Learned Programme

Drones offer local authorities the opportunity to collect data on the condition and effectiveness of traffic signal infrastructure with increased safety, lower cost and with a lower carbon footprint. However, there are regulatory implications for the authority in deploying drones in-house or through a contractor. This paper from the Drone Ready Cities project will help you decide whether a drone solution is right for you and how to prepare for it.

Over the past few years, we have seen increasing use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in equipment and systems used for traffic management. However, at this point, their application is rather sporadic and lacks a cohesive approach to their use to achieve a strategic implementation. Most vendors are using AI for specific applications and to provide additional capabilities to their products.

In Spring 2023, the “Superloop” was announced. The Superloop will provide a network of limited-stop express bus routes, circling the capital, enabling quicker connections to key outer London town centres, hospitals, railway stations, and transport hubs. As part of the launch, Network Performance Delivery (NPD) were a key partner in delivery. The entire Superloop network was subject to the RARR process (presented at JCT in September 2023) and bus priority at many locations reviewed. This presentation will detail the innovative approach NPD took to providing targeted Bus Priority for Superloop Routes to ensure express journey times were felt by passengers.

On-line consumer services from Deliveroo, alternatives to Taxis from Uber, optimised route navigation by Waze, hoards of Amazon deliveries, all of these have altered the numbers and types of traffic on our road network and affected our ability to move people and goods around.

How did we get here, how big is the problem and what if anything can we do about it?

Following from previous presentations and discussions at the symposium and based on experience gained across numerous recent cycle signal designs, from simple crossings to multiple major Cyclops arrangements, the paper and presentation will highlight some unusual layouts, innovative approaches to improving cycle facilities, and discuss the oddities, omissions and ambiguities in design requirements from LTN 1-20 and TSM Chapter 6. Proposing a ‘4way forward’ to accompany the national guidance, that looks to resolve the inconsistencies and design challenges in following the differing design guidance.

All-red pedestrian stages are usually modelled based on an assumption – such as appearing every cycle or every other cycle. A more sophisticated approach is required to provide more accurate modelling. This paper will outline how an assumed uniform pedestrian distribution can be used to predict the appearance frequency of demand dependent pedestrian stages, using pedestrian count data. It will outline how this approach can be combined with the use of bonus greens in LinSig to model demand dependent pedestrian stages. This methodology allows for a more refined approach when compared with traditional modelling assumptions. This paper will also include evidence showing the difference between predicted and observed frequencies. Various sites across Greater Manchester have been part of this study and the data from these sites will be used to support the above. The outcome will be an approach to modelling that can be applied by all users of LinSig.

One of the fruits of the Dutch Talking Traffic program is the realisation of a standard for exchanging C-ITS messages with Traffic Light Controllers (TLCs). The standard was developed in a workgroup including the leading European Union TLC vendors Dynniq, Swarco, and Yunex and has been implemented on a large scale in The Netherlands. This standard has been created to facilitate the large-scale rollout of TLC use cases based on long-range communication. It is now also adopted by the region of Flanders (Belgium) in their large-scale C-ITS deployment initiative Mobilidata as well as studied in the NordicWay 3 program. In the meantime, the Netherlands is looking at expanding the scope of the interface to other types of road equipment, such as RoadSide Units (RSUs), electronic signs, access barriers, sensors, etc. This standard facilitates the large-scale deployment of many day 1 and day 1.5 C-ITS use cases, such as Green Light Optimal Speed Advisory (GLOSA), Time to Green(TTG), and Traffic Signal Priority (TSP).

Alex will discuss the design and explain how they plan to have adaptive signals at both cities to manage the bus corridors but also provide emergency vehicle priority.

SWARCO have worked with a number of customers to support and deliver a program to take them from a standard parking guidance system into a fully integrated UTMC compatible system by providing a phased migration approach to allow customers to get a feel for the system.

SWARCO have supported this phased approach by providing the customers with a 2-6 week pilot of the MyCity Urban Mobility Platform, to give the customers exposure to the system and provide user functionality updates and suggestions to support their use of the systems.

After the pilot, SWARCO have supported the migration from legacy parking guidance systems into the UTMC capability system, which enables the customers to expand their ITS capability, and connect other data sources such as air quality monitoring devices, journey time devices, floating car data, weather station devices, traffic light controllers with remote monitoring and much more.

SWARCO are working with customers to understand what ITS equipment they already have out on the street or data already coming into the council, which can then be used to help move traffic around the area or provide information to the travelling public.  SWARCO interfaces are agnostic into the MyCity Urban Mobility Platform, and would like to continue to work with the customers to enable them to use existing equipment into the system to give a complete ITS solution.

The session will show the range of malicious threats facing sites and sectors and the vulnerabilities that can be mitigated by forethought and the design and specification of proportionate countermeasures.  It will also show the security-mindedness required of professionals. 

Darren Capes will share the latest updates on the additional funding secured for improving Traffic Signals.

Almost every vehicle carries a mobile phone, (not forgetting eCall) the whereabouts of which is known to the service provider. We can buy in that data to learn about traffic movements anywhere. No need for loops, CCTV, or manual counting.

At busy times there is a theoretical and demonstrable mathematical relation between speed and flow rate, which allows the construction of a Fourier representation of that flow into the future, enhanced by AI. More usefully it allows calculation of road capacity today, how near to maximum it is, and what it is likely to tomorrow.

A case study of M6 Jcn 19 shows how the technique is used to safely and easily validate junction design, but it also shows the power of the technique in making future predictions, and, when combined with weather forecasts, monitoring when fog actually exists on the road.

In summary, a powerful and easy way of understanding traffic patterns, and hence how to strategically plan to reduce and avoid congestion.

In 2025 the Design Manual for Roads and Bridges (DMRB) and  Manual of Contract Documents for Highway Works (MCHW) are due a re-write.  This paper sets out the background as to what will come in the light of new technologies such as autonomous vehicles, and increasing the safety and resilience of what exists already.

Why do drivers persistently use wrong lanes or run red lights when we have provided clear information? When we create designs, can we get the driver behaviour we want just by telling them what to do?  Or is perception more important than information?

This paper looks into how junction design influences driver perception, and how that changes behaviour. Written applying decades of experience and also a fresh pair of eyes, we explore how we might get drivers to react the way we want, just through our design choices.

In 2014, Tony Earl concluded a very successful Network Management career in London  having led the operations for The City Ring of Steel, Congestion charging, and the 2012 Olympic Games, also playing a leading role in many of the then Mayor’s Smoothing Traffic flow agenda, leaving significant organisational legacy. 

Tony was then persuaded to depart the UK to lead the Government response to rising congestion in Western Australia. 

Hear about the transformation work that Tony undertook which transformed Main Roads Western Australia into a World Class Network Operator. 

In a SCOOT network with short link lengths, such as a gyratory, queues can form which threaten to lock up the network. These may occur due to downstream congestion.  One way to prevent this is to hold traffic back with gating or signal plans, but this can delay more traffic than necessary. There is also a facility within SCOOT to change parameters and plans using the ASCC command, but this can react rather late in some circumstances.  This paper describes the use of the GO bit within a SCOOT plan along with changes to the controller stage change conditioning, to effect a hurry call triggered by loop call/cancel detector inputs. 

What happens when you have an ongoing research and development program which makes better use of data and how this translates into better outcomes for local authorities and road users. 

Cheshire East Council engaged SWARCO to deploy its latest adaptive traffic optimiser, ImFlow, at several problematic junctions. These junctions were previously under Fixed Time, Vehicle Actuated or MOVA control. Has ImFlow made things better?

An Artificial Intelligence heuristic, born out of space exploration techniques, has been applied to address and improve complex traffic congestion in Hull City. The system utilises existing traffic data to create dynamic models of the traffic, allowing a spectrum of approaches to be applied through traffic signal timing adjustments. We will look at the nature of the challenge, the project objectives, the AI application, and the results achieved.

Shuttle systems using traffic signals to control traffic over a one-way section of road are traditionally operated in isolation. In this presentation Craig Cameron from Yunex Traffic's Consultancy Services team considers the challenges and benefits of coordinating and controlling multiple 'shuttle' type schemes and shares his thoughts and learnings from recent shuttle deployments.