Everything that you need to know about 5G but didn't know what to ask
Peter Simm - Mobius Networks

Using mobile data has been fraught with difficulties over the years for UTMC applications. With few success stories.

However, the world has just got more complicated and more dangerous with cyber-attacks on the increase, and a plethora of new methods to communicate with remote devices over the Mobile networks, based around the 5G standards.

A basic understanding of what is going to happen to the mobile network in the next 12 months and what's planned for the next 20 years. Would be a good starting point for everyone who is considering upgrading any kind of traffic system within those time scales.

Armed with the right set of questions for suppliers, you can transform the odds of delivering a successful project massively.

Five Second Minimum Green: Times they are a changin'
Korak Van Tuyl - TfL

Following the release of TSM Chapter 6, the minimum green to a full green traffic phase can be reduced to 5 seconds at sites with very low flows. TfL has undertaken on-street trials to assess the impact and benefit of reducing this minimum to 5 seconds with a focus on safety, user behaviour and performance at 12 signalised junctions. Both pedal cycle only and mixed road traffic phases were selected for the trial, phases which were typically signalised exits from private dwellings, businesses or parks and appeared in their own demand-dependant stage.

Before and after surveys using camera footage have provided evidence of the impacts of reducing the minimum green time and to provide proof of concept. This evidence has permitted a wider range of sites to be selected and design guidance produced, which outlines criteria for site selection.

The benefits of lowering the minimum full green to a traffic phase has been measured in relation to the ability for the junction to re-balance the additional green time to busy approaches, specifically those with bus routes on to improve their performance. Additionally, reducing the minimum green provides an opportunity for a lower cycle time at some sites which can assist with pedestrian wait time.

The Carbon Conundrum - How do we further improve the environmental credentials of our signal installations?
Alistair Gollop - Mott MacDonald

Over the past decade, the traffic systems manufacturers have made great strides in reducing the energy consumption of traffic systems, the switch to modern electronics and LEDs has had a marked impact on electrical consumption of installations. However, in the coming few years, we will need to continue to reduce the environmental impact of our installations to a level that aligns with the goals set in the COP26 Glasgow Climate Pact in November last year.

To achieve this, a re-evaluation of the requirements for installations will need to balance the benefits of safety and efficiency against the impact these systems have on our planet. As part of this process, we will need to assess if the level of equipment provision for sites is necessary, do we need to include all the facilities we have grown to expect at different types of sites?

In addition to the equipment we specify, the way in which the civil’s elements of installations are constructed needs to be updated to ensure the maximum benefit is achieved, so as well as reducing the level of embodied carbon in the construction process, making sure that the sub-surface elements are well built and flexible will provide more benefit by extending their expected service life well beyond the expectancy for the equipment above ground.

Finally, the operation of our systems will need to evolve to cater more effectively with active transport modes whilst also considering the effect that the evolution of connected vehicles will have on our highways.

Through-about and double-through-about junctions
Jonathan Flynn - National Highways

A paper on the design, installation and maintenance of traffic signals on through-about and double-through-about junctions.

A collaborative approach + Smart Technology = safer active travel infrastructure and less congestion as part of a strategic corridor project.
Peter Cattell - Clearview Intelligence & Sean Higgins - Hull City Council

This paper will look at how collaborative working and the use of intelligent technology is enhancing safety for cyclists and pedestrians whilst also reducing congestion, and therefore improving air quality along the Stoneferry Corridor in Hull.

As part of this first of its kind (in the city) multi-million-pound project, headed by Colas, Clearview, alongside Hull City Council, identified specific problems, and designed, installed and commissioned advanced technology solutions that include cycle detection through its Connex Active Cycle & Pedestrian Counter-Classifier, hazard warning through intelligent road studs and VMS to improve safety for cyclists by advising and informing all road users of potential hazards at specific junctions along the corridor.

Smart radar - upgrading the technology on Lincoln Road Newark
Peter Eccleson - Smart Video and Sensing

Lincoln Road is a main arterial route between Newark Town Centre and the A1 to the east and has an Annual Average Daily Traffic (AADT) of 18,300 vehicles. MOVA loop detection would have required ducting installing on the bridge close to the railway and the Overhead Line Equipment (OLE, considered undesirable and to be avoided. A decision was made to use magnetometers but experience with the studs following installation was mixed, with issues of lost communications (stud, repeater and access point failures)and linked to poor battery life.

The smartmicro™ radar offers all the advantages of other brands (pole mounted, no cutting into carriageway, no ducting) whilst being able to cover multiple lanes on an approach from a single radar unit. The addition of the data collection capability from the SVS Novus data aggregator provided an added bonus. This cost-effective solution was chosen to be the ideal replacement for the failing magnetometers and Novus was added for site data collection.

Tall Tales: Poles, Heads and Arms
Phil Shoobridge - Jacobs

Following Chris Kennett’s impassioned plea to stop what he perceived as the proliferation of tall poles, when he became the inaugural ranter on the 2021 Symposium’s Soap Box and encountering various degrees of high-level traffic signal head adoption from local authorities in my career, this paper ventures into territory well clear of the usual debates around SCOOT versus MOVA, which modelling software package to use, far-side or nearside, or even can you replace a loop?

Instead it looks at the fundamental conundrum of Do You Know Where You Can Stick Your Head?

GLOSA in Manchester as part of an immersive national IVS system
George Brown - KL Systems

This paper describes the development and deployment of a practical GLOSA deployment at Radcliffe in Manchester using a second-by-second open data feed from a TRL/TfGM SCOOT 7 system. The SCOOT data was used to define traffic light objects in a cloud based In-Vehicle Signage (IVS) system alongside Virtual and physical VMS from National and local traffic authorities, roadworks providers and others in the UK creating a unified IVS driving experience.

Delivery in the car was via a downloadable smartphone app linked to a vehicles integrated head unit using Android Auto.

Comparative Study between Vivacity's Smart Junction and MOVA
TBC - Vivacity Labs

Last year Vivacity presented the first results for its groundbreaking Smart Junctions pilot project in Manchester. However, as a new product we wanted to take on one of the best control systems in the UK market - MOVA - in as fair and unbiased a trial as we could. Therefore in this presentation we will be presenting a comparison between the two systems where an industry expert will be evaluating our performance against MOVA.

Revolutionising Urban Traffic Control with live multimodal data in Leeds
Joel Dodsworth - Leeds City Council & Dan Chambers - Vivacity Labs

In Leeds we face the same challenge impacting many councils - poor quality data for traffic control. That is why we've partnered with Vivacity and are using their sensors to provide classified real time data that will help improve our own traffic control algorithms.

During this presentation we would like to present the progress and some of the lessons learned in implementing our project with Vivacity in the Headrow and Infirmary Street areas of Leeds City Centre. Find out how we’ve used a single sensor to monitor pedestrian waiting areas, vehicle counts on individual lanes, and cycle lane approaches. And listen in for a teaser of the next step of our project where we will be integrating this data with our central control algorithm.

Conceptualising the next generation of Intelligent Traffic Signage
Stewart Hill - TWM

This paper looks at the design concepts and vision applied to the development of next generation of Traffic Signage. Looking at utilisation, standardisation and modularity and applying it in novel ways to achieve new outcomes. It lays down the design principles and the design process associated with a new blue-sky development of traffic signage.

This paper takes an in-depth look at the latest technology that can be applied to signage and how this can be shown to be a benefit to Road Users, and Road Owners, driving down costs, increasing availability and utilisation, while ensuring accurate information can be delivered simply.

Active Travel and Road User Monitoring
Tim Whiteley - PDS

This paper provides a case study of Groningen, the largest city in the northern Netherlands. It has the reputation of one of the happiest cities in Europe, scoring in the top five European cities for quality of life, education, public domain, health care and air quality. Their vision was for 'Destination Inner City', making the inner city even more attractive as a pleasant place to live, work, relax and shop with ease of access to encourage active travel.

There was already a lot of cycling in Groningen, and this was expected to increase in the coming years. The municipality wanted to reduce congestion and gain a better insight into the adoption and behaviour of transport modes within the main streets of the city centre, including classification between pedestrians and cyclists, routes taken and journey times. The risk of conflict between pedestrians and cyclists was therefore increasing and they wanted to divide the space between pedestrians, cyclists and other traffic, such as loading and unloading, more efficiently.

Technolution were commissioned to deploy their AI-based FlowCube monitoring system, initially as part of a small trial involving 5 sensors across one of their city centre streets popular for shopping and bars/restaurants. The system has since been expanded to 20 sensors, to include the detection of vehicles and to enable monitoring around the university campus. The proposed paper details an overview of the trial, technology deployed, results and valuable lessons learned for future deployment both in the Netherlands and the UK.

Decarbonising Networks one step and pedal at a time
Gavin Jackman - City Science

City Science mission is to help cities and neighbourhoods decarbonise and have successfully developed and delivered LCWIPS for numerous authorities around the UK.

LCWIPS = Local Cycling and Walking Implementation plans.

This presentation will explain the data driven science process we go through to develop and create a LCWIP and talk about one of our projects as a case study. LCWIPS are becoming an important tool that can be used in prioritising and focusing investment in walking and cycling. A successful LCWIP can be the heart of allocating investment into these sustainable modes of transport in a defensible strategic way and allows for greater decision making in the procurement of sustainable transport infrastructure and ITS.

Live Labs project, addresses air quality challenges using artificial intelligence
Emily Madsen - Staffordshire County Council & Paul Hudson - Now Wireless

Staffordshire County Council (SCC) won funding to take part in the live labs project, funded by the DFT. They worked alongside Amey, Keele University and the Connected Places Catapult. Over 130 SMEs submitted applications to address mobility and air quality challenges. Colleagues from across the organisations worked together to select 10 projects.

Now Wireless were a successful SME to aid the reduction in air quality, outside a care home on the inner ring road of Newcastle-Under-Lyme. They proposed to use artificial intelligence to predict pollution an hour ahead of time. The results implemented special plans into SCC’s TMS system. The plans enabled traffic to be gated outside the town centre, to reduce pollution in the town centre. This paper will explain the detail of the delivery of the project, highlight the results of a positive reduction in air quality and explain how SCC plan to implement this in other towns within Staffordshire.

I told you so: The second coming of UTMC
Simon Notley - Swarco

Awaiting Synopsis

Minimising Delays During Junction Improvements: Portable or Temporary Signals?
TBC - SRL & TBC - Red Wilson

This paper looks at the junction capacity implications of using portable vs temporary signals under UTC control when undertaking junction improvement works. LinSig and VISSIM have been used to demonstrate the benefit of introducing etmporary signals at more complex junctions by comparing capacity, journey times, delay, and queuing. Further analysis has been undertaken across a sample of some 20 junctions. This analysis provides a guide that will allow an Authority or client to determine the likely capacity implications of choosing one system over another dependent on junction type. It can form one input into the decision-making process which will also include, strategic importance of location, duration of works and costs.