Road user charging and other so called ‘elephants in the room’ will be discussed by expert speakers at this autumn's Highways UK event in Birmingham.

 

A series of presentations, panel debates and question and answer sessions will explore these issues on the afternoon of 8 November as part of the event’s main conference programme.

 

The first session of the afternoon will focus on the topic: ‘Paying for roads – plugging the gap as revenues from fuel duty and road tax collapse’.

 

Speakers including former Transport Minister Steven Norris and RAC Foundation director Steve Gooding will give their views on the future for road pricing. Attendees will also hear from Wolfson Prize winner Gergely Raccuja of Amey.

 

Gergely received the prize after coming up with a proposed new distance based road charge, known as ‘Miles Better’. This would replace fuel and vehicle excise duty with a per mile tax that considers a vehicle’s size and impact on the environment. A proportion of the revenue could be dedicated to roads spending, he suggests.

 

“Positive developments in the sector such as the electrification of transport will create a black hole in roads funding as revenue collected from fuel duty disappears,” commented Highways UK content director Paul Wheeler.

 

“Road pricing in the past has been politically quite toxic but with new technology and big data there is the potential for a much smarter solution of dynamic and demand based pricing. This session will explore those issues.”

 

Further elephants in the room will be explored by the following session, with a particular focus on challenges around procurement and delivery models and supply chain relationships, as well as skills and ‘Powering the grid in the face of increasing electrification’.

 

Highways UK is a two day event taking place from 8-9 November at the National Exhibition Centre. Its main conference offers a high level look at the key issues relevant to both strategic and local road networks. For more information visit highways-uk.com