Highways England trials electric roadworks vehicles

Highways England is trialling two electric powered roadworks vehicles with the aim of improving air quality along motorways and major A roads. One vehicle is being used across the East Midlands and the other on a major scheme on the A14 in the east of England. Martin Bolt, Highways England’s corporate group leader, operations directorate (Midlands) says: “We are actively exploring opportunities to improve air quality for those travelling on, or living near, our roads as well as reduce exposure for road wo
July 2, 2019 Read time: 2 mins

8101 Highways England is trialling two electric powered roadworks vehicles with the aim of improving air quality along motorways and major A roads.

One vehicle is being used across the East Midlands and the other on a major scheme on the A14 in the east of England.

Martin Bolt, Highways England’s corporate group leader, operations directorate (Midlands) says: “We are actively exploring opportunities to improve air quality for those travelling on, or living near, our roads as well as reduce exposure for road workers. These vehicles help with that and also reduce noise for nearby residents.”

Further measures include the installation of a barrier alongside the M1 in South Yorkshire to help improve air quality for the local community and the deployment of electric charge points on or near the motorway network.

The five-month project is being funded by Highways England’s £75 million allocation for air quality improvements.

Highways England is now working with H W Martin (Traffic Management) to trial both vehicles in tasks such as traffic management, maintenance operations and the installation and removal of lane closures for construction work. Experts from the University of Bath will collect and analyse data to determine for which tasks the vehicles are best suited.

Ryan Wood, technical manager for H W Martin, says: “Undertaking these trials will allow us to understand first-hand how the vehicles perform while carrying out different tasks and how current charging infrastructure provides a network for their use.”

The trial will be followed by a post-trial report, the results of which are expected to inform future work around assessing how charging infrastructure is deployed for major projects and looking at the future potential for using electric roadworks vehicles.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Gothenburg to implement congestion charging
    February 2, 2012
    Gothenburg, which is line to become Sweden's second major city to implement congestion charging, will not enjoy the pre-deployment trials and referendum which Stockholm did. But, says the STA's Eva Söderberg, this is less of an issue than might be imagined
    Read More
  • Wavetronix radar-based traffic sensor cuts costs
    May 30, 2013
    While initial cost of radar based detection may be higher than that traditional loops, lower maintenance costs more than balance the books. Following successful field tests, the US city of Greenville, North Carolina, has recently agreed a new policy of phasing in Wavetronix traffic sensor technology’s radar-based SmartSensor Matrix system across its signalised traffic intersections. City traffic engineer Rik DiCesare expects the incremental implementation to deliver benefits to both the city’s taxpayers an
    Read More
  • Clearview launches ROI calculators for road safety schemes
    December 5, 2017
    Clearview Intelligence (CI) has launched two free to use Return on Investment (ROI) calculators to assist highway professionals in showing the benefit of improving road safety on their network. The tools are said to demonstrate how road safety schemes pay for themselves during their lifetime as well as quantify the number of lives saved and injuries prevented. Designed for SolarLite Active Road Stud installations and the other for combination road safety solutions, the tools use the costs of accidents from
    Read More
  • 5G smart light poles extend from Nokia campus
    September 19, 2019
    A collaboration led by Nokia Bells is extending smart poles beyond the LuxTurrim5G project in the Finnish city of Espoo to a nearby residential area called Kera. The LuxTurrim5G project seeks to develop and demonstrate a fast 5G network based on smart light poles at Nokia’s campus. The new smart poles will support Sensible4’s autonomous bus Gatcha operating between this area and Kerra railway station. Juha Salmelin, LuxTurrim5G project coordinator from Nokia, says: “During the project, we have learned a
    Read More

Highlighted Content