The Department for Transport has published the list of 80 councils sharing £40m to upgrade traffic signals.
The cash comprises £20m under the Traffic Signals Obsolescence Grant (TSOG) to replace unreliable and obsolete equipment and £20m from the Green Light Fund (GLF) to tune up traffic signals to better reflect current traffic conditions.
A further £10m for TSOG cash is being distributed automatically to all eligible English local highway authorities using the Integrated Transport Block allocation grant formula.
The winners of the £40m were were (the list is here) published after Mark Harper ‘confirmed’ the funding on Sunday (17 March).
The Transport Technology Forum (TTF), which ran the process, said 67 grants are being made to fund projects in 80 local authority areas. Most are for £500,000 but two combined authorities – Greater Manchester and Tees Valley – will receive multi-million payments to cover authorities across their areas.
It described the cash as the largest single amount of spending in traffic signals in a generation.
With 118 of the 121 eligible local authority areas having made an application either directly or via a Combined Authority, more than two-thirds were successful.
The TTF worked with the Local Council Roads Innovation Group (LCRIG) to manage the process.
LCRIG CEO Paula Claytonsmith said: ‘The authorities worked hard to deliver the evidence the Government needed to support this spending, and that team effort has really paid off. We look forward to seeing the benefits of the investment in the weeks and months to come.'
Max Sugarman, chief executive of Intelligent Transport Systems UK (ITS UK), said: ‘Congratulations to the many local authorities who have been awarded traffic signals funding today.
‘This is a great opportunity for the industry, including many ITS UK members, to work with transport authorities across the country to support a more efficient, effective and greener road network.’
