New technology is being introduced into National Highways’ National Traffic Information Service (NTIS) which it says will make sure consistent and reliable information is available on the nation’s motorways and major A roads.
The service provides information that is vital to help both National Highways’ operations teams and the emergency services respond to incidents as efficiently as possible and to keep traffic moving.
It also helps road users plan their journeys, avoid delays and stay safe by supplying the latest information to electronic message signs on the network and journey planning digital platforms.
Under the new digital infrastructure, National Highways’ operations data is being transferred from a legacy to cloud infrastructure for the first time.
Alongside this, National Highways, formerly Highways England, will be able to share accurate and up-to-date information with road users regarding planned works, delays or any other congestion which may impact their journey.
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National Highways’ Customer Service Director Melanie Clarke said: “This ground-breaking digital transformation will allow us to make positive changes to the way our roads are run and to vastly improve the journeys of road users both today and on the roads of the future.
“This is a small part of our Digital Roads strategy which is reverberating across National Highways fundamentally changing how our roads are designed, built, operated and used.”
As well as the operational benefits and giving road users better real-time route planning, the new system, introduced by Sopra Steria, will support the creation of an innovative digital twin representation of the strategic road network.
This will be used to map out motorways and major A roads in England digitally and will use machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) to accurately predict the conditions of the roads up to 24 hours in advance.
National Highways says it will help to reduce the impact of both planned events, such as roadworks and football matches, and unplanned incidents such as road collisions both by improving the management of the road network through increased automation and enabling road users to better plan their journeys.
National Highways has set out its Digital Roads strategy on a new website and ‘virtual learning environment’.
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