuss their traffic camera solutions while Sopra Steria update us on their innovations in the UK' National Traffic Information Service and we hear from location specialists HERE about their range of innovations. You'll also hear a surprising Adrian's Accolade this week, and Paul mention (twice) to interviewees that he used to run a radio traffic news company which gathered some of its information from Little Chefs and petrol stations. Yes, really. Subscribe to Highways Voices free on https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/highways-voices/id1551975855 (Apple Podcasts,) https://open.spotify.com/show/0U6BbFBYLr5eeX0HuZtPv8 (Spotify), https://highways-voices.captivate.fm/amazon (AmazonMusic), https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5jYXB0aXZhdGUuZm0vaGlnaHdheXMtdm9pY2Vz (Google Podcasts) or https://pca.st/7a3xxskl (Pocket Casts) and never miss an episode!
Against all the odds, the ITS World Congress in Hamburg has taken place with around 15,000 people attending, and Highways News brings you one final podcast from the event in Hamburg today, sponsored by https://swarco.com/ (SWARCO) and https://gewi.com/ (GEWI). Paul Hutton speaks to modelling company Aimsun about how they can fix traffic jams before they happen with Senior Product Specialist Martin Hartmann explaining, “the traffic management centre can improve their decision making by having a reliable prediction,” while Sebastian Baucutt of detection company Navtech Radar explains how stopped vehicle detection really does work, saying, “We make sensors and we're very proud that actually our radar sensors are both very reliable and very accurate.” As Dynniq Mobility completes its first major event as part of the SWARCO family, CEO Jan Vos explains the sort of conversations he’s been having with clients, “explaining to them what will be the combined strength of the group where are we complimentary where do we have overlaps discussed those kinds of things” while road data specialists Gaist describe their new connected car road analysis tool as Asset Safety Manager John Swift says, “we show them their condition of the road from my laptop, to an extent of their don’t know exists.” There’s also Eric Sampson’s guide to Friday and a podcast farewell with Jacob Bangsgaard, ERTICO – ITS Europe CEO. Subscribe to Highways Voices free on https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/highways-voices/id1551975855 (Apple Podcasts,) https://open.spotify.com/show/0U6BbFBYLr5eeX0HuZtPv8 (Spotify), https://highways-voices.captivate.fm/amazon (Amazon) https://highways-voices.captivate.fm/amazon (Music), https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5jYXB0aXZhdGUuZm0vaGlnaHdheXMtdm9pY2Vz (Google Podcasts) or https://pca.st/7a3xxskl (Pocket Casts) and never miss
Volkswagen’s autonomous ridesharing subsidiary MOIA is committing to delivering driverless rides to the city of Hamburg by 2025, and the company’s CEO explains the background on Thursday’s Highways Voices podcast from the ITS World Congress sponsored by https://swarco.com/ (SWARCO) and https://gewi.com/ (GEWI). “The goal really is by 2024-25 we'll have a commercial ride pooling service without safety drivers fully autonomous available here in Hamburg,” Robert Henrich told host Paul Hutton. “These vehicles now exist, you can see them you can touch them… and we now start mapping and start doing the test drives. It's now finally happening.” Other technical advancements in Hamburg are explained by Martin Huber, who is Director General of Hamburg’s Ministry of Transport and Mobility Transition who joins Paul again to discuss existing technology on the streets of the city including “Red lights that given invisible signal, which is exactly the same as the light on the micro second” that interface with connected and autonomous vehicles. Ronny Dittrich from GEWI has perfected a way of managing roadworks in real time to improve the environment and road safety explaining, “TIC for work zones is a system where everyone working with work zones in a company, and maybe also other companies can put their work zones into a single system… where conflicts can be detected,” while we also hear about a connected safety solution for cyclists and pedestrians, the reaction of two Clearview Intelligence experts checking out the Congress as visitors and, of course, Eric Sampson’s guide to Thursday at the Congress and the latest news from Highways News HQ with Adrian Tatum. Subscribe to Highways Voices free on https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/highways-voices/id1551975855 (Apple Podcasts,) https://open.spotify.com/show/0U6BbFBYLr5eeX0HuZtPv8 (Spotify), https://highways-voices.captivate.fm/amazon (Amazon) https://highways-voices.captivate.fm/amazon (Music), https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5jYXB0aXZhdGUuZm0vaGlnaHdheXMtdm9pY2Vz (Google Podcasts) or https://pca.st/7a3xxskl (Pocket Casts) and never miss an episode!
WSP's new "greenprint" for transport to reach Net Zero leads the conversation on Wednesday at the ITS World Congress in the latest Highways Voices sponsored by https://swarco.com/ (SWARCO) and https://gewi.com/ (GEWI). Associate Tom Grahamslaw discusses the new white paper which explains how Intelligent Transport Systems can enable the decarbonisation of road traffic saying, "It's about adapting what we currently have. It's making more efficient use of our existing networks, but really putting ourselves in the shoes of the people so that we can create solutions that people will adopt, that will people will embrace. And that will drive the most successful outcomes." UK Transport Minister Trudy Harrison discusses environmental benefits of technology too as she talks about how seeing solutions for herself, "is so important, particularly at the early stages of my new role in the Department for Transport." Elsewhere sponsor SWARCO's Executive Board member Michael Schuch explains the recent acquisition of Dynniq Mobility is considered a merger and "that is how we also approach now this integration of Dynniq mobility part into the SWARCO family," while Cubic's Krishna Desai talks about a paper she is presenting on Wednesday about the importance of educating the public by pointing out, "I actually give an analogy about my brother, who thinks a smart motorway is an extra lane on the motorway that they're building to charge electric vehicles." You'll also hear Prof Eric Sampson's guide to Wednesday and the latest news from Highways News HQ with Adrian Tatum. Subscribe to Highways Voices free on https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/highways-voices/id1551975855 (Apple Podcasts,) https://open.spotify.com/show/0U6BbFBYLr5eeX0HuZtPv8 (Spotify), https://highways-voices.captivate.fm/amazon (Amazon Music), https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5jYXB0aXZhdGUuZm0vaGlnaHdheXMtdm9pY2Vz (Google Podcasts) or https://pca.st/7a3xxskl (Pocket Casts) and never miss an episode!
This year's ITS World Congress host city Hamburg is seen as a model city for the future of mobility, and on the special https://gewi.com/ (GEWI)- and https://swarco.com/ (SWARCO)-sponsored Highways Voices, we find out why. Martin Huber, is Director General of Hamburg's Ministry of Transport and Mobility Transition joins podcast host Paul Hutton to talk about some of the initiatives in the city, including plans which will mean nobody is more than five minutes from a transport node where a ride is available within five minutes. Martin urges Paul to check out the solution MOIA while he is in the city saying, "Nobody has more than 200 meters to walk to find a virtual station... I would say you should try it out. As long as you're here, Paul, because... It's really great." Professor Eric Sampson gives his guide to the event which on Tuesday centres on transport ministers, including Britain's Trudy Harrison, attending. "We can say to ministers, did you realise that I can do this for you - we have got technology that does something that I think you don't know about," he says. "But looking at it the other way, ministers can come to us and say, Look, I've got a big problem. Is there any way you think you can solve it?" We hear more about Trudy Harrison's visit and a drinks reception on the UK stand from ITS (UK) Secretary General Jennie Martin, plus about traffic news for cyclists from Danny Woolard of GEWI who explains how just on his walk to the Congress, "@e found that there were two closures on that cycle rate, a one diversion, and an alternative route, which wasn't even shown on Google Maps. We saw that it was totally impossible to cycle so we had to turn around and go back", while Neil Herron of Grid Smarter Cities explains why kerbside management leads to 20% cuts in emissions. Subscribe to Highways Voices free on https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/highways-voices/id1551975855 (Apple Podcasts,) https://open.spotify.com/show/0U6BbFBYLr5eeX0HuZtPv8 (Spotify), https://highways-voices.captivate.fm/amazon (Amazon Music), https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5jYXB0aXZhdGUuZm0vaGlnaHdheXMtdm9pY2Vz (Google Podcasts) or https://pca.st/7a3xxskl (Pocket Casts) and never miss an episode!
The Intelligent Transport Systems industry is finally meeting together at its World Congress in Hamburg and we talk physical and software solutions, Mobility as a Service, commercialisation of test beds and even hint at a Beatles moment in the first of a series of Highways Voices podcast specials. These podcasts are possible thanks to the sponsorship from https://swarco.com/ (SWARCO) and https://gewi.com/ (GEWI). Highways News co-owner Paul Hutton is in Germany for this week's Congress and in Monday's podcast he talks to the CEO of the event organisers, Jacob Bangsgaard of ERTICO - ITS Europe who discusses the work that went into making the event happen, and some of the highlights of the week. Richard Neumann of SWARCO discusses software solutions, new technology and his company's recent acquisition of Dynniq Mobility while we also hear from Deutsche Bahn about all-round mobility solutions and Transport for West Midlands who have been instrumental in delivering the UK stand this year alongside ITS (UK), the Department for Transport and Innovate UK. We also hear from Prof Eric Sampson, who is keeping up with his record of attending every single ITS World Congress. He gives his views of the key things to see and do on Day One, and hints that we might get some Merseyside Music in the Opening Ceremony. Subscribe to Highways Voices free on https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/highways-voices/id1551975855 (Apple Podcasts,) https://open.spotify.com/show/0U6BbFBYLr5eeX0HuZtPv8 (Spotify), https://highways-voices.captivate.fm/amazon (Amazon Music), https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5jYXB0aXZhdGUuZm0vaGlnaHdheXMtdm9pY2Vz (Google Podcasts) or https://pca.st/7a3xxskl (Pocket Casts) and never miss an episode!
It's the most important ingredient of a road, but is often the forgotten part of the transport industry - this week Asphalt takes centre stage on Highways Voices. The President of the Institute of Asphalt Technology, Brian Downes, is Paul Hutton's guest on the podcast this week who tells Paul how the industry has introduced many interesting innovations. "The technologies in terms of how we lay them the optimisation of the of the machinery, the health and safety aspects of it, the approach to sustainability things like warm asphalt, low temperature asphalts, which mean they use less fuel to heat them up, which brings the whole carbon footprint down." Brian explains industry recruitment and details the vast amount of training, "We manage several courses with strategic partners - the foundation degree with the University of Derby, we have a Higher National Apprenticeship, we're in the process of kicking off this this month," he says. "We also run what are called Lunch and Learn webinars." The podcast also talks about next week's ITS World Congress podcasts from Hamburg sponsored by https://gewi.com/ (GEWI) and https://www.swarco.com/ (SWARCO), looks at some key stories on Highways News this week and why VolkerHighways wins this week's "Adrian's Accolade". If you want to attend the IAT Autumn Seminar https://www.instituteofasphalt.org/index.php?id=view&event_id=1176 ("Future Challenges and Opportunities in the Asphalt Industry") at Aston University, email Russell.hunter@instituteofasphalt.org.
Highways Voices is the official podcast of the 2021 ITS World Congress from Hamburg and in this preview podcast sponsored by https://gewi.com/ (GEWI) and https://www.swarco.com/ (SWARCO) we hear from two exhibitors and the organisers. Richard Neumann of SWARCO tells us all about the range of exciting new software and hardware solutions on his huge 124 square metre stand including SWARCO MyCity which is "a modular software suite, where you have different modules about the monitoring of traffic, about the traffic management system itself, about air quality measurements, about the parking guidance, and about the sign management for such signs". Rail is an important part of Congress with Deutsche Bahn making its debut with a range of end-to-end transport solutions and a plan to make rail travel more attractive than the car. Head of Smart Cities Dr Meike Niedbal who thinks the "21st century will be the century of railroad. Why? Because electrified rail transport is a key solution for sustainability and to fight climate change. This is why we digitise our train system in order to increase capacity and to make it more reliable." Conference Director Lisa Boch-Andersen is also on the programme discussing the delivery of the congress in difficult circumstances, there's a summary of the latest news and you'll hear why a pioneer of road building wins this week's Adrian's Accolade".
The travelling public will have a 'much higher' expectation from the transport system in the UK, according to Mark Corbin, chair of the Association of Directors of Environment, Economy, Planning and Transport (ADEPT's)National Traffic Manager's Group. He was speaking on this week's Highways Voices podcast and ahead of the Traffic Managers conference, taking place on October 13th. He said: "I think people will have a much higher expectation from the transport system, because they will be paying a lot more careful attention to how they plan their journeys, though. And that's where I think some of the pressure will come on to us as traffic managers now. "We have to have measures of control to ensure we deliver on the big agenda items such as clean air. We have to be able to balance the fact that we have to manage a climate emergency, air pollution and everything else associated with the environment with balancing what we are doing every day and finding a way of engaging better with users of our transport services in different ways." Mr Corbin added: "So we have to absolutely stay very connected, very united, keep sharing, keep talking because the challenges are big. And the response from us is going to be huge. And we've got to make sure that we properly engage that and learn as we go." He said 'we have a user-led transport service like we have never had before'. During the podcast interview, Mr Corbin also spoke about delivering the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham in 2022. "This is about doing what we normally do better but it is all about access and providing sustainable ways of travelling alongside the more traditional-we have to be prepared for everything." In this podcast you'll also hear about the Highways Voices podcasts for the ITS World Congress and why Transport for the West Midlands wins "Adrian's Accolade".
"I think the excitement about getting back to normal business long last," explains Danny Woolard of GEWI as he looks forward to the ITS World Congress in Hamburg next month. Speaking on the Highways Voices podcast, sponsored by GEWI and SWARCO the German company's UK representative says how "we're looking forward to meeting our existing clients, existing customers, but also a lot of new people." GEWI will be showing off its new cycling data solution in Hamburg which he tells the podcast the company started looking at branching out into cycling information about a year ago. "We've been involved in the road traffic information business for many, many years - we started looking at analogies of what could we replicate in terms of what we do for the road traffic information business, in terms of moving towards cycling. And the more we looked at it, the more we did some research, the more we talked to providers of information and some government clients, about how information about cycle routes, about volumes of cycles that are moving around cities is so analogous to road traffic information. So we are launching off the first part of our solution in Hamburg." The podcast also features Harry Evers, Managing Director of the Hamburg World Congress who discusses the Covid-safe event and how the invitation is not just from Hamburg but, "it's a German invitation to everybody. We have invited the local governments of all Germany - we are focusing on the latest results, what's coming up from the discussions in Germany with the future mobility platform." Major exhibitor Yunex Traffic features too, talking about mobility solutions discussed at the Congress. Claus Beringer is SVP of its Traffic Management Platform tells Highways Voices, "it's about like reducing traffic, and also incentivising modal shift to more eco friendly traffic modes." The podcast also features Adrian Tatum's take on the latest news on the Highways News website plus why Transport for Greater Manchester wins "Adrian's Accolade" this week.
There is a ‘real opportunity’ for the highways supply chain to work with National Highways to ensure that it is operating its network in a more advanced, insightful and responsive way to help drive a more digitally enabled road network by 2025. These are the thoughts of Elliot Shaw, Executive Director of Strategy and Planning at National Highways, who was this week’s guest on Highways Voices as it returned after a summer break.
Mr Shaw was speaking about the newly launched Digital Roads Strategy that promises to a virtual twin of the road network that can predict the time and location of potholes and other maintenance issues is just one of the innovations National Highways says is poised to transform its future operations.
Other initiatives that could lead the charge on what it calls a ‘digital revolution’ for roads include intelligent road materials able to repair themselves and more connected and autonomous plant.
These are some of the systems set to be rolled out as part of National Highways’ Digital Roads strategy which is being outlined on a new website and ‘virtual learning environment’.
“We really hope to achieve a step change with this where you really do see that technology has transformed the way that we use our roads. We really want this strategy to be the catalyst not only for our own network by the industry at large and we need to work with our supply chain, and others to really make that move forward. So, I would hope we will see a significantly more digitally enabled road network by 2025. And that's in each of the three areas that we set out within the strategy-the design and construction space, also within the operations, and then finally, also how we engage with our customers as well. “ “We want the ability to deliver schemes faster, deliver them more efficiently, and I think from a safety perspective, as well, you know, actually, the more that we can do these things in a controlled digitally enabled way the more we can expect to see fewer people doing some of the more challenging and dangerous activities on site. So, we would expect three safety, safety impacts, as well, as on the operation side.” Mr Shaw said a chance to have a more connected, digital roadmap would be an opportunity to do things differently.
“We have the chance to just do different things now, things that we would never have been able to do before. I think on that what we've been really reflecting on is, how can this progress deliver better value for our customers? What's the unique information that we can provide? And how should we get that across to our customers?”
"I may be smiling , but it's been a difficult time planning an event in this COVID pandemic, but we've always taken the the attitude at JCT that we wanted to get this back as a physical event if we possibly could," says JCT Director John Nightingale as he discusses putting on one of the first physical events in the highways and transport technology industries since the easing of government restrictions. He tells the Highways Voices podcast this week, "We've had an enormous amount of support from our exhibitors. In fact, the demand for exhibition space is unprecedented this year, even down to the extent where we've had to ask the university who're hosting the event for additional space, which we've secured. The exhibition side is looking absolutely brilliant, and as always, we've had a fantastic response from contributors for papers, papers program is now full." The podcast discusses the need for the industry to get back together in person, the value of networking and the business that gets done, and sparks of inspiration for new ideas, when people are physically together. That subject is picked up by the other guest of the programme, Jacob Bangsgaard, who is CEO of ERTICO - ITS Europe. He talks about a first attempt to get an international audience together at the ITS World Congress in Hamburg in October. "The Congress is such an important part of our work," he explains. "It's where all our stakeholders come together, it's our partners, it's all the people we work with on activities - they come together and share our experience and learn what is going on around the world." Jacob Bangsgaard agrees with John Nightingale about the value of networking and discusses "digital online fatigue" that is facing people after more than a year of mainly home working, so he has done all he can to deliver the Congress. "Of course in Hamburg... we are putting everything in place to make a very safe event," he says. "We have the possibilities for testing, we have the possibility for social distancing. This is of course not what we hope for in October, but at least we are making sure, together with the authorities, to put in place an event which is totally in line with the currently a regulation." Hear about the two events and also why Gaist and TRL win "Adrian's Accolade" this week. The JCT Symposium takes place on 15 and 16 September with the MOVA User Group and first social event the day before. http://www.jctconsultancy.co.uk/Symposium/symposium.php (Find out more here). The ITS World Congress in Hamburg is in the week beginning 11 October. https://itsworldcongress.com/ (Details are here). Subscribe to Highways Voices free on https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/highways-voices/id1551975855 (Apple Podcasts,) https://open.spotify.com/show/0U6BbFBYLr5eeX0HuZtPv8 (Spotify), https://highways-voices.captivate.fm/amazon (Amazon Music), https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5jYXB0aXZhdGUuZm0vaGlnaHdheXMtdm9pY2Vz (Google Podcasts) or https://pca.st/7a3xxskl (Pocket Casts) and never miss an episode!
"I guess the e-scooter trials are a bit of a reset button," commented Jack Holloway, an expert in mobility brands at global brand agency Landor & Fitch on this week's Highways Voices podcast, " to see if they can deliver on the promise of alternative mobility. But for that trial to succeed, the local governments need to work with the rental operators." Jack Holloway joined the podcast to discuss the ongoing issues of safety around e-scooters which have been involved in at least one death and several injuries in recent months. He was responding to comments on a previous edition of Highways News's podcast by Peter Hitchens, the Mail on Sunday columnist, https://highways-news.com/columnist-hitchens-tells-highways-voices-e-scooters-are-a-recipe-for-injury/ (who called them "a recipe for injury") and, when it comes to solving a transport challenge, “whatever you do, there is no problem to which electric scooters are the answer.” Jack Holloway commented that there are several technological safety features built into the rental trials, "[They go at] a maximum of 12 and a half miles per hour, which I think is quite reduced in comparison to many other kinds of cities around the globe, they have to have lights on the front and the rear of the vehicles that are on throughout that rental period," he explained. "They have audible warning systems for people that maybe are visually impaired, they have first ride policies, which means that new users are required to take an e-learning safety course riders can only be over the age of 18." He said they users also need a driving licence, and that the scooters have "GPS tracking monitors on them, so they can see when when riders are riding on the on the pavement or behaving in a kind of inappropriate manner. And then they run a three strike policy, which could lead to suspension." But on top of the safety issues, how do you brand an e-scooter to make it attractive to people to use, and where will the trials go? Hear some answers in the interview. You can also hear why the Highways Heroes awards wins this week's "Adrians Accolade" and hear Highways News owners Paul Hutton and Adrian Tatum discuss this week's news. Subscribe to Highways Voices free on https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/highways-voices/id1551975855 (Apple Podcasts,) https://open.spotify.com/show/0U6BbFBYLr5eeX0HuZtPv8 (Spotify), https://highways-voices.captivate.fm/amazon (Amazon Music), https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5jYXB0aXZhdGUuZm0vaGlnaHdheXMtdm9pY2Vz (Google Podcasts) or https://pca.st/7a3xxskl (Pocket Casts) and never miss an episode!
Forming a team with the best people around them that have different talent is one of the most important attributes of being a good leader, according to LCRIG Chief Executive and NY Highways Chair, Martin Duffy. He has been speaking as part of this week's Highways Voices podcast. Mr Duffy said that good leaders are the ones that can produce a robust vision for a organisation and develop a platform to deliver that vision on. Mr Duffy said: "A good leader should be fully of energy with different attributes that including providing a vision, developing a strategy to drive it through and stick with it during the tough times." But leadership isn't just about what you do internally, it is what you externally that is important as well. "At LCRIG the most important thing is listening to our members and acting on it which we have done successfully with Project Amber and then the work at NY Highways is all about delivering a excellent, cost effective service where we aren't slave to targets but focused on outcomes." You'll also hear a round-up of the week's news including two in-person events and who wins this week's "Adrian's Accolade". Subscribe to Highways Voices free on https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/highways-voices/id1551975855 (Apple Podcasts,) https://open.spotify.com/show/0U6BbFBYLr5eeX0HuZtPv8 (Spotify), https://highways-voices.captivate.fm/amazon (Amazon Music), https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5jYXB0aXZhdGUuZm0vaGlnaHdheXMtdm9pY2Vz (Google Podcasts) or https://pca.st/7a3xxskl (Pocket Casts) and never miss an episode!
The highways industry needs to improve the way it communicates both internally and externally to the travelling public so it can inform what it is doing and more importantly why it is doing it in a more engaging way. These are the thoughts of experienced marketing and PR Director Helen Blood of Boundary Marketing & PR - a company dedicated to helping the sector to promote itself more effectively. She was speaking on this week's Highways Voices podcast and said the sector should not be afraid of telling the public what it does well. "There are of course some really good examples of great communications work in the industry, but we have a long way to go often to get the public on side. It is about informing and engaging and that will encourage users of the networks to do something differently and to behave differently." But this will only happen if the industry works together, she said. "It's about getting all the right information from the whole supply chain that are going to be delivering the schemes and the consultants that have been involved in designing the schemes and then actually really understanding the reasons behind the project and making sure that we communicate the 'why' factor so the public understand why we are doing something and the reason behind it, we need to be able to communicate that effectively to people, and we need to engage them as well. We need to be able to answer the questions that matter to them." Ms Blood also said more effective use of technology on the roadside will also help deliver the right message if planned in the right way and there will be more tools at our disposal in the future, "but it is how we make best use of them," she added. In this episode you'll also hear Paul Hutton and Adrian Tatum discuss the latest news, and find out why Andy Graham, KL Systems and Eloy win this week's "Adrian's Accolade"
“I think growing organically in international markets is difficult when you're coming from, say the US or if you're coming from Australia and trying to build,” says Redflex CEO Mark Talbot on this week’s Highways Voices podcast. “It can take a long time. I think if you do a basic make-or-buy type of analysis, you come to the analysis - is it worth it to go ahead and acquire an asset versus trying to develop it on your own?” Talbot is talking of his company’s https://highways-news.com/enforcement-company-redflex-bought/ (recent acquisition) by American smart mobility company Verra Holdings announced earlier in June, which he negotiated during the lockdown. “That's a that's a pretty significant task to close an acquisition of this size, via Zoom and have multiple geos have to participate in multiple countries, [with] regulatory regulators sign off,” he explains “You get really good advisors, which we had on both sides, [and] you have, fortunately for me, talented management in each of the geos… that could carry on day-to-day and run the business service our customers, while the rest of us are dealing with an acquisition.” He talks about the importance of a great management team when running a global business without international travel, how he’s kept the supply chain going during lockdown, and what his plans are for the future. The podcast also hears why ITS (UK)’s Women in ITS Forum has won this week’s “Adrian’s Accolade” plus Paul and Adrian’s round-up of the news on the Highways News website this week.
Protecting his team of roadworkers and continuosly innovating to keep them safe has been one of the biggest priorities for SRL Traffic Systems Chief Executive, Richard Tredwin. He has been speaking on this week’s Highways Voices podcast, as part of the second in a series on leadership in the highways sector. “I have a team of 180 staff now, of which 170 are deployed out on the road on a daily basis, with huge volumes of traffic. So we make sure we are very aware of what our staff are doing day in and day out and anything that we can do that makes their jobs easier, their lives safer, that’s one of the most important things. We are in an industry that operates within a risky environment by its very nature, and what we try and do is just reflect on the services and support we can give to our team and offer as many things that can make their job easier, better and safer,” Mr Tredwin said. In the last few year’s, SRL has introduced safety cameras in all of its vehicles, CCTV units are onsite and is currently working on a barrier system that will better protect workers next to live traffic. There is also expected to be more use of SRL’s Smart Portable Messenger VMS to help keep the public better informed of the progress of works and more importantly, why work is being carried out. He also spoke taking the business from £17 million turnover to £32 million. “we developed a strategy that said that we wanted to continue the innovation with our products and build on an already impressive offering that was also scaleable.” During the podcast he also spoke about how the company looks after its staff, and the communities it works in by proving grants to help road safety education. In the podcast, you'll also hear who wins Adrian's Accolade this week for something positive and important in our industry.
Being able to listen and show empathy for a team of people, while not losing focus on the job in hand are some of the key traits that help create strong leaders, according to Nick Lanigan, Managing Director of Clearview Intelligence. He spoke on the first in a series of Highways Voices podcasts focusing on leadership in the highways sector. Mr Lanigan said a positive to have come from the COVID pandemic is that Clearview took the time to not only to connect in better ways with their customers but also to reassess how the team was managed and develop new ways of working. "Work in this industry isn't 9-5 with rigid management. There has to be flexibility, there has to be empathy," he says. "It is important to give the team around you some autonomy. Let them come to you with a problem but don't let them leave you with a problem-as a manager you want them to come up with the best solutions." "One of the positive things to have come from the pandemic is the move towards a much more healthy work-life balance, giving people the freedom to balance the needs of the role that they do within the business, with the demands and needs they have at home." But how does a good leader develop an understanding of what is the most important issue to deal with in a business and what can be delegated so that micro-management can be avoided? "You develop these skills over time and the further you go up the management tree, you recognise what is urgent and important. For me it is mainly things that are either strategic or that will have an impact on the governance of the business. I have a very good team around me that are good at resolving the day-to-day challenges. When we've got people working on the roadside in a very hazardous environment is vital that I am kept up-to-date with any issues around health and safety and anything that could have an impact on someones safety and if we can do more to improve that, then I am more than prepared to listen." You can also hear about a new partnership between Highways News and the industry flagship https://www.terrapinn.com/exhibition/highways-uk/index.stm (Highways UK event), and who wins "Adrian's Accolade" this week.
Digital transformation and in particular, workflow management systems, that offer highway companies the ability to operate paperless and recall information about a job instantly, are helping the industry become safer and more efficient while future-proofing those businesses at the same time. These were the thoughts of Chris Ball, Head of Sales at Re-flow, whose system has enabled highway companies to keep working during the pandemic. “With Re-flow, we were able to make it easier for everyone to work from home, because the information can be easily accessible from anywhere, and it’s in the single version of the truth, then the reasons beyond that of why people have been doing it, they’ve been able to future proof their business,” he told this week’s Highways Voices. The Re-flow system has also helped companies improve essential safety checks. Vehicle safety checks are an important part of fleet management and can ensure you meet regulatory and compliance obligation, as well as reducing downtime and controlling costs. So far this year, one of our landscaping clients detected an issue on 38% of their safety checks, which meant they could manage any defaults before they became a big, expensive problem. Any assets that are out of action are costing you money, with each day lost to carry out maintenance and servicing means you can’t use it for productive, revenue generating activities. If a small problem was missed until it made the asset unusable, the downtime can take weeks instead of days, especially if you’re held up waiting for specialist parts or labour, according to Mr Ball. “With reflow, we were able to make it easier for everyone to work from home, because the information can be easily accessible from anywhere, and it’s in the single version of the truth, then the reasons beyond that of why people have been doing it, they’ve been able to future proof their business, ” he added. Subscribe to Highways Voices free on https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/highways-voices/id1551975855 (Apple Podcasts,) https://open.spotify.com/show/0U6BbFBYLr5eeX0HuZtPv8 (Spotify), https://highways-voices.captivate.fm/amazon (Amazon Music), https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5jYXB0aXZhdGUuZm0vaGlnaHdheXMtdm9pY2Vz (Google Podcasts) or https://pca.st/7a3xxskl (Pocket Casts) and never miss an episode!
"The business case for 5G is not transport, let's not kid ourselves," says connected vehicle expert Andy Graham from White Willow Consulting on this week's Highways Voices podcast. But, he explains, the technology does give many opportunities to transform transport, "We should be definitely pushing with 5G... we should be really taking the advantage of high bandwidth and low latency. But we do need to make sure that we don't leave behind other use cases and other customers." Graham is the second Highways Voice on this week's podcast reacting to a fascinating interview with Chris Holmes, Programme Director of West Midlands 5G, the test bed looking at how the technology can be used. "We're... supporting projects, and the trialling associated with those, to try and get the projects to a more mature state, and close to market," he explains, "by engaging with the commercial 5G," which he says "will give them the opportunity of seeing the performance of not only the products and services, but also how the mobile communications technology is working." In the interview, Holmes runs through a number of the potential use cases for transport, from helping partially sighted people get around to counting the number of people on public transport, and from pothole monitoring to parking. But should we be relying on 5G for our future transport-related communications, or should we be considering bespoke solutions? The experts discuss it in this week's Highways Voices, where you'll also hear some highlights from news stories on Highways News and find out why Tarmac has won this week's "Adrian's Accolade". Subscribe to Highways Voices free on https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/highways-voices/id1551975855 (Apple Podcasts,) https://open.spotify.com/show/0U6BbFBYLr5eeX0HuZtPv8 (Spotify), https://highways-voices.captivate.fm/amazon (Amazon Music), https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5jYXB0aXZhdGUuZm0vaGlnaHdheXMtdm9pY2Vz (Google Podcasts) or https://pca.st/7a3xxskl (Pocket Casts) and never miss an episode!
"I do believe more revenue and bigger profits should just be a result and will be a result of putting the customer centre,” explains SWARCO’s Global Business Development Manager in this week’s Highways Voices podcast which focusses on how to do business in an ever-changing transport landscape. “We must not take any decisions with the aim of saying, how can we milk this cow more?”. Niko Stieldorf joins Highways Voices host Paul Hutton on this week’s podcast to give an insight into how to grow a business. In a podcast very much focussed on thought leadership and not a long sales pitch for the guest’s company, former Stanford University business student Stieldorf explains his approach to growing sales saying it’s about “How can we solve our customers biggest pain points more? If we're successful in that world, then revenue and profit will follow - that's a given if we do our homework properly… [but] do I believe that we can now start getting more and more into a world of a one size fits all? I don't.” In the interview, he talks about how he’s overseen interviews with more than 450 customers to find out their biggest priorities, and discusses what they are, while also how to deal with different jurisdictions having different rules and requirements, and why doing more preparatory work up front will save time and increase sales in the future. He also explains how these experiences have helped SWARCO’s new MyCity product. You’ll also hear Paul and Highways News co-owner Adrian Tatum round up the week’s top stories and find out why Nottinghamshire County Council is recognised in this week’s “Adrian’s Accolade”.
“The one saving grace,” says Glynn Barton while talking about the Coronavirus crisis, “is that it wasn’t the other way – we didn’t all of a sudden see a boom in traffic and movement on our very busy network”. Having overseen a huge change to traffic flows in London, been affected by the sudden drop in tube and bus passenger numbers and therefore revenue, and having managed his huge team’s switch to home working (not to mention becoming a father again), it’s been a challenging year for Transport for London’s Director of Network Management. But Barton has taken it all in his stride, as he explains to Paul Hutton and Adrian Tatum in this week’s Highways Voices podcast. And he pays tribute to the teamwork that made things happen so quickly. “We installed a cycle lane on Park Lane, for instance, from design to installation in four days, which we've never done anything like that before,” he explains. “Working with a supply chain, we're able to do things really quickly because it was in the public interest.” Barton discusses a range of transport challenges and solutions in the capital, from Low Traffic Neighbourhoods and active travel to funding and future projects. He highlights the need to deliver low-carbon transport and the solutions TfL are using to deliver that, as well as how he considers the latest ideas and solutions, and how he then can implement them in London, and how does he take a world-leading transport network and make it even better? You’ll also hear Paul and Adrian round up the week’s top stories and also hear who gets recognised for excellence in the industry in “Adrian’s Accolade”. Subscribe to Highways Voices free on https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/highways-voices/id1551975855 (Apple Podcasts,) https://open.spotify.com/show/0U6BbFBYLr5eeX0HuZtPv8 (Spotify), https://highways-voices.captivate.fm/amazon (Amazon Music), https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5jYXB0aXZhdGUuZm0vaGlnaHdheXMtdm9pY2Vz (Google Podcasts) or https://pca.st/7a3xxskl (Pocket Casts) and never miss an episode!
The move to online, will improve training programmes and support at-home working, this week's Highways Voices has heard. https://player.captivate.fm/episode/8a20e395-3951-42c4-ad27-84e7223dc698 (Listen here). These are the thoughts of one of this week's guests, John Nightingale, Director of training specialist JCT Consultancy and organiser of the annual JCT Traffic Signals Symposium. He said: "Developing proper online training isnt just about setting up a Teams or Zoom account, you have to put a lot of effort into the way these courses are structured and then you can actually replicate a classroom experience with a great deal of success by being innovative." Further to that, Mr Nightingale and this week's other guest, Jackie Davies, Principal UTMC Engineer at Bristol City Council have collaborated to develop a new online training programme aimed at helping support traffic signal engineers to get the best out of their traffic sgnals systems. You can find out more by listening to the podcast. Mr Nightingale said this was driven by a dramatic decline in skills. " Traffic Signal departments and roles have been decimated through voluntary early retirement and through budget cuts because of outsourcing, as a result, the numbers of the peoples in signal department has been dropping. And even then what you'll find is that that signal engineer is left there has been given additional responsibilities. So, there really isn't a manpower and there certainly isn't that that sort of skill base where you would learn from the older, more experienced engineers, and many people are really out on a limb."
One of the world's leading experts in automated vehicles has told the latest Highways Voices podcast that developers must accept drivers may not use their vehicles correctly and put in the relevant safeguards to minimise risk. Consultant Professor Nick Reed of Reed Mobility was referring to cases such as the driver who put his car into automatic mode on the M1 and then https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-43934504 (filmed himself in the passenger seat), or the recent example of a car crashing in Houston killing two people https://highways-news.com/two-dead-in-driverless-tesla-crash/ (where neither was driving). "One of the issues around current automation systems is that lack of driver monitoring," Prof Reed explains. "I think if we can develop systems that reliably detect, firstly, the presence of a driver to make sure they haven't shifted into the passenger seat or the backseat, but also that they are paying the right level attention, as is befitting for the level of automation that is currently operating, then I think we can tackle some of the ways in which drivers might misuse the system. We need to think almost in an adversarial way, what are all the ways in which drivers could misuse or try to break the systems and make sure we are comfortable that the technology is able to at least bring the vehicle to a safe stop?" The conversation covers a range of topics including plans to https://highways-news.com/self-driving-cars-to-travel-up-to-37-mph-on-motorways/ (allow automatic lane keeping assistance) at slow speeds on motorways and the legal issues around it. "I think it's an important step to make," Prof Reed continues. "I think what we don't know at the moment is the safety benefit that can be achieved from this system. So there are many organisations rightly pointing out the risks of calling this system self driving, and that's that's absolutely correct. There is it's not that the system could do all the driving for you. It's it's a collaboration between the technology and the human driver." He also has advice for transport planners about where driverless vehicles fit into the overall mobility landscape, "One of the driving forces for the designs that the planning of their transport environment has to be climate emergency, how can we act to mitigate the worst impacts of the carbon emissions, how can we do design our environments to enable more sustainable use of transportation?" He explains. "Now, some of that involves shifting to automated vehicles shifting to Mobility as a Service, but a lot of that also involves shifting to active transport, enabling walking and cycling, enabling public transport to operate more effectively. So I think the role for the planners is to set out the vision of what they want their environments to be like, how do they want the transport system to deliver the environment that the people and the residents and businesses want, and then allow the technology and the innovators to help in delivering that vision. And as I say, some of that will be supported by automation." You can sign up to automatically download the weekly Highways Voices podcasts to your favourite podcast platform https://highways-voices.captivate.fm/listen (here).
This week's Highways Voices responds to the comments on the podcast from March when local authorities were urged to make more use the data they gather by using transport modelling. Gav Jackman, Managing Director of the UK division of global modelling company Aimsun, explains what the data is used for and how it can improve transport planning and real-time traffic management, making the network more efficient and the air cleaner. "It's a digital twin of the network of the road network, It is the road geometry, it is the road signals, the roundabouts, it is everything that affects how you drive across the network is represented in a digital world," he explains. "Then obviously, we have effectively the demand or the flow of vehicles, bicycles, pedestrians across that network, that that is effectively is a model. It's calibrated and validated, so represents real world conditions." The podcast acknowledges how modelling is sometimes misunderstood or seen as a "dark art", and seeks to explain how it can be used. One key advancement is the live prediction which means models can be used to predict traffic jams, and therefore mitigate against them before they happen. "We have three views of that real life situation, the monitoring, the prediction, and then the comparison," Jackman explains. "So the what ifs questions, what if we invoke traffic management strategy "a", versus a do nothing - does that improve that traffic based on our prediction of what's going to happen in the next hour, especially around an incident, or maybe it's not just one traffic management strategy, maybe it's three, four. So comparing those different traffic management strategies against to do nothing, and then recommending to the traffic officers, which ones are the best to invoke that's, that's really where it becomes vitally important." An exciting development he also explains is around integrating emissions monitoring in order to manage traffic on any particular day depending on the weather conditions, something Jackman explains sees a significant improvement in the air quality.
One of the UK’s leading, and most outspoken, newspaper columnists has told the Highways News podcast Highways Voices that if you were designing a recipe for injury in busy town and city centres, you couldn’t come up with a better one than e-scooters. Mail on Sunday columnist Peter Hitchens appeared on Highways Voices to add detail to recent comments in the paper where he wrote that claims e-scooters are a green solution “is such obvious bilge that only a fanatic could believe it.” “I find very worrying that they are spreading so fast, and nobody seems to be paying attention to the dangers that they pose,” Mr Hitchens told the podcast. “I happen also to be very sceptical about electric bicycles, which have also become much more common. Having spent 40 years taking part in campaigns for special bicycle lanes separate from traffic, to find them being invaded by what are in effect electric motorbikes which I regard as a danger to all the ordinary cyclists… I'm just astonished that large social and transport changes are taking place almost entirely without public discussion.” Mr Hitchens insisted that e-scooters do not fit in with an active travel solution because that would involve making “a bit of an effort, rather than twisting a throttle.” In the interview he does describe his views on transport as “quite radical” explaining, “I think the the invention of the motorcar was probably one of the greatest tragedies to afflict mankind and the enormous overuse of private motor cars has been a disaster for civilisations, which I think could have developed much better without them. “The redesigning of cities and lives around a device which if used according to the manufacturer's instructions will make its uses ill - a very strange diversion from a civilisation which up until then had been developing much more in the direction of electric trams and electric railways, which I think would have been a much, much better direction to take supplemented, of course, by walking.” He concludes his interview discussing improvements to transport saying, “whatever you do, there is no problem to which electric scooters are the answer.” In the podcast you’ll also hear who wins this week’s “Adrian’s Accolade” and get details from Darren Capes of the Transport Technology Forum about how Local Authorities can claim their share of £15 million to repair and upgrade their traffic signals.
"I loved being a Minister, but not being an MP". That's the admission from two former transport ministers in this week's Highways Voices podcast, which hears from Conservative Steve Norris, who served in the John Major government in the 90s, and Labour's Stephen Ladyman, a minister under Tony Blair a decade later. In the podcast they discuss how they are proud they made a difference. "One of the things you get as a transport minister in your weekend box are reports of fatalities on the motorways. One of the first ones that I opened up after I became the minister was referring to to roads workers who had been killed because of somebody speeding through road works at night in the rain and lost their way gone through the cones and hit these two poor people," said Ladyman. "So I immediately said, we have got to do something about about speeding through motorway roadworks, and we came up with with average speed cameras and they've worked brilliantly." Norris, who coincidentally worked on the average speed camera scheme after he left government, talked about legacy too discussing the Jubilee Line Extension he oversaw and also the role of a minister, "In some ways, having too much expert knowledge is quite dangerous, because it means you've got a very fixed idea of what you think should happen, and it may not be actually what the rest of the world thinks," he explained. The entertaining chat also features discussions about appearing on Top Gear, used cars, news management and even meeting Highways Voices host Paul Hutton in the mid-2000s. The podcast has a very special "Adrian's Accolade" this week and a summary of the latest news.
Cyber attacks present a real threat to highway and transport operations, unless very strict security measures are in place, hears this week's Highways Voices. This was according to transport consultant, Scott Belcher, who spoke to Highways News about the importance of cyber security to the sector. Mr Belcher has completed a study, Transit Industry Cyber Preparedness study describes how a huge flaw in security at the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit system meant that 'intentionally planted spyware' had been planted by 'foreign nation hostile to American interests' into hardware switches on its network which could have had 'swift and severe' consequences. In his research, Belcher – a former President of ITS America – discovered that two-fifths of transit agencies had no cyber security policy at all, and only just over a third had revised theirs within a year. Less than 40% of agencies even have standard clauses in their vendor contracts related to cybersecurity. Other worrying examples of cyber failings include hackers attacking the transit system in California’s Capital in a ransomware attack, and attacking a lorry and school bus taking control of the vehicles’ operations. He said: "The ability to impact transport operations is one of the many things that could be put at risk. Having the means totrack and trace the transport operations of a city or region and impact those means there's a lot of things that could go wrong, and horribly wrong. Adding to that, he said: "Because we now all work from home. We all now work from coffee shops, we all know work from anywhere we can. Quite often we've done that without really understanding or appreciating the cybersecurity ramifications of that. And because the pandemic happened so quickly. And because we are so cybersecurity unsophisticated, we have not done the proper training and put in the proper protocols to protect our networks. And that's really kind of the big takeaways from all of this is it cyber security protections are not necessarily there's an OT a hardware component, protecting your network, making sure you have the malware the security protocols in place, but there is a human element and responsibility as well." Also find out why the City of Leicester wins this week's "Adrian's Accolade". Listen below - subscribe free to get the podcast automatically uploaded to your chosen podcast platform https://highways-voices.captivate.fm/listen (here).
Average highway maintenance budgets were up by 15% on average in England last year although were below the levels reported in 2019, citing a continued pattern of inconsistent levels of funding, making it difficult for councils to plan longer term, according to this year’s ALARM Survey. Welsh local authority budgets were up by 22% on average while London saw a small increase of 1.2%. As a result, more potholes were filled (13,298 for England) on average per local authority last year, with 3,967 filled on average in Wales and 2,634 in London. Local authorities have also worked hard to increase the amount of sustainable products used. The percentage of councils responding to the survey revealed that 61% had used warm mix asphalt and 82% were using recycled materials and 33% were choosing materials with the lowest initial carbon footprint, alongside 85% selecting surfacing materials with longer life. The survey said however, the bill to fix the backlog is still in excess of £10 billion, meaning roads are resurfaced once every 68 years on average. It said: “The increased number of potholes filled is a reflection of the reduced investment in programmed work, which has resulted in poorer road conditions. Filling potholes isn’t a victory; it’s a failure.” According to the survey results, the Overall Road Condition Index showed that 60% roads were in green condition, 31% in amber and 9% in red against a target of 67% green, 25% amber and 8% red. Local authorities in England and Wales said that the ideal profile of road condition should be 73% green, 21% amber and 6% red. From a structural point of view, overall, around 54% if the local road network is reported to be in good condition, with 29% in adequate condition and 17% in poor. Speaking about the survey on this week’s Highways Voices, Rick Green, Chair of the Asphalt Industry Alliance said: “With a lot of competing funding requirements in a year like no other, the fact that on average local authorities in England received 15% for their highway maintenance budgets should be applauded. But this funding was lower than 2019 and it is this constant changing of funding levels is part of the problem, leading to the fact that the local authorities basically have a significant shortfall in the amount of funding that they believe they require.” “We filled a 1.7 million potholes, which is one every 19 seconds but actually, filling potholes is a symptom of a poorly maintained road in the first place. They get expensive and they are wasteful. So, the fact that we've done more potholes is stopping people driving into them. But actually, it's not a good indicator that the amount of potholes have gone up.” He also said that a more ‘streamlined’ competitive funding process would save local authorities time, money and resources on bidding. Mr Green also called for a five-year funding settlement that would enable highway authorities to plan more effectively. “A five-year Government funding package, similar to the commitment made to the strategic network in the two Roads Investment Strategy periods, would allow local authority highway asset managers to plan ahead, invest in, and implement a more sustainable, cost effective whole life approach to maintaining our local roads.”
The latest Highways Voices podcast from Highways News has heard why transport modelling is key to making the most of the growth in traffic data that is being gathered to understand changes in patterns due to the Coronavirus crisis. Guest Darren Capes from the Department for Transport explains a data project he’s overseen for the Transport Technology Forum which analyses data gathered from more than a hundred local authorities. “I think the snapshots are increasingly useful, we now have nearly a year's worth of data,” he tells the podcast. “So not only we're able to see what's happening and how lockdown is affecting trade and travel and daily life, but we're also able to make some interesting comparisons between pre-lockdown or between what's happened in the various ones. So we can start to see some interesting trends.” But it’s the use of the data in the future where he gets increasingly animated. The former City of York transport manager suggests that the power of transport modelling will help give real insights into the new shape of traffic. “We're seeing increasingly elaborate models, we're seeing increasingly powerful computing capabilities that allow us to run models, much more complex models,” he says. “I think cities should be starting to invest more in real time modelling and bringing the power of modelling, bringing their transport planning services together with the network management services, working with companies, traditional players and new entrants into the market that can model things in real time… I think now is the time to start to invest in the resource to get the modelling in place to get a new understanding of what how your city will work in the future.” This week’s other guest is INRIX director Peter Lees who told his former colleague Paul Hutton about the INRIX Traffic Scorecard’s value in understanding travel behaviour and how people’s commutes will change long-term. “We've noticed the biggest drop being commutes in and out of towns and city centres,” he explains. “So, whereas generally travelling between centres on the motorway network and the larger road networks, and between smaller town and village centres hasn't been affected as much, we anticipate that that will rebound. And it has already started to to a degree more quickly than the regular commuting traffic where, you know, it's a bit of an unknown at the moment.” The podcast also features a new feature, “Adrian’s Accolade”, where Highways News co-owner Adrian Tatum picks out an organisation or person due special praise for an industry-improving idea. Who wins this week, Tarmac, Balfour Beatty or the UK Roads Liaison Group? Find out by listening to this great addition to industry knowledge.
Providing accurate, up-to-date data and tools to the public to enable them to make instant journey decisions will help encourage more active travel use, according to Scott Cain, owner of runfriendly.com and consultant to the Connected Places Catapult, speaking on this week's Highways Voices podcast. He said by optimising journeys for the public alongside providing with them with the other necessary information for for their trips when they need it was 'very important' if local authorities and road operators want to encourage the public to me more active and make use of the recent investments in cycling and walking infrastructure. "People want choice and they want all the information they can possibly get to help optimise their journeys. Then there is the practical stuff they need such as where they can park their bikes at the other end or where they can charge their electric bike near their destination-all of that is a really important part of the active travel offer. So making that information to people who are deciding to make active trips at the point they really need it, is really, really important." He cited work done by the Connected Places Catapult on combination travel-a body of work that is looking at how people can travel seamlessly across different modes of transport, as an important example of work that was needed now and in the future, Also speaking on Highways Voices, Karla Jakeman, Innovation Lead – Connected Transport for Innovate UK said successful active travel is all about providing 'choice'. "I think when it comes to choice, we need to have that information, we need to feel safe, we need to know that we can put our bike on the bus or on the train, we need to know what the routes are. If I get off the bus at this stop? Is it easier for me to walk or cycle the rest of the way? “All of that kind of information helps us to make those informed choices. And certainly with some of the competitions we’ve been doing such as the Geospatial Commission competition, which we ran on their behalf, we have seen that starting to happen more. We’ve got five projects from that around active travel, and they’re very much around using satellite technologies to create better information to create a safer environment, as well as things like asset management for cycle ways and pathways and things like that. But ultimately, it’s really about giving people that element of choice,” she added. Karla mentioned the TDI webinar on active travel - https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.eventbrite.co.uk_e_tdi-2Dwebinar-2D6-2Denabling-2Dactive-2Dtravel-2Dtickets-2D145711048669&d=DwQFaQ&c=euGZstcaTDllvimEN8b7jXrwqOf-v5A_CdpgnVfiiMM&r=7zn4VFL4aWCYogDavcciLlBKemgoZ_jPxmCy0lcTnqXO7HadBwy-_2vdNoCwjBY7&m=gfGAiOrFKLkkirDWNbdc3G2puVNFN0y4EvHekchpocI&s=s5G4kMuQuY6Lm7XR0bayUJPUL10KGsHpB-FDgfW6c4I&e= (click here). Gillian's website is https://betternutritionbygilly.com/ (here), and Scott's is https://www.runfriendly.com/ (here).
Legendary Tomorrow's World presenter Michael Rodd features in this week's podcast saying that inventors of clever technology must "actually go through the whole process of market analysis of working out whether something was... meeting a need that was sellable to the rest of the world." Rodd presented new ideas to the nation for ten years before starting one of the first independent TV production houses that he still owns today. The Highways Voices interview is highlights of a chat he had with the Transport Technology Forum, and features several of its key members. Andy Graham of White Willow Consulting supported Rodd's take on the business case adding, "I want to play back what you just said to everyone who I know who develops a new piece of kit and I say, well, what's the business case for this? What are the benefits? Why would people buy it, particularly if they're a local authority that doesn't have much resources, particularly if they're a driver of an older car hasn't got much money?" The fascinating interview includes memories from Rodd about a variety of things he covered on Tomorrow's World including an in-car navigation system from 1971, the first portable ticket machine on trains, a driverless vehicle and magnetic levitation, plus making the first televised mobile phone call and reporting on the financial viability of Concorde. But it's his message to the industry that resonates 50 years after he started on the show where he warns against silos, vested interests and particular prejudices. "We're locked in to the way our minds work," he says, "And I do think in in almost all areas of life, that is a major issue that if we're really going to move forward, we've got to take more seriously." The podcast features clips of https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KliWHCzE16c (an in-car navigation unit) and Michael https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=887779388424985 (testing a driverless vehicle) in France. Click on the links to watch the full clips.
Pollution from tyre micro plastic particles could be one of the next big environmental challenges facing highways authorities, according to Campbell Waddell, Managing Director of surface testing specialists, R3 Ltd. Speaking as part of this weeks Highways News podcast, Highways Voices, Mr Waddell said that tyre manufacturers are putting a lot of research into the issue of micro plastic particles being produced as a result of vehicles tires interacting with the road surface. He said this is a 'growing concern' as they find their way into the atmosphere and into water courses. "There is growing levels of concern about the on-going effects of these micro plastic particles. It is one of the next big environmental issues facing the sector in the future and we need to debate how we solve it and develop a solution so that highway authorities can measure the contribution of the road surface to this issue." "The road surface obviously plays a big part in the root release of micro plastic particles from the tires because they are generated from the contact with the surface. So the more abrasive the surface, the more micro plastic particles that are released," he added. R3 Ltd is currently working on a solution for measuring abrasion of road surfaces, so that highway authorities can address this. Research has shown that more than 20,000 tonnes of tiny plastic particles are blown from roads into the oceans every year. Also speaking on the podcast, Diane Ware, Principal Technical Officer for Highways at Wiltshire Council said that carbon savings and a sustainable approach to maintenance is becoming a even more important factor in helping effectively manage the condition of the region's road surfaces.
Highway engineers need to be open-minded to using the ‘complete’ tool box of solutions as part of their asset management strategies, with different surface treatments offering cost effective and sustainable alternatives, as moe local authorities introduce a more proactive approach as part of their maintenance strategies. That was the message from Paul Boss, Chief Executive of the Road Surface Treatments Association (RSTA) and Howard Robinson, Managing Director, ASI Solutions, who both spoke as part of this week’s Highways Voices podcast. Mr Boss said he was ‘dissapointed’ to hear of the expected reduction in capital block funding for maintenance but welcomed the additional money for potholes. He said to help cope with any changes in funding and maintenance programmes, as a result, local authorities should keep preventative surface treatments in their plans. “It is important to remember- it’s not just about the money. If local authorities are using all the tools that they’ve got their disposal, then they can be they can be using those more efficient and more sustainable treatments and actually making the money that they have got go a lot further. What I would say to local authorities is keep your preventative and your surface treatment maintenance in there, because ultimately, that is going to save you much more money in the long run.”
The latest Highways Voices podcast from Highways News features an in-depth interview with one of the UK's leading experts on enforcement, who explains how to make sure the public support technology to ensure compliance on the road. Assistant Managing Director Geoff Collins of Jenoptik told hosts Paul Hutton and Adrian Tatum that enforcement should never been seen as money making, but as a war on bad driving. "Bad driving and bad driving behaviours are things that make the road worse for other people," explained Collins. "And I think that's one of the one of the things that needs to be addressed by the the operators of technology is to make people appreciate why something is happening rather than it's just a blind autonomous thing. at the side of the road. You earn compliance and you earn respect rather than demand it." Collins, who's also the Chair of ITS (UK)'s Enforcement Forum, discussed public engagement, making sure any penalties are just, Home Office Type Approval and ensuring the public are informed about the benefits of a system. "I believe it's the responsibility of that road authority to communicate what is happening, why it's happening, how it's being done," he explains. "[There are] some really good examples of things that transport Scotland do, where they will put up a dedicated website, which relates to the project, and it has all of the history of the project, the data behind it, meetings that have happened, decisions that have been made, and then ongoing publishing of data, which basically justifies the reason that this is happening. I have seen this work fantastically well on a number of projects, and I strongly advocate sharing data explaining why things are happening." During the interview we also hear comments from Videalert Director Rob Kinch and the CEO of Redflex Mark Talbot.
When you stop and think about it, a huge amount of innovation in the highways and transport technology industries over the past 20 years have been related to location services, but what about the mapping that underpins it? The latest Highways Voices podcast digs into the issue by talking to HERE Technologies Chief Product Officer Jorgen Behrens about their latest innovations involving personalising maps, data privacy and 3D mapping, and then hears from Steve Birdsall, CEO of Highway Technology Company Gaist about innovations based on location. "What we're noticing is that a lot of our customers are sitting on a lot of location data, and are looking for ways to monetise that and to make use of it in a kind of differentiating way in their own business," explains Behrens told host Paul Hutton. "So what we've done is we're gradually exposing our mapmaking capabilities in our platform so that customers can use the platform to ingest their own location data, process it into location contents and make maps with it." Highways News co-owner Adrian Tatum talked to Birdsall who told him, "I guess it's just our imagination, really, that limits what we can do. There's still a long way to go, we've got all of this capability growing, but it still needs to be bolted together and still needs to be brought to bear on a lot of problems. But if you were to look forward another five years, I believe that we won't be able to recognise the way that we do things." Paul and Adrian also discuss the latest stories on the Highways News website and explain how you can sign up to the podcast and the unique Highways News daily lunchtime briefings.
The new Managing Director of SWARCO in the UK is committing to working with local authorities to help them adapt to changing travel patterns post Covid, and delivering a joined up solution from his company’s different business units. In his first interview since taking over last month, John Pickworth has told Highways News’s new weekly podcast Highways Voices that he wants to make sure customers get the best from SWARCO Traffic’s signs and signals business, the company’s eVolt charging products and its Skidata parking management solutions as one solution.