Sustainability
Road-user charging – the answer to everything or nothing? – Ben Plowden and Rich Sallnow, PA Consulting
The funding and decarbonisation of road transport in the UK continues to be a hot topic. The Treasury anticipates a £35 billion hole in the budget owing to lower fuel duty and vehicle excise duty (VED) as the fleet electrifies. But vehicle electrification alone will...
Covid, the economy, and the Roads Policy Trilemma – Michael Whelan, M6Toll
Michael Whelan, General Manager at M6Toll looks at RUC trials in California, Utah and Washington state, and explains how lessons learnt could be applied in the UK The arrival of the Covid19 pandemic in the UK changed everything overnight, not least on our roads. The...
Five trends impacting the future of highways – Andy Theobald, Mott MacDonald
If we want our road infrastructure to be fit for the long term, we must keep pace with the key drivers affecting the highways industry, says Andy Theobald. Providing our clients with long-term solutions means looking ahead, taking a 10 to 20-year time horizon to...
Roadways can handle extreme weather – Jose Javier García Pardenilla, Ferrovial
Jose Javier García Pardenilla, Project Lead at Ferrovial, argues that roads are durable to extreme weather conditions, we just have to redesign how we formulate asphalt pavement. This year, we have seen surprising images from around the world, from airports forced to...
How to make the best choices for sustainable transport – Alex Walton, Arcadis
Alex Walton, Director and Product Owner at Arcadis, explains how we can optimise our transport strategies and make data driven decisions. Transport planners love optimization. We are great at tinkering with signal timings and converging strategic models. But we...
More zero, less net – Adam Crossley, Skanska
Adam Crossley, Director of Environment at Skanska UK, explains how we need to get back to basics when tackling net-zero challenges in the highways sector. Don’t over-complicate the journey to achieving net-zero carbon emissions. We’re living through a period of...
Transforming lives through Social Value – Andrew Stephenson, National Highways
Andrew Stephenson, procurement director at National Highways, reflects on how road schemes can add value to society through economic prosperity and improving community wellbeing. At National Highways, we’re well positioned to transform our customer’s lives through...
Innovative and sustainable approaches to concrete road refurbishment – Martyn Sherwood, Metrail Construction
Martyn Sherwood, managing director at Metrail Construction, talks through sustainable methods to road maintenance taken from Germany's Autobahn now being used in the UK. Innovation, sustainability and technology — three things that we at Metrail are proud to be at the...
Hitting the bridge deck running as the new kid on the National Highways block – Rob Cook, Winvic
Rob Cook, Civils & Infrastructure Director at Winvic, talks about their delivery strategy and projects ahead of exhibiting at Highways UK this year. Since I was appointed by Winvic in the brand-new role of Director for Civils and Infrastructure, it has been a...
Inclusive Infrastructure Solutions – Mathew Haslam, Hardscapes
Mathew Haslam, managing director at Hardscape outlines their extensive product range with the UK’s largest selection of Connectivity Solutions Products. Proudly independent and with over 25 years of expertise in pushing the boundaries of hard landscaping, Hardscape is...
Urban Trees, Highways and Utilities – Hannah Cook, GreenBlue Urban
Hannah Cook at GreenBlue Urban emphasises the importance of green infrastructure within the road network as towns and cities across the UK expand. With increasing urbanisation of our towns and cities, the pressure to plant trees is huge. Priorities are under...
Delivering cleaner and fairer transport for Oxfordshire – Duncan Enright
Councillor Duncan Enright, Oxfordshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Travel and Development Strategy, looks at the future of transport in the county Oxford and Oxfordshire weren’t built for motorised transport. Our historic county deserves an excellent travel...
How mobility hubs and shared transport can play a key role in the UK’s journey to net zero – Richard Dilks, CoMoUK
Richard Dilks, Chief Executive at CoMoUK, explains how mobility hubs and shared transport schemes can play a significant role in the UK’s journey to Net Zero by cutting congestion and carbon emissions while improving air quality and the nation’s health. At...
The real cost of electric cars – Claire Walters, Bus Users UK
Claire Walters, chief executive of Bus Users UK, emphasises the importance of proper planning and infrastructure to prioritise public, shared and active transport to meet sustainability targets. The electrification of vehicles has become the key focus of government...
Questions about the value of investment in roads – David Metz, UCL Centre for Transport Studies
David Metz, honorary professor at the UCL Centre for Transport Studies, outlines his suggested actions to inform future investment decisions when looking ahead to Road Investment Strategy (RIS3) The Department for Transport has begun to plan its third Road Investment...
Hydrogen power is coming – let’s keep the Midlands at the heart of UK freight and logistics – Richard Bradley, Midlands Connect
Richard Bradley, Head of Strategy at Midlands Connect, outlines how the Midlands is ready to take the lead on the UK’s clean energy revolution when it comes to hydrogen-fuelled vehicles. Energy prices are sky high right now and I could hardly believe my eyes...
Embedding a decarbonisation culture into the highways sector
We need to see a cultural change towards approaches to carbon, says John Dixon, Jacobs’ Vice President and Highways Market Director, and we should take inspiration from the transformationl improvements in safety achieved within the sector over the last 20 years Over...
Smart cities need smart highways and roads
Transport is one of the main contributors to carbon emissions in London and to meet the Mayor’s ambitious target to make the capital a net zero city by 2030 we will need to dramatically increase smart and electric transport alternatives – and not just electric cars!...
Electric vehicle charging: why it can be likened to the wild west
Setting net zero targets is the easy bit. The difficult bit is all about the practical measures to get from here to there, says Sir Dieter Helm, Professor of Economic Policy at the University of Oxford. And when it comes to electric vehicle charging the lack of an...
The future of a sustainable highway is now
Products that can help to significantly reduce the carbon footprint of laying a road surface are available now, but too many highway authorities are still hesitant to try new technologies, says Tarmac’s national technical director, Brian Kent Warm mix asphalts which...
