A before-and-after comparison of journey times on a corridor benefitting from the Department for Transport’s Traffic Signals Obsolescence Grant (TSOG) funding has shown a near-four per cent improvement since work was carried out.

The transportation analytics and data company INRIX looked at a stretch of the A631 through Maltby to the east of Rotherham, after the council’s signals engineers had described the £500,000 funding they had received for the route as a “gamechanger.”

Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council was awarded the money in the spring, spending it on replacing unreliable and obsolete equipment to increase functionality and reduce energy consumption.

“I read about TSOG investment in Rotherham, following its successful application and implementation and how the engineers felt traffic around the improvement, and wondered whether the data would back that gut feeling up,” explained INRIX Senior Director Dominic Paulo.  “So, I used our Signal Analytics corridor function to quickly look at a month’s worth of data before and after the upgrades, which corroborated what the council’s signals engineers has noted.”

INRIX Signal Analytics was also previously leveraged by the Department for Transport to build the business case for the £50 million funding to improve traffic signals through the TSOG and its sister project, the Green Light Fund (GLF).

In total, a hundred combined and local authorities across England received a share of this money and are currently replacing obsolete equipment (TSOG) or tuning up traffic signals (GLF) to better reflect current traffic conditions.

“In this one initial quick analysis we have found a significant improvement travel times from this funding,” Dominic Paulo continued.  “Considering the TSOG money was simply to replace obsolete and update existing equipment, it is impressive to see the difference. It will be very interesting and exciting to see what effect the investment has had on GLF projects and also the other TSOG projects. Hopefully we can continue to support the DfT on this in accordance with previous pledges.

“In the budget, the Chancellor said she expects to see government departments meet spending targets by using technology more efficiently. I believe INRIX Signals Analytics can be used to quickly and inexpensively categorically prove that investing in traffic signal technology can improve traffic much more quickly and cost-effectively compared to infrastructure spending.”