New round of funds directed at projects aimed at reducing congestion and pollution
The Department for Transport (DfT) has provided 19 English local authorities with shares of £4 million pot to improve traffic management.
The money, which was allotted from the Cooperative-Intelligent Transport Systems (C-ITS) and Smart Infrastructure Competition, is being divided into shares of between £50,000 and £300,000 for a series of projects aimed at reducing congestion and cleaning up the environment.
It includes the creation of apps, the development of real time travel information systems and the use of Bluetooth technology to support parking.
Roads Minister Andrew Jones, said: “I congratulate today’s winners for coming up with cutting edge, innovative ideas that will transform journeys for passengers and motorists across the country.
“Technology is rapidly evolving and this important work shows that if we get it right, it can cut congestion, speed up journeys, clean up the environment, and improve accessibility.”
The successful bidders include:
- Blackpool Council - £234,000 to use Bluetooth technologies in cutting traffic congestion.
- Dorset County Council - ££182,000 to develop an app providing advance congestion warnings for drivers on the A31.
- Warrington Borough Council - £300,000 to provide real time information on travel through on-street displays, social media and phone apps.
- Coventry City Council - £150,000 for a real time bay availability system across 450 pay and display parking spots.
- Westminster City Council, the London Boroughs of Hounslow and Hammersmith & Fulham - £204,000 to roll out a new generation of electric vehicle charge points that will also provide real time data to motorists.
- Peterborough City Council - £50,000 to use digital technology to provide real time journey information to visually impaired people.
The announcement follows the allocation of a smaller round of seed funding, amounting to £833,000, that the DfT made available to support smart transport projects at the end of last year under the Transport Technology Research and Innovation Grants (T-Trig) scheme.
The complete list of councils obtaining the new round of funds can be found here.
Image from GOV.UK, Open Government Licence v3.0
