With the Chancellor set to publish the Autumn Budget in a month’s time, ITS UK have published a report calling for a renewed focus on motorway technology as a means of improving safety, reducing congestion, lowering carbon emissions and making the road network future-ready.

The Report, ‘A Future State for the UK Motorway Network’, calls for a National Motorway Technology Transition Strategy, consisting of three parts:

1. The maintenance of current roadside technology
2. Preparing for the increasing roll out of connected vehicle services in the medium term
3. Getting ready for automated mobility in the future.

We believe, that in order to deliver this strategy effectively, local authorities, national and sub-national transport bodies must work together, through a programme of renewal, maintenance and enhancement to technology on the strategic road network.

What does the Report say?

Over the years, the UK has invested in many forms of technology to help improve safety, capacity and customer experience, with worldleading success. Yet, the challenges our motorway network faces – congestion, reducing harm and decarbonisation to name a few – continue to grow and evolve. All this
at a time when a growing proportion of technology on the motorway network is reaching the end of its operational life.

The Report states that if we are to maintain current assets on the road network, as well as ensure our roads are future-ready, we will need a joined-up approach to maintenance, renewal and future investment. 

‘A Future State for the UK Motorway Network’ outlines why a renewed focus on motorway technology is necessary, if the sector is to reduce emissions, improve safety, and increase efficiency. It also sets out the need for the industry to look in the short term at current assets, focus on connected mobility in the near term, and look ahead to automated vehicles in the future.

The report calls for a National Motorway Transition Strategy, to bring together government, transport and local authorities to provide a holistic long-term view on how emerging technologies can be integrated alongside existing ones, in a coordinated and structured way.

Reaction

ITS UK Chief Executive, Max Sugarman said: “Our motorways are critical to our national transport network, supporting millions of people, as well as freight, to get across the country each day. Yet, it is vital, as we approach the upcoming Autumn Budget, that we continue to invest both in current existing technology on the network, as well as in the technology required for the network to be future ready, including for both connected and automated vehicles.

“That is why ITS UK’s new report, ‘A Future State for the UK Motorway Network’ advocates for a National Motorway Technology Transition Programme that sets out a key path for the maintenance and future investment in motorway technology, bringing together local authorities, private sector suppliers and national and sub-national transport bodies to ensure best-practice and joined up approaches. We believe that, through technology, we can support a safer, more efficient, greener and more cost-effective strategic road network, both now and into the future.”

Chair of the ITS UK Future of Motorway Technology Expert Group Colin Wilson, added: “It’s been my privilege to Chair the Expert Working Group which has worked so diligently to document its collective insight on the future of motorway technology. I hope readers find this Report interesting and informative, and that it provokes a much-needed discussion on the opportunities and challenges facing the use of transport technology on the UK’s road network”