West Midlands awarded £2.6m to help tackle road congestion

Birmingham City Council and Solihull Council were jointly awarded £2.65 million today by the Association of Directors of Environment, Economy, Planning and Transport (ADEPT) to invest CCTV to monitor car journeys in the West Midlands.

Transport for West Midlands (TfWM), which is part of the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA), will co-ordinate and oversee the two-year project which will focus on analysing patterns of congestion on some of the region’s busiest roads, including:

* Routes directly impacted by construction of HS2
Routes directly impacted by Commonwealth Games infrastructure

* Routes where new Sprint and Metro routes will be introduced

* Major routes in and out of Birmingham city centre; and
Connected and Autonomous Vehicle test bed routes.

Mayor of the West Midlands, Andy Street said: “I am delighted with today’s decision. The car plays an important role in many people’s lives so it is essential we tackle congestion and speed up journey times for them.

“This pilot will help us improve the information we give to people during delays and help them to make informed decisions during traffic disruption.”

Cllr Ted Richards OBE, Cabinet Member for Transport and Highways at Solihull Council, said: “This is great news for Solihull residents. This two year pilot will help us to help people make sensible decisions about their travel options, using technology to give a clear picture of where routes are congested and keep people moving.”

Cllr Waseem Zaffar, Cabinet Member for Transport and Environment at Birmingham City Council, added: “The next few years will be a period of exciting improvement for the city’s transport networks but we need to ensure that change is planned and delivered in a way that enables everyone to continue travelling in the most efficient and effective way possible during construction work.

“The funding for this programme will be vital in helping us prepare – and I look forward to working with colleagues in Solihull and a wider regional level to do this.”

Working with existing in-car applications such as WAZE, City Mapper and Google and utilizing the latest advancements in video technology, transport bosses could track point to point car journeys 24 hours a day to enable an early warning system for congestion, based on an individual’s pattern of behaviour.

The West Midlands is one of just six locations nationally to receive funding from ADEPT, the winning proposals which were chosen for their drive, innovation and the use of new materials in local highways. The project beat 28 other proposals from across the public, private and voluntary sector and will now proceed to a funded development stage to the end of March 2019.

The anticipated benefits include better car journeys, improved health through reduced congestion and personalised travel planning through learned patterns of travel behaviour.

The learning from the pilot will be used to help shape TfWM’s Regional Transport Coordination Centre due to be in place December 2019.

Read more: http://www.solihull.gov.uk/news/ArtMID/820/ArticleID/2347/163265million-will-help-keep-people-moving