The company is working with industry partners to develop innovative vehicles that will remove the need for cones to be manually placed when closing lanes for works on motorways and major A roads.

“By taking out the human element in the laborious task of putting out cones, we will be taking out an element of potential risk,” explained Highways England group leader Martin Bolt, who oversees innovation in the Midlands.

“As well as taking away this physical labour, these automated machines could also save valuable person hours and allow us to redeploy the workforce to other traffic management duties.”

Currently cones are placed by two operatives working on the rear of a vehicle, with most of this activity carried out at night and in all weathers. A typical 4km closure involves putting down – and later removing – approximately 260 to 300 cones.

It is estimated that a single kilometre of coning takes approximately 15 minutes to install and remove, resulting in an exposure time to live traffic of two hours per shift for workers.

Highways England is funding the development of two automated cone laying vehicles, one by a team comprising Kier and HW Martin Traffic Management and another by Highway Care and King Highway Products.

Testing is due to begin next month at a centre in Lutterworth, Leicestershire. It is hoped that both machines – if they prove themselves in testing – will be put into action in late 2020.

(Photograph: Highways England)