COUNTY council chiefs are set to invest in new technology in a bid tackle congestion after being handed £300,000 in funding from the Government.
Worcestershire County Council is one of a number of local authorities across the country to have been given a share of a £4million pot of cash, which was set-up by the Government to help councils find ways of reducing congestion and speeding up journey times.
The cash will be used by the county council to develop an information sharing system, called Automated Information Sharing System, so that traffic incidents can be dealt with more quickly by highways teams.
Under the new system, highways staff will be able to use live camera feeds and will be better connected with other team members to provide a more co-ordinated response to traffic incidents.
Interactive large screen displays for live journey times, planned and emergency road works will also be installed, as well as improved traffic signal controls.
Coun Marcus Hart, cabinet member for Highways, said: “Improving our highways is a key priority for Worcestershire County Council as residents have consistently told us that highways is one of the areas that is more important to them.
“This investment will have a significant impact on the efficiency of our highway network, improve our response time to incidents and provide better real time travel information to our residents as they make their way across the county.”
Worcester’s MP Robin Walker said: “This funding is very welcome news for everyone who uses Worcester’s roads.
“Worcestershire County Council submitted an excellent bid to use the latest technology to help keep the county moving and keep motorists safe – it is fantastic that we have now received the largest share of grant funding of any local authority.”
