Archived decisions

Contact: Ken Laughlin, ext 6893 email: [email protected]

1. Summary

1.1 The requirements of the Traffic Management Act and the guidance for the preparation of the second Local Transport Plan (LTP2) are placing greater emphasis on managing the existing network more efficiently and effectively. Traffic management systems have developed significantly over the last 10 years but there are still areas which could be developed further and build upon the technological developments which are taking place. Further opportunities for the future include more cooperative interaction between vehicles and the network infrastructure. Data flow is increasing as vehicles are fitted with Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) systems which not only give more information on existing conditions but will also enable cooperative facilities between the infrastructure and the vehicle to be developed for enhanced management of the network.

1.2 An opportunity has presented itself to work within the European Union's (EU) research and development framework with a European consortium of cities and private sector partners to participate in this research activity and to learn, share experience and gain maximum benefits from future developments in network management.

2. Background and Proposal

2. The proposal would be targeted at the European Commission's 6^th framework research and development call issued by the Directorate General Information Society Technologies (DG IST) under its e-safety call - Cooperative Systems for Road Transport. The call is open for proposals to be submitted until 22 March 2005.

2.2 Involvement in the project will give the County Council the opportunity to help develop future traffic management systems that contribute to meeting the requirements of the Traffic Management Act, LTP2, Corporate Strategy and the effects of the South East Plan. By working as a local consortium with Southampton City Council, Hampshire County Council will be able to contribute to the objectives and future development of network operation and management using the Solent Transport Region as a test bed. Building upon the existing infrastructure and expertise in both Authorities this project will contribute to the future development of traffic management systems.

2.3 The proposal is being developed with both private and public sector partners and would be submitted for consideration as a specific targeted research project (STREP). STREPs are aimed at improving competitiveness and meeting the needs of society or community policies. Participants can be organisations that possess specific competence in management, dissemination and transfer of knowledge, potential users and other stakeholders.

2.4 The proposal has been developed by a group of leading cities in the transport sector in Europe and includes Rome, Brussels, Madrid/Barcelona, Bologna and Hampshire/Southampton. Each partner city has private sector partners which form local consortia in the respective member states. It is proposed that the local consortium would comprise Hampshire County Council, Southampton City Council, Siemens Traffic Controls, ITIS Holdings (suppliers of floating car data to the Department for Transport as part of the LTP monitoring process) and the Transportation Research Group of the University of Southampton.

2.5 The proposal is for a STREP involving the cities/regions and their local partners, including stakeholder groups, industry and academia. The aim of the project is to identify the cooperative vehicle infrastructure systems (CVIS) technologies, combinations and scenarios that offer the greatest potential, and can be best exploited for traffic management and information systems. This will enable local authorities to gain maximum benefits from future developments to meet the policy, statutory and operational requirements for themselves and their communities.

2.6 The approach taken by this proposal will be to re-assess the needs of users in the light of current proposals for developing CVIS, to consider how these systems can be exploited, justified and deployed, and to develop a Shared Common Framework (SCF) tool that will provide a political and organisational framework to help local authorities assess, manage and implement the emerging technologies and integrate them with existing systems and services in an urban context.

2.7 The project will explore existing road maps and develop future scenarios to identify the combinations of CVIS that will produce the greatest benefits. It will consider the issues for deployment and in particular the barriers and risks on the critical path to implementation. It will consider the transport and business cases as a basis for justifying implementation, and consider the operational issues involved in integrating new with existing systems and with gradual introduction.

2.8 The Shared Common Framework will be specified to accommodate new systems within the existing architecture and operating environment and within existing legal and institutional frameworks. It will also provide a specification for assessing the compliance of new proposed systems.

2.9 The project will prepare and carry out a number of common demonstrations which support the local authorities' aims. Some important demonstrations will be done by the project partners themselves, including:

(i) Floating Car Data (FCD) for learning about road and traffic conditions;

(ii) dynamic individual route guidance;

(iii) lane keeping assist for developing narrow bus lanes and increasing capacity;

(iv) stop and go for reducing delays at start up; and

(v) Intelligent Speed Adaption (ISA).

2.10 The project will also be open to provide a test bed for other relevant CVIS technologies and applications which could be proposed for demonstration by parallel projects (eg organised by Integrated Projects (IP) responding to the same research task).

2.11 The project will contribute to a European architecture development for cooperative systems and thus help contribute to standards and ensure future developments are harmonised and coherent. Detailed evaluation will be undertaken to show the benefits and European value of the approach and dissemination activities will make sure that other European cities can use and benefit from the findings.

2.12 The approach will ensure that local authorities gain the greatest benefits possible from developments in CVIS technologies. The benefits are expected to be achieved through exploiting CVIS in order to:

(i) Increase the quality and detail of real-time information and data about traffic and conditions on the roads available at traffic information and control centres.

(ii) Use this information as the basis for more intelligent and efficient traffic/mobility management and information applications to cope with future traffic loads and other challenges.

(iii) The results will include better opportunities to influence drivers in their vehicles to avoid problems and congestion, and to use routes that are free and safer. This will in turn lead to benefits from increased efficiency and effectiveness of transport operations, increased safety and reduced environmental impacts.

3. Financial and Staff Implications

3.1 At this stage in the process there would be no contractual obligation on the County Council. Approval is now being sought to become part of the European consortium involved in submitting a proposal in response to the EU's call for research and development projects. The proposal, once submitted, will be evaluated by the European Commission (EC) and, if successful, the consortium will be called for final negotiations on a contract and it is at that stage that formal commitment from the County Council would be required. It is difficult to assess whether the proposal would be successful in the evaluation process but provides a complementary local authority led proposal to the car industry led projects which are being developed.

3.2 The thrust of the project is to undertake necessary research and development in this sector of transport and is an area that is important to the County Council in the future management of the transport network. The financial details have yet to be finalised but it is anticipated that the overall project cost would be in the region of €5.5 million and would attract €2.78 million from the EU.

3.3 It is proposed that the County Council would contribute in the form of budgeted staff time over the three year period. The amount of EU grant for this involvement is likely to be approximately €200,000 and there would be no infrastructure costs involved for the County Council. If the proposal is successful, it is unlikely to start until late 2005/early 2006 in order that the negotiations on technical, financial and contractual matters can be completed.

3.4 The details set out above would be for the County Council's involvement as a technical partner. However, given the County Council's previous roles and experience in Europe, the Council has been asked by the other cities if it would be prepared to coordinate the project. If the project is successful, this role would bring additional responsibilities for the County Council, ie liaising with the EC, coordinating and submitting the various deliverables, reports and costs statements. However, this role would bring 100% funding and is likely to be in the region of €200,000

3.5 This role could potentially assist with an identified pressure that will face the Department in February 2006. On 31 January 2006 the current MIRACLES project will finish. This will result in the loss of a funding stream for two permanent members of staff (MIRACLES Project Manager and an Assistant Engineer). If this proposal is accepted by the EC then these staff would be available to work on this project and it would also provide funding towards these posts. The total EU grant for both coordinator and technical roles would be approximately €400,000. Any match funding required, through involvement in this project, would be met within the ITS Group's existing management and support services budget.

4. Conclusions

4.1 Involvement in this initiative will enable the County Council to continue to be involved in the development of policy and traffic management systems that will be required in the future to manage more effectively the road network and meet the statutory requirements of the Traffic Management Act and LTP2. Working with Southampton City Council would enable the Solent Transport Area to be used for demonstration purposes.

4.2 The proposal will need to be submitted to the European Commission no later than 22 March 2005. At this stage there is no contractual commitment for the County Council and approval is being sought to participate in the submission of this project as project coordinator. The Department has staff currently employed on the MIRACLES Project and if the submission were successful these staff could transfer to the new project and funding would be available when the MIRACLES project finishes in January 2006.

Recommendation

That the involvement of the County Council in the submission of a proposal for consideration by the European Commission be approved.

283/KGL