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

  • ERF welcomes European Commission’s consultation on charging for the use of infrastructure
    January 2, 2013
    That roads are essential for Europe’s prosperity is something no policymaker in their right mind would deny Roads have a major impact on our daily lives, as it is one of the primary means of access to employment, services, and social activities. Moreover, by linking people and other modes of transport, they are a sine qua non for achieving greater cohesion within Europe. In light of this, it is somehow hard to believe how long it has taken policymakers to wake up to an inconvenient truth. This is that chr
  • ITF at OECD launch ‘Promising Transport Innovation Award’
    November 22, 2013
    The International Transport Forum (ITF) at the OECD, an intergovernmental organisation for the transport sector with 54 member countries, is calling for applications for a new award. The Promising Transport Innovation Award will recognise an innovation with the potential to significantly improve the transport industry. The innovation can be based on technological change, operational change, organisational change or a combination of these.
  • Investing in corridors for shared prosperity
    February 27, 2015
    A major IRF regional congress is being held in Europe & Central Asia. The IRF’s global volunteer leadership invites those interested to take part in the 1st IRF Regional Congress in Europe & Central Asia held in Istanbul, on September 15-18, 2015. The European & Central Asia region is a geographic area covering 23 countries with a shared history of relatively recent transition from planned to market economies, and the profound impact this has had on trading patterns, transport services and infrastructure ne
  • Investing in corridors for shared prosperity
    February 27, 2015
    A major IRF regional congress is being held in Europe & Central Asia. The IRF’s global volunteer leadership invites those interested to take part in the 1st IRF Regional Congress in Europe & Central Asia held in Istanbul, on September 15-18, 2015. The European & Central Asia region is a geographic area covering 23 countries with a shared history of relatively recent transition from planned to market economies, and the profound impact this has had on trading patterns, transport services and infrastructure ne