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

  • Road pricing is inevitable – because the ‘user pays’ principle is fair
    June 14, 2018
    We pay for roads through our taxes: the poor pay proportionately more, and effectively subsidise the rich. It would be fairer to accept the ‘user pays’ principle, says Dr John Walker. Road pricing is already used worldwide to combat congestion and pollution, to compensate for falling revenues from fuel duty (‘gas tax’), to provide an alternative (and fairer) means of charging motorists than the 80-year old fuel tax and to improve the efficiency of and expand transport infrastructure. However, it could and s
    Read More
  • Lindsay zips-up lane closure solution
    May 11, 2017
    Moveable barrier systems are offering engineers a new traffic management options. Work zones - be they for maintenance or road widening - are a fact of life and when they occur on major highways, they create no end of problems for traffic planners and travellers alike.
    Read More
  • West Midlands pilots the UK’s first MaaS
    November 14, 2017
    Mobility-as-a-Service is being piloted in the UK’s second largest metropolitan area and will shortly be opened to the travelling public. A fully operational Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) offering is being piloted in the West Midlands region of the UK. Covering seven local authorities which make up the West Midlands metropolitan area and population of 2.8 million, the service is being provided through a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between Transport for West Midlands (TfWM), Finnish company MaaS Global
    Read More
  • Hawaii backs road user charging to replace fuel tax
    August 7, 2019
    Fuel tax revenue in Hawaii is falling - and even in paradise, someone has to pay. Adam Hill talks to Hawaii DoT’s Scot Uruda about a major change in the way the state funds road improvements All over the world, governments, transportation agencies and local authorities are casting around for new forms of revenue as the money from taxes imposed on fuel begins to trickle away. Spending is outstripping tax take as a combination of more efficient internal combustion engines and the increasing take-up of cars
    Read More

Highlighted Content