Skip to main content

International Safer Roads Conference focus on highway maintenance funding

UK road planners and engineers attending next month’s International Safer Roads Conference will find out how to avoid losing part of their highway maintenance funding from the British Government. In the Department of Transport document, ‘Gearing up for efficient highway delivery and funding’, Robert Goodwill, MP, the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Transport, warns that local authorities will be incentivised to take up asset management to make the most from allocated resources.
April 30, 2014 Read time: 3 mins
UK road planUK road planners and engineers attending next month’s International Safer Roads Conference will find out how to avoid losing part of their highway maintenance funding from the British Government.

In the Department of Transport document, ‘Gearing up for efficient highway delivery and funding’, Robert Goodwill, MP, the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Transport, warns that local authorities will be incentivised to take up asset management to make the most from allocated resources.

It is proposed that every highway authority will receive baseline funding, with additional funds, as much as 10%, for those with an asset management strategy in place.

The Roads Minister will be addressing the Conference, which is being held in Cheltenham, western England, from the 18 – 21 May 2014. UK delegates will be able to share best practice to help prepare a strategy to avoid losing any vital funding.
The underlying theme of the Conference is ‘saving lives through safer roads’ and delegates are travelling from around the world to share their experience and knowledge.

Dr Chris Kennedy, chairman of the organising committee, says they will be discussing the ever-changing issues of climate change and increasing traffic flows, as well as how types of vehicles place more pressure on existing materials and practices.

“The papers being presented also look at how to achieve more for less in what are challenging times”, he explained.

The 4th International Safer Roads Conference is co-sponsored by the Chartered Institute of Highways and Transportation, 1009 New Zealand Transport Agency and 3312 WDM Limited. Delegates will consist of engineers, practitioners, policy makers and other professionals from central and local governments, academics from universities and research organisations, consultants and contractors.

Dr Kennedy says the Conference will help encourage authorities to become more innovative to achieve best value in road and runway safety maintenance and practices.

“Studies have shown that driver behaviour can be linked with the road environment to produce innovative ways to reduce accident rates and these changes also need to use the appropriate surface materials.

“Many countries have been showing reductions in headline numbers of killed and seriously injured, but as the opening keynote speaker from the Dutch Institute of Road Safety will be discussing, these headline figures often fail to show that the number of vulnerable users continues to rise,” he said. “No country can afford to be complacent about its road safety record.”

Full details of the Conference can be found on %$Linker: 2 External <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary /> 0 0 0 oLinkExternal www.saferroads.org.uk Visite Safe Roads website false http://www.saferroads.org.uk/ false false%>

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Hyundai’s hydraulic hybrid offers 20% fuel savings
    April 18, 2013
    Hyundai Heavy Industries is showcasing a hydraulic hybrid machine at bauma. The R220-LC Hi-POSS is a 22tonne-crawler excavator with a system that allows brake energy to be used for other functions. Hi-POSS stands for Hyundai intelligent power optimal sharing and energy saving. “This is the most novel thing we have,” said Hyundai product engineer Joachim Van de Perre. “With a conventional excavator, when you brake, the energy heats the hydraulic oil. Here we use the energy to perform another task with the ma
  • Larsen & Toubro’s work in Oman is discussed
    August 28, 2013
    Larsen & Toubro Limited (L&T), an internationally acclaimed Indian technology, engineering, construction and manufacturing company, has worked on some of the iconic projects across the world and has been expanding its reach internationally. The company has a strong presence in Oman and is currently working on major road and infrastructure projects. As a speaker for the Oman Land Transport Infrastructure Summit 2013, IQPC Middle East, the event organisers, spoke to John Alan Lewis, the head of quality,
  • Sandvik upgrades cone crusher offering
    April 15, 2013
    Sandvik claims that its 18.9tonne CH550 cone crusher offers customers good material shape and low operating costs in a range of material applications. A development of the company’s Hydrocone design, the CH550 can be configured for either secondary or tertiary crushing applications with a wide performance range.
  • LuiGong celebrates joint venture partnerships
    April 15, 2013
    LiuGong and its partners – Cummins and ZF – chose bauma 2013 to celebrate a string of successes with joint ventures, shared factories, and profitable partnerships. “We looked for only the best partners that share our commitment to excellence,” said Zeng Guang’an, LiuGong’s vice chairman and president. “With Cummins and ZF we believe we have found two of the best.” LiuGong’s joint venture with ZF began in 1995, which allowed the Chinese maker to cost-effectively incorporate high-level ZF technology into its