Skip to main content

DfT launches fund for councils to improve road travel using new technology

A US$2.5 million (£2 million) fund to allow councils to capitalise on emerging technologies and deliver better journeys for motorists has been launched by the UK Department for Transport (DfT). Local authorities have been to apply for a share of the money to develop projects to greatly enhance journeys. Proposals include using technology that will allow vehicles communicate with each other and roadside sensors to provide drivers with real-time traffic information. Councils will also look at how warnin
August 12, 2016 Read time: 2 mins
A US$2.5 million (£2 million) fund to allow councils to capitalise on emerging technologies and deliver better journeys for motorists has been launched by the UK 1837 Department for Transport (DfT).

Local authorities have been to apply for a share of the money to develop projects to greatly enhance journeys. Proposals include using technology that will allow vehicles communicate with each other and roadside sensors to provide drivers with real-time traffic information.

Councils will also look at how warnings about changing weather and traffic conditions can be sent directly to vehicles, so drivers can plan ahead - helping deliver quicker, more efficient and safer journeys.

Councils across England will have until the end of September to apply for the funding. Bids are expected to range between US$39,000 (£30,000) and US$389,000 (£300,000) and councils are expected to provide at least five per cent of their project’s cost.

They have until 5pm on Friday 30 September 2016 to submit their bids and successful councils will be revealed in November. Schemes would be expected to complete by March 2018.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • DSRC? ‘It’s become a faith-based thing’
    March 2, 2021
    The US FCC’s decision on 5.9GHz led to Applied Information offering DSRC buybacks to DoTs. Bryan Mulligan tells Adam Hill that we now just need to get on and roll out CV technology...
  • London’s zero-emission plan is premature, warns FTA
    October 24, 2018
    Plans to implement a clean air zone in London are premature, says a transport trade body - because zero-emission vehicles are not commercially viable. The Freight Transport Association (FTA) is unimpressed with the City of London Transport Strategy’s ambition to improve air quality and traffic in the east of the capital and the Barbican area by 2022. This draft scheme, which maps out a 25-year framework for managing streets within the City’s ‘Square Mile’, includes establishing a speed limit of 15 mp
  • Less travel aggravation to blunt Aggieland fans’ motivation
    June 17, 2016
    Returning travel times to normal within two hours of the end of a major football game was the challenge facing College Station, Adam Lyons explains how this was achieved. College Station, TX, also known as ‘Aggieland’, is located right in the middle of the Dallas/Fort Worth, San Antonio and Houston triangle making the city accessible to over 14 million Texans within less than a four-hour drive. One of the biggest draws to this area is Texas A&M University (TAMU) and the Aggie football games in the fall, mea
  • Rethink required to reduce road transport’s environmental impact
    March 15, 2016
    Against a background of a renewed focus on limiting the rise in average temperatures, Colin Sowman looks at a project that is taking a holistic approach to the environmental impact and safety of road transport. At the COP21 meeting in Paris last December, almost 200 nations agreed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in an effort to keep the rise in global temperatures to 2°C) compared with pre-industrial levels. The transportation sector is a major contributor to the production of CO2, one of the main green