IHT North Western Branch Seminar, Preston, 4 December

On a morning when the predicted snow did not arrive in Preston, over sixty delegates assembled for this event to mark the 50th Anniversary of the opening of the first stretch of the M6 Motorway. The seminar was opened by David Orr, Immediate Past President, Institution of Civil Engineers who was the Chairman for the morning session.
 
Nirmal Kotecha, Director of Major Projects, Highways Agency gave the Keynote Address. His presentation looked at how the motorway network has evolved since 5th December 1958 when the first motorway, Preston By-pass was opened to the travelling public. He then went on to outline where the Highways Agency was today – the size of the network, the volume of traffic it carries and how a 24/7 operation helps the Agency and its supply chain partners deliver a service to the travelling public. The focus then shifted to where the Agency was going with technology based solutions to help keep the road user informed and assist in the planning of journeys. The implications for the supply chain were also highlighted, what has been learnt from the past and how the Highways Agency will evolve as a client.
 
Chris Jackson, Senior Vice President, IHT and Business Development Manager, Morgan Est presented on the theme of Learning from the Past. This was a presentation which was originally planned to be presented by David Tarrant, President IHT and was written around the research project “With the benefit of hindsight” and the presentations given at the 2008 IHT Presidential Conference. Chris presented a reflection of events which have punctuated the past 50years from the emergence of Elvis to the appointment of Gordon Brown as UK Prime Minister.
 
These historic milestones were then put into context in relation to milestones in transportation with the time series of pivotal events – the increase in the size of the motorway network; the change in rail network size, usage and the public cost. Global transportation trends were highlighted and how consumer trends have also evolved.
 
Other themes which were presented included social change and expectations, the evolution of government transportation policy, economy and funding, the changing transport network, planning and environment, cause and effect. Chris finished his presentation by summarising what we have learnt from the past and recommendations for the future.
 
Intelligent Transport Systems was the title of the paper given by Paul Welsh who provides consultation on transportation issues. For the uninitiated he kindly defined exactly what ITS is. What was involved in understanding and the importance of establishing user needs was highlighted in addition to examples of how ITS solutions had been implemented as a result of incidents on the network.
 
Further examples of ITS in operation led Paul to talk about Envelope which is the first true ITS on the motorways involving 14 police forces. Key lessons were learnt from the Envelope project the main one being that providing information reduced driver stress and the risk of secondary accidents. Paul concluded his presentation by indicating where ITS will go in the future – new diversion strategies, the Midland UTMS system and the move towards holistic network management.
 
Mark Whitworthfrom Envirolink Northwest presented the green perspective to how the highway network impacts on the Environment and the way in which Envirolink are involved in providing advice and guidance on important issues such as air light and noise pollution; the applicable legislation and how new technologies are helping to mitigate the impact of these.
 
He then went on to talk about how designers and contractors could benefit from building in a more sustainable way – the use of recycled materials, energy efficiency and other initiatives. The presentation was concluded by looking of examples of technologies/companies currently employing energy saving techniques and how all organisations can participate in initiatives such as the considerate constructor scheme.
 
Richard Turner, Former Chief Executive of the Freight Transport Association looked at the challenges facing the transportation of goods across a network and how lorries fit in to the overall picture, their needs moving forwards and how changes to the network impact on this and the importance of network reliability for the future. He highlighted that industry needed networks which were easy to do business with, reliable to use with accurate signing and effective ITS in order to interface with supply chain management systems.
 
Chaired by Chris Jackson the afternoon session commenced with a presentation given by Stephen Glaister, Professor of Transport Infrastructure, Imperial College, London who took a forward look at roads referring to the RAC Foundation Motoring towards 2050: Roads and Reality document. Issues likely to impact on the road network between 2005 and 2041included population growth, increase in personal income, an increase of 44% in the number of cars resulting in an increased road traffic demand.
 
Stephen looked at the current proposals to deal with roads problems and offered the package solution – a combination of road pricing being used to fund extra capacity. He indicated that strategies adopted by the rail sectors could also be employed by the roads industry. It was stressed that the network is currently very close to capacity and that average journey times and variability are set to increase unless there is intervention soon.
 
He explored whether the Public Service Agreement target relating to journey time reliability actually allowed road users to monitor the service quality they experienced. In concluding his presentation he looked at what could be a realistic, long term national roads strategy; the congestion vs carbon debate, the role local communities could play and the importance of reinstating public trust in the government. A local perspective was provided by Stuart Wrigley, Acting Director of Environment, Lancashire County Council. Comparing 1958 with the current day, he set out Lancashire County Council’s social objectives through their corporate strategy. He mentioned Lancashire’s approach to Local Transport Planning and the Blackpool-Fleetwood Tramway, Heysham M6 Link and the Pennine Reach bus-based rapid transit and the public consultation stage.
 
The importance of working in partnership to deliver integrated transport schemes. He highlighted the range of services that partnerships can deliver and how accessibility in particular can be delivered especially when providing effective transport in areas where demand is low.
 
Congestion is also an issue with Preston being a particular hot spot. Journey reliability is therefore high on the agenda with ITS being employed to manage the growth in traffic. Lancashire also has initiatives to tackle air quality and sustainability issues and the presentation mentioned how important it is to meet the public’s expectations in relation to this.
 
Safer roads is an area Lancashire has had considerable success and they are well on track to meet the national targets. Considerable work has been done on asset management – improving the condition of the network and better maintenance.
 
Despite its success, challenges still remain – working closer with partners, moving towards sustainable development, managing climate change, congestion – promoting modal shift and commitment to congestion charging.
 
Coffee and cake was followed by the final two speakers of the day. Dave Grunwell, Divisional Director, Highways Agency Network Operations North West looked at the operation of the motorway network - both Nationally and Locally. Subjects covered in his presentation included the consequences of ‘white Friday’, the functions of traffic officers, congestion, roadworks and performance monitoring. Winter service featured prominently in the presentation with reference to the new winter service fleet and the reasons why the Highways Agency has chosen to use pre-wetted salt. The presentation ended with an overview of other initiatives such as the National Vehicle Recovery Service and measures to manage current and future motorway capacity.
 
The day was concluded with a presentation by Matt Sweeting, Regional Performance Manager, Highways Agency North West. This presentation expanded on that of the previous speaker looking at the causes of congestion and how traffic volume has grown. Measures to tackle congestion were mentioned – variable speed limits, managed motorways, the use of hard shoulder and the presentation looked at the results of the M42 trial. The environmental benefits of Active Traffic Management were highlighted and the presentation ended with a forward look to advanced motorway signalling and the Traffic Management Feasibility Study.