Winners of National Highways competition to ease pain of roadworks are announced
A host of new ideas to take the sting out of roadworks for drivers, local communities and businesses are to be trialled thanks to a National Highways competition.
Ten winners of a National Highways innovation competition launched to help improve people’s experiences of roadworks have been revealed.
Each of the winners will now get £15,000 to develop their ideas which will help take the sting out of roadworks for drivers, local businesses and communities.
The winning ideas will deliver a variety of benefits from improving the planning of roadworks, enabling more efficient road maintenance and providing real-time data to help people better plan their journeys.
The projects range from a digital twin system to a centralised hub for engagement with road users and video analytics software for insight on roadwork experiences.
Working in collaboration with Connected Places Catapult, National Highways launched the competition last year to find new or existing technology, products or solutions that can make a positive difference to people’s experience of roadworks whether they are driving through the roadworks or living nearby.
National Highways Customer Service Director, Laura Baker-Lacey, said:
“We wanted to find ideas that we hadn’t trialled, tested or even thought of ourselves – and we haven’t been disappointed. We have chosen 10 very exciting projects that could really help reduce the impact of roadworks on road users.
“Roadworks are an essential part of managing, developing and maintaining our roads but we know they are a cause of frustration for not only drivers but those in the surrounding communities and local businesses.
“We hope these ideas will make the experience of roadworks a kinder one and look forward to seeing how the projects develop.”
One of the goals of the competition was to allow smaller enterprises, which haven’t traditionally had the opportunity to work directly with National Highways, to showcase their ideas and win the chance to take it out on the road network.
The winners are:
- Immense Simulations (London)
- Alchera Technology (Cambridge)
- Innovation Factory (Birmingham)
- Robok (Cambridge)
- Fewzed (Castle Cary)
- Emu Analytics (London)
- Colas (Birmingham team)
- Lokulus (Macclesfield)
- Nerds with Words (Gateshead)
- Be Mobile (Melle, Belgium)
As well as the £15,000 funding to explore the feasibility of using their projects on National Highways’ roads, they will also get technical and commercial support from experts at Connected Places Catapult and at National Highways to help develop and scale up their innovations.
The ideas that are most successful will have the opportunity to trial their idea on National Highways roads.
The competition is funded through National Highways’ Designated Funds. This is ring-fenced funding dedicated to investing in and supporting initiatives that deliver lasting benefits for road users, the environment and communities across England.
Notes to Editors
National Highways is the wholly government-owned company responsible for modernising, maintaining and operating England’s motorways and major A roads.
Real-time traffic information for England’s motorways and major A roads is available via the Traffic England website, local and national radio travel bulletins, electronic road signs and mobile apps. Local Twitter services are also available.
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