Legacy technology, limiting downtime, doing more with less, and addressing cybersecurity: Dr Kum Wah Choy of Telent sets out how the sector can navigate highways’ challenges.

The highway sector is grappling with ageing and legacy technology, tighter budgets, climate change, and cyber threats. At the same time, emerging technologies like AI and 5G offer transformative opportunities for how roads are maintained. This raises a crucial question: how can highways balance technological innovation whilst being practical and cost-effective?

At its core, the mission of the highways sector is to keep the roads running smoothly and safely. While this might seem straightforward, there are challenges at every step of the way when trying to stay ahead of rapidly evolving technology.

Take legacy technology. Highways are burdened with systems that date as far back as the 1980s, meaning a vast scale of outdated technology has been deployed and upgraded over decades. While it might seem that replacing this equipment with modern technology is the solution – this cannot happen overnight due to significant costs involved. Instead, focus must be placed on modernising legacy systems in a way that is practical and cost-effective, with minimal downtime or disruption to roads.

For example, AI-driven video analytics has been talked about and trialled many times across the highways market. While these technologies promise efficiency, scaling them across the network is an obstacle due to factors such as budget limitations, integration complexities and the need to keep roads running smoothly.

The ability to upgrade legacy systems will never be a quick fix. From a highways perspective, the goal is to maintain these heavily invested systems whilst also trying to modernise and update them by bringing in the benefits that newer technologies can offer. And this must be done against the backdrop of shrinking public finances being made available, as purse strings tighten and more must be accomplished with fewer resources.

The role of emerging technologies in overcoming obstacles faced by the highway sector

Highways networks generate vast amounts of data – around 500 terabytes daily across over a million data points. By applying data science and data analytics, the ability to quickly detect and alert device failures becomes significantly faster than with legacy systems.

Previously, roadside systems transmitted information separately through the network via cameras and telephones. Now, with most systems modernised and running on IP networks, the data packets passing through the network can be analysed to determine the status of devices.

This eliminates the need for legacy systems, reducing service costs, and enabling enhanced asset management, all while maintaining the same level of service. This is crucial to minimise road disruption, so the integration of new technologies working alongside legacy systems must continue at a fast rate.

Emerging technologies being utilised to replace legacy systems

From a communications perspective, satellite-enabled 5G is expected to revolutionise connectivity, becoming more widespread and eliminating blackouts by covering vast areas. This means that any standard 5G mobile phone or SIM will be able to connect seamlessly, just as if it were using a standard base station.

With 4,000 km of motorways in the UK, many areas lack the practicality of physical cables or fibre.  In these locations, wireless communications such as 4G and 5G become essential. However, these same areas often experience poor reception, making satellite-based connections a game-changer for highways. At the same time, legacy communication technologies like 2G, and 3G are being phased out, requiring infrastructure upgrades to support newer mobile signals.

In line with this, BT’s recent decision to switch off Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) and Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) lines impacts a portion of the highway’s network.  As a result, a transition plan is critical to upgrading systems without causing disruption – this would include replacing the PSTN phone lines with Voice over IP (VoIP).

Environmental and population challenges driving the need for more resilient infrastructure, and innovative solutions

As it stands, the highways sector faces an urgent challenge in adapting to deal with environmental, population and cyber threats, all while navigating a risk period of reduced funding and shifting government priorities.

With the UK population projected to reach 72.5 million by 2032, making better use of the road networks, without building more, remains a key focus.  

At the same time, the technology must be resilient, especially as climate change and extreme weather events become more common. New technology needs to be designed to be climate change resilient as standard, to ensure we minimise the impact of extreme climate events to the general public.

Much of the sector’s technology assets refresh cycle has been long overdue, presenting a key opportunity to replace them with technology designed and deployed to be secure, climate change resilient and more cost efficient.   As part of the broader plan, there is a clear focus on modernising infrastructure technology to address these challenges, which will require innovative and norm challenging ways of thinking.

Mitigating ever growing cybersecurity threats

Cyber threats to critical national infrastructure are also growing. With the increasing digitisation of highways, securing networks against cyber-attacks is more important than ever. Highway’s Security Operation Centre (SOC) already prevents on average 34,000 threat attacks per year, but threats will only continue to rise with the increase in geopolitical tension between global powers.

To combat these growing challenges, better use of emerging technologies like AI, data analytics and resilient communication systems is proposed. This solution focuses on automated threat detection and prevention, real-time data monitoring, and secure communication in particularly vulnerable areas. By leveraging these advancements, the highways sector can improve efficiency and cyber resilience.

Doing more with less – the challenge faced by the highways sector

Providing solutions to both current and future challenges will be difficult, but third-party providers and suppliers to highways governing bodies must innovate every aspect of their operations. This is because the challenge of doing more with less remains prevalent and will persist, especially as funding tightens, and resources lessen.

Companies that consistently add value to and provide solutions in this environment will position themselves best, and show they understand the challenges faced by decision makers responsible for delivering public services. These decision makers are turning to external experts for consultancy on how to evolve highways, consistently overcome hurdles, and keep roads safe and flowing smoothly, all while facing increasingly limited budgets.