Traffex (6-8 June Birmingham NEC) will become a highways laboratory next month, as it showcases the groundbreaking research and trials taking place under the hugely popular ADEPT Live Labs 2 schemes.
Under the Department for Transport sponsored £30m programme, seven schemes will push the boundaries of highway knowledge and technology under the ambition of decarbonising local roads.
The Traffex Excellence stage will play host to some of the winning pitches exploring how they can leave a legacy of sustainability for years to come.
Giles Perkins (pictured), programme director for Live Labs 2, will introduce the session at Traffex.
He told Highways: 'Decarbonising Local Roads Live Labs 2 is a three-year, UK-wide programme to support the transition to net zero carbon local roads.
'This suite of presentations will provide an overview of the programme, its aims and aspirations as well as details on the core themes that cover the cohort of seven Live Labs. Live Labs 2 covers the whole of the “fence to fence” of highways assets, including green assets, civil engineering, lighting, technology and supporting assets.
'This series is directly relevant to those wanting to understand the journey that the sector needs to make in reducing carbon in all scales of infrastructure.'
Tracy Cowley, the lead officer of the Transport for West Midlands on its live labs 2 project, will discuss the game-changing concept of the UK Centre of Excellence for Highway Materials Decarbonisation.
She said: 'This transformative initiative aims to break down silos of innovation in the highways maintenance sector, offering practical solutions to address pressing challenges. Experience first-hand the unveiling of a best practice centre that will revolutionise the decarbonisation of highway materials.'
Highways magazine will be covering the 'Wessex Group's' Live Labs 2 project over its lifetime.
Mike O'Dowd-Jones, strategic commissioner for highways and transport services at Somerset Council, is the lead officer from Wessex project.
At Traffex, he will explain how councils in Somerset, Cornwall, Hampshire, Devon and Liverpool will be working together to explore ‘Corridor and Place Based Decarbonisation'.
The councils and their private sector and academic partners intend to work together to develop and share new practices focused on reducing carbon emissions from local highway maintenance activity and new road construction; with the long-term ambition of changing the way the highway sector undertakes this type of activity.
Mr O'Dowd-Jones will give an overview of the Wessex (Somerset, Hampshire, Cornwall) net-zero corridors programme; Devon’s A382 ‘carbon negative’ major road network scheme; and Liverpool’s ‘Ecosystem of Things’.
Karl Rourke, service manager for Street Lighting, Traffic Signals and CCTV at East Riding of Yorkshire Council, will also be discussing his street lighting Live Labs project.
'We aim to academically scrutinise the current British Standards that govern the highway visual environment and test if they are still fit for purpose in the current age. We aim to reduce carbon on the highway by providing an alternative to street lighting using other methods for visual information for road users, backed up by academic scrutiny to enable a robust defence,' he said.
'We acknowledge that street lighting will be required in some circumstances and we will also investigate if current standards are fit for purpose in these instances or whether changes to this can enable greater and safer use of the highway nighttime environment. We aim to look at the highway visual realm in a design-led, holistic way and provide the answer to the question: can we do this differently?'
Register for FREE for this year's Traffex on 6-8 June at Birmingham NEC.
