Skip to main content

ITS awards for highways technology company

Two projects which highways technology company Rennicks says could set the blueprint for a fresh approach to road safety have sparked a double celebration for the company. It has landed the title of Road Marking Project of the Year at the recent Highways Magazine Excellence Awards for a ground-breaking scheme in Scotland using solar-powered active road stud technology. And the company also clinched an ITS Ireland ITS Excellence award after providing the largest solar-powered variable message signs for t
October 31, 2014 Read time: 2 mins
Two projects which highways technology company Rennicks says could set the blueprint for a fresh approach to road safety have sparked a double celebration for the company.

It has landed the title of Road Marking Project of the Year at the recent Highways Magazine Excellence Awards for a ground-breaking scheme in Scotland using solar-powered active road stud technology.  And the company also clinched an 7075 ITS Ireland ITS Excellence award after providing the largest solar-powered variable message signs for the inter-urban motorway network in Ireland.

The company’s SR-15 units use LED and solar technology to create delineation shown to be far more effective than traditional retroreflective road studs.  The studs made a big impact in Scotland, where a local authority became the first in the country to install the technology on a major route. Incidents on a stretch of the A719 in East Ayrshire are said to have been reduced by 100 per cent.

Road safety expert Alan Vass, of the Ayrshire Roads Alliance, said such dramatic results could prompt a new approach to highway markings across the country.

Rennicks won the ITS Ireland award after supplying the National Roads Authority with three 5.1 x 3.6m fixed solar-powered full matrix signs capable of remote communication and control. Solar technology enables the signs to be installed in rural areas where there is limited access to electricity supplies.

The signs, which deliver VMS capability in almost any location, were installed as part of a pilot project at strategic locations on the M7, M8 and M11 in Ireland.

Group managing director Michael Flanagan says the prestigious industry prizes are rich reward for the company’s intelligent approach. He said: “We are looking to make big strides in the world of intelligent traffic solutions (ITS) so these awards are a great boost to everyone involved. Intelligent thinking is at the core of our business and this success is a clear illustration that we’re on the right track.”

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • UK’s latest smart motorway goes live on M6
    April 16, 2014
    The Midlands got a boost today with the launch of the latest stretch of smart motorway, making greater use of technology on the M6 near Birmingham, bringing improved journeys and less congestion. Opening the hard shoulder to traffic during the busiest times between junctions 5 and 8 on the M6 will improve journey times, especially around Birmingham and marks a milestone for the Highways Agency, after several years of investment in this section of the M6. This ten mile stretch means the benefits can now b
  • Carrots are proving cost-effective in Netherlands
    October 3, 2018
    There are lessons to be learned from congestion avoidance schemes in the Netherlands. David Crawford welcomes some new thinking in road pricing. Highway operators worldwide are being urged to learn from Dutch experience in using financial carrots rather than sticks to encourage drivers to avoid contributing to congestion. A Netherlands/UK group makes a convincing cost/benefit case in a new global survey of road pricing technologies, economics and acceptability. Representing the Rijkswaterstaat section of
  • Blyncsy produces US interstate highway asset map
    November 7, 2024
    Data from more than one million vehicles is available to US DoTs
  • Spark demos 5G capability in Auckland 
    October 27, 2020
    5G and IoT will contribute to addressing urban and sustainability challenges, firm says