Traffex Conference Programme
Tuesday 14 June 2022
Panel Discussion: Next Steps in decarbonising the UK’s highways network
- Strategies for making the whole construction and maintenance project lifecycle more environmentally friendly
- Offsetting carbon usage operationally for the local road network
- New cost-effective or tech-driven ways of minimising carbon cost of maintaining roads
- Bringing the skills into the industry to drive the decarbonisation agenda
Break
Case Study: Decarbonisation on the strategic road network
- Why decarbonise construction of the Lower Thames Crossing
- What it means to be the “greenest road ever built in the UK”
- What will this mean for our supply chain
Panel Discussion: Long term collaboration and engagement across all stakeholder groups to enhance delivery
- Working with united common threads across government that are a-political and long term
- Optimising consultation processes and working with all stakeholders more effectively
- Wider information sharing across highways’ stakeholders
- Standards and compatibility of tech and services
Break
Panel Discussion: Using ITS to enhance road worker safety on high-speed and local roads
Road casualty reduction has plateaued and it is reaching limit of good engineering. Tech is provides us with the opportunity to get to the next level.
- Constructing the safest possible site in moving traffic
- ITS for improving roadworker safety, e.g. geofencing and detecting incursions
- Updates on legislation, traffic laws and regulations for working in areas with live traffic
- Speed limits and signage, lighting, speed calming, reactive and proactive. Signage, speed calming, speed cameras
Collaborating with highways suppliers to deliver even better value for customers
- Building sustaining value for our customers through aligning and developing suppliers
- Optimising environmental and societal value through efficient and effective delivery.
- Priming performance through Roads Academy, Supplier Development and Supply Chain School
- National Highways' perspective on value across the wider market
Break
Panel Discussion: Resilience across the network and the impacts of a changing climate
- Optimising the use of budgets and resources to adapt for current and future environmental threats
- Outcomes of the report on emergency preparedness response and recovery
- Prioritising, investing and future proofing
- for flooding, landslides, power cuts etc
- Making use of data for resilience planning
- Vulnerable locations works
Making ITS equipment resilient to extreme and changing weather conditions
We are now witnessing the effect that global warming is having on the environment, with very diverse climatic events impacting the daily lives of people around the world. I will be examining the issues posed by the climate emergency for the deployment and operation of ITS equipment, with particular focus on the following areas:
- Appropriateness of traditional ITS platforms and equipment in a changing technology climate
- Carbon Reduction in the construction and operation of equipment
- Resilience to extreme events including flooding and fire incidents
Accessibility Session
Decisions, decisions, decisions!
- Highlighting the ever-increasing range of technologies, systems and devices used for detecting incidents quickly
- Outlining some comparative networks and how they manage incidents
- The importance of providing an effective decision support system in the control room and the benefits this brings; including speed of response, operational efficiency, reliability and consistency of response
Scotland’s road safety framework to 2030
Meeting the Scottish pledge to halve road accidents by 2030 and reduce to zero by 2050.
- Using ITS and collaboration to meet the goals of the Scottish Road Safety Framework to 2030
- Safe road use, vehicles, speeds, post-incident response and education
Break
UK Ministerial Keynote: Decarbonisation, skills and future transport (topic to be confirmed)
Case Study: Real world benefits of TfL’s true digital twin of the network
- Managing the network in real time
- Opportunities for the future of the SCOOT system
- What are the next stages of modelling and tech rollout?
Panel Discussion: Tech for tech’s sake?
- Where is new tech providing value for money compared to existing tech?
- How can we measure how tech advances impact on carbon, the environment, recycling etc?
- How to ensure we maximise value of new tech?
- What are the timescales for adoption of new technologies?
- How do we attract tech superstars to the industry?
Break
Panel Discussion: Optimising end-to-end multi modal travel
How can networks integrate better in post-COVID world: Aviation, road, rail, active
- Holistic transport network planning and integrated transport
- Modelling efficient transport systems
- Highways/system of systems
- Examples of optimising flow where different modes meet in a complimentary way
- Using data such as BODs to provide data in open formats
Delivering on the Local Government ‘Levelling Up’ agenda
- Exploring how do local authorities actually deliver on levelling up?
- What does it mean in practice in terms of managing the network?
- Funding options and securing successful bids through CRSTS, £5 Billion buses/cycling and £4.8 Billion levelling up funds
Break
Panel Discussion: Enhancing transport design for all users of the roads network
- Making streets safer for women and girls in urban and rural environments
- Improving street accessibility for people with disabilities
- How to create highways community lifelines for vulnerable groups
- Integrating additional standards to ISO for gender and other global goals?
- Manual for Streets
Fireside Chat: Manual for Streets
Case Study: Mobility in Rural Areas - Somerset ‘Think Travel’ Total Transport Portal
Think Travel is a web-based journey planning and booking facility for use by local authority transport teams and the public, to provide a single point for all public transport information which will include public buses, demand responsive transport services, community transport options and community car schemes as well as enabling users to offer or request journeys and set up transport sharing groups.
- Overview of Somerset’s rural public transport challenges and strategy
- Overview and demonstration of Somerset’s ‘Think Travel’ portal which has been recently launched following development jointly with Gloucestershire using DfT Total Transport funding
Can I charge here? Meh or must have.
How to tell whether providing EV charging is relevant to your parking offer and what to do next. Today, even with +30,000 public chargers, it’s still quite a treat for EV drivers to find charging is available in places they park away from home. Depending on the journey and type of driver, this can be:• Meh: charging is incidental and a nice to have but the driver would have visited your location regardless ; • Must have: charging is critical factor in the driver’s decision to choose your location over another.
Three critical reasons to implement Re-flow as part of your business digital transformation
Michael Saunders, Co-founder & Managing Director of field management software provider, Re-flow, is partnering with Mikee Booth from HTM (Highway Traffic Management), to showcase why implementing Re-flow is crucial for forward-thinking infrastructure businesses. Eliminating siloed systems in favour of a single solution paves the way to mastering HSE management with strictly enforced compliance on customisable digital forms, keeping your operatives up to date with instant communication of information and resources, and streamlining field operations with scheduled jobs and automated workflows. Discover how over 90 highways businesses, including HTM, have revolutionised their field operations with just one piece of powerful software.
Essential EV foundation considerations for designers, installers, maintenance engineers and OEM
NAL has been working in the EV sector for over a decade, working with designers, installers and maintenance engineers from, Local Authorities and OEMs to large global organizations to provide universal solutions for EV foundations. We are keen to share the knowledge gathered during our journey of providing solutions for on-street charging, car parks, EV hubs and forecourts with our peers to share our learning. During our presentation, we will cover the primary considerations for designers, installers and maintenance engineers when installing EV foundations for fast, rapid and high power charging units. We will share some case studies of different EV foundation solutions during our interactive presentation and will be happy to answer your questions.
Accelerating innovation into BAU
The Connected Places Catapult is leading in fields such as Mobility, Built Environment, Critical Infrastructure, Health & Wellbeing, Public Places and Decision Making. We will outline their view on the ‘art of the possible’ for digital twins, SME competitions and innovation. We will discuss this vision and scale of ambition. The facilitator will invite NH participants to reflect on matters that might need to be resolved in order to achieve the vision.
TBC
TBC
Importance of Portable Environmental Sensors
TBC
Wednesday 15 June 2022
Panel Discussion: Travel Behaviour - Impacts on end of traditional commuting
- Consumer demand and traffic modelling and analytics: how to move people in more efficient ways
- Impacts on the business case for building new roads
- Nudge/demand management to move people to other modes of transport
- Impacts on interfaces, red/green light phases, junction size, design/width of roads etc.
- Mobility pricing
- Active travel and impacts being built into new manual for the streets
Break
Presentation on Smart Charging
Case Study: Introducing a Low Traffic Neighbourhood, how to make your network 20mph and/or how to pedestrianise
Where are LTN schemes successful and where do they face significant opposition?
Case study: A new approach to Adaptive Traffic Management (FUSION)
Extending London's ULEZ
- Results of the ULEZ on air quality and other benefits
- Recent changes to extend the zone
- Engineering and political drivers
- Overcoming technical and supply challenges
Break
Case Study: TBC
Panel Discussion: Shaping strategies for managing connected and autonomous vehicle (CAV) infrastructure
- Law commission review of autonomous vehicles and implications for traffic managers
- Adapting infrastructure for CAV to create driverless freight and passenger networks
- Focusing on the customer (individuals and businesses) and the outcomes that all modes of CAV can achieve
- Reviewing the benefits and ethics
- V2X infrastructure trial for supporting automated vehicles in London
Break
Intersection of the automotive and roads sectors
This session will explore how the world of vehicles and highways are increasingly overlapping and opportunities that this creates, particularly within the tech and connectivity space.
- Making use of data and crossover tech to improve decision-making and interoperability for both sectors
- How to adjust highways design to accommodate connected and autonomous vehicles
- Personalisation of aspects of design for women and a broader range of users to align with highway safety targets
Micromobility
e.g. e-scooters, electric bikes etc.
- What are the parameters for ensuring safe use of micromobility tech on the streets for all users?
- How should we control?
National Highways Digital Roads update session
In this session, Phil Proctor will set out National Highways’ vision for digital roads
This will then be followed by a panel on the ‘Digital Roads of the Future’ initiative. The initiative explores how digital twins, smart materials, data science and robotic monitoring can work together to develop a connected physical and digital road infrastructure system.
Break
Filling the skills gap - bringing new talent and diversity into the roads sector; and developing a broader skills pipeline
Panel Discussion: Promoting diversity, inclusion and skills in the workforce
- Identifying the core workforce issues such as aging workforce, lack of diversity and impacts on delivery and budgets
- Balancing the costs of contractors/consultants vs investment in internal resourcing and training
- Retraining existing staff with the appropriate ICT skills across route planning, EVs, autonomous vehicles
Highways Sector Human Capital Management Research Programme: Understanding the scale of the problem and identifying solutions
The Highways sector is facing a human capital crisis with a critical number of vacancies and skills shortages. The problem is immediate and urgent. In March 2022, Proving Services, in conjunction with the Future Highways Research Group (FHRG), ADEPT and with our contributing partners (academic institutions, chartered institutes, public sector organisations and private sector partners) launched a research programme which aims to provide empirical evidence to highlight the scale of the challenge, the drivers and causes and describe the consequences and impact if the issues are not addressed. The second stage of the research will identify, assess and document proposed solutions and changes.
This session will present in detail the scope and objectives of the research, the findings to-date and the proposed next steps. Proving are keen to understand other similar initiatives being undertaken within the sector and ensure that the findings and conclusions are aligned.
Break
Case Study: Optimising delivery of improved services after securing access to funding
- Utilising funding from DCMS and DfT
- How we have been using 5G to enable improved road sensing
- Example data outputs
- Lessons learnt on delivery and procurement
Panel Discussion: End of life and the circular economy – Kit design with view of disposal and reuse
Preparing for new legislation that is likely to be brought in over the next 5 years, but also on expectations that are driven by public attitudes, COP-26 etc.
- Disposing of metals and other materials
- Reusing kit and materials
- Changing mindsets and giving more knowledge at this stage to solidify change to longer term
- Using the circular economy as a cost reduction opportunity
- Road signage recycling in Wales
Break
Funding through TTF
Financing panel discussion: Securing funding and alternative revenue streams
The recent spending review has made it ever more challenging to secure access to funding. This session will explore how highways authorities are looking to plug this gap
- Additional revenue streams: EV charging points, moving traffic offences, lane rental, road user charging, filming fees, smart lighting, wifi, solar power, etc
- Secure outside funding, PFIs etc
- Doing more with less: If funding from DfT becomes more challenging, what will survive and what must be sustainable?
- Innovative future revenue streams, such as kinetic energy/other ways of generating energy or revenue from the streets (bullet point to be reviewed)
TBC
The journey - where can data rich urban ITS detection platforms take us?
Using the initial data produced as part of the development process with their latest product, the AGD650, Ian Hind and Greg Baker from AGD Systems will explore how the ITS system can meet - and exceed - the data needs of highways authorities. They'll look at not only what the current situation is, but also what the future might hold as the data which can be collected by detection platforms becomes even more rich.
TBC
A review of recent effective enforcement technologies
Importance of Portable Environmental Sensors
We explore the importance of one of the latest innovations from MVIS, in partnership with Iknaia, the Air Quality Environmental Sensor. This solution can be integrated with our other ITS units or operate from MVIS Solar Powered Compact Base, an industrial solar powered power bank with an exceptionally small footprint. Environmental Sensors offer a ground-breaking approach to air quality monitoring, giving clients the ability to monitor the external environment, producing a wide range of air pollution data that can be used to inform and direct on issues of air pollution safety. In this session, we take a look at the benefits and features of this solution and how those features can be of importance for a variety of industries, organisations and projects concerned with air quality.
Speakers
TBC
The role of LED Signage in working towards a more sustainable future
Messagemaker Displays explore the role in which LED signage plays in the highways industry’s journey to a more sustainable future. Advancements in LED technology has created opportunities to not only further enhance the energy efficiency of the signage, but also the ways in which renewable energy can be used on the road network. Along with lowering the highways industry’s carbon footprint, road worker and motorist safety is also being improved.
Improve your customer journeys without replacing your parking hardware
In a search for improved customer journeys, municipalities and operators typically replace their entire off-street parking installations at once as the first components get to the end of their life span. A new, greener, and cost-effective parking solution has been created through reusing and upgrading the available parking equipment from multiple vendors. WPS shows how their hardware interoperable approach, combined with a cloud-based parking operating system and an extensive marketplace solves every thinkable customer journey. The approach will be explained in detail with a large hotel group use case. This presentation will provide insight on how WPS delivers an efficient hospitality driven solution which has the flexibility to adapt to the ever-changing demands and needs.
TBC
TBC
Thursday 16 June 2022
Case Study: Technologies/strategies for improving air quality
Measuring Carbon Emissions: A Consistent Approach for the UK Highways Sector
The Future Highways Research Group (FHRG) and ADEPT have been working with LHAs and their supply chain partners to create clear and comprehensive guidance for measuring carbon emissions from highways services. While conforming to the globally recognised GHG protocols, the FHRG / ADEPT guidance has been tailored for the specific structures and needs of the UK highways sector.
This session presents our work to-date, the development route map for 2022 and the supporting roles of our contributing partners (academic institutions, chartered institutes, public sector organisations and private sector partners). The session will also outline the longer-term goals for compliance assessments and carbon benchmarking.
Panel Discussion: Optimising the environment around highway networks and protecting against climate change
- Rewilding roadside verges, clean air zones
- Low emission zones for air quality, education etc.
- Green and blue infra: Resilience in town centres and rural areas. - using hard or soft infra to mitigate flooding risk. E.g. planting, sustainable drainage systems
Break
Optimising recycling in construction/maintenance programmes – Micheldever Recycling Facility
- An introduction to Milestone Infrastructure and OCL
- The Micheldever Materials Recycling Facility
- Achievements to date
- Materials Innovation
Transition to zero harm
Break
Panel Discussion: Materials for road construction and maintenance
- Moving from hot mix > warm mix > cold mix. Cold lay asphalt to lower carbon footprint and exploring SMAs
- Trials with new mixes and additives such as graphene, polymodified bitumen, rubber, plastic etc to improve durability
- Laying cost vs longer term maintenance and intervention savings
Panel Discussion: Encouraging young professionals and new entrants into the highways and traffic management sector
- Identifying and promoting the key drivers, e.g. Net Zero that will entice the next generation of engineers and leaders
- Work experience, engaging with universities and other routes to share opportunities with young people
- Experiences of young and new entrants to the sector
Panel Discussion: Practical innovation at the operational level
- What does innovation mean on the ground?
- Barriers to practical innovation facing local councils and how to overcome these
- Translating innovation from the senior level to practitioner level
- Accelerating innovation and increasing buy-in
Speakers
-
Sunil Budhdeo Transport Innovation Manager Coventry City Council
-
Ian Large Chair of the Infrastructure Innovation Board, LCRIG & Engineering Manager Traffic & Network Management, Blackpool Council Blackpool Council
-
Iain McDonald Business Development Director SRL Traffic Systems
-
Martin Duffy (Chair) Chief Executive LCRIG
Panel Discussion: Speed management to optimise safety, the environment and public health
- Applicability of learnings from Wales on their journey to 20mph across other nations and a review of Scottish trials and welsh plans for a 50mph national speed limit
- Review of Scottish Borders Council default 20mph trial speed limit
- Balancing broad considerations, including environmental, safety and public health e.g. Speed vs pollution including time in traffic at slower speeds
- Using tech to enhance planning and enforcement
Speakers
-
Philippa Gilhooly Team Leader for Traffic and Road Safety Management Scottish Borders Council
-
Suzy Charman Executive Director Road Safety Foundation (RSF)
-
Darren Freezor Head of Motor Insurance, Safer Vehicles and Speed Department for Transport
-
Phil Jones (Chair) Chairman, PJA and Chair Welsh 20mph Taskforce
Break
Supporting local authorities with transport procurement requirements, with a focus on Carbon Net Zero initiatives
Join this session to learn more about how CCS's simple and compliant agreements are available across the Public Sector and offer savings over market rates, along with how their Transport Technology and Associated Services (TTAS) framework offer solutions for the road, rail, maritime and aviation sectors.
- The range of products and services available under the TTAS framework
- CCS's capability across CNZ initiatives, including market engagement, strategy development, and deployment of solutions
- From environmental monitoring equipment and Clean air zones to electric vehicle charging solutions
- Get advice of how local authorities can utilise the FW to support their CNZ journey
Live Labs 2
Giles Perkins, Programme Director of the £23m DfT funded ADEPT Live Labs local roads innovation programme (https://www.adeptnet.org.uk/livelabs) will discuss the key findings from this cutting edge programme and provide an overview of Live Labs 2, a £30m competitive programme which is focused on decarbonising the local roads sector.
Break
Case Study: The evolution and utility of the transport monitoring network in Greater Manchester
- The evolution of the traffic and sustainable transport monitoring network over the last 15 years.
- The importance of using a mix of monitoring technologies.
- How the traffic and sustainable monitoring data is used in Greater Manchester:
- Transport monitoring during the Covid pandemic;
- Cycling and Walking Scheme Monitoring and Evaluation;
- Travel Demand Management.
- Future uses of the data including the Smart Junctions Project
Speakers
Sharing lessons learnt on moving traffic enforcement powers
- Amended regs, what they mean, what’s included or not included
- Impacts of transferring moving traffic violation powers to local councils
- Identifying, analysing and rectifying the causes of fines hotspots