Overview
As National Highways' data science partner, Amey learned that different approaches were used in each region. The data being used to plan closures was 7 years out of date - traffic flow data was not accurate. We found that works gangs and plant could be sitting on the side of the motorway for up to an hour waiting for traffic flows to drop. Amey understood from our Transport Infrastructure business how they could plan works better and reduce costs if better information was available.
We collected all the ways that National Highways used to plan closures. We then collected up to date traffic flow information and spoke to key stakeholders. We consolidated all the information and built a new, consistent planning tool. We designed a predictive model to improve future planning. This potentially reduces the overall number of road closures needed. The planning tool also has built in updates to ensure the base data is up to date
Benefits
- National Highways' independent checkers have estimated this approach will lead to considerable savings
- Safety has been improved because people and plant are only on the network during the closures. There is no waiting on hard shoulders
Further roll-out and development
This planning tool is to be rolled out across all maintenance contracts