UK motorways to get £490m PFI telecoms upgrade

The Highways Agency (HA) has signed a £490m private finance initiative (PFI) deal to upgrade the telecommunications network that links all the information systems across the UK road network.

The 10-year National Roads Telecommunications Services (NRTS) project will provide a national digital system linking more than 14,000 message signs, emergency telephones, CCTV cameras and traffic monitoring systems to the HA's network of traffic control centres.

The single national PFI deal has been won by a Fluor-led consortium called GeneSYS Telecommunications and replaces a large number of existing contracts that had built up in piecemeal fashion at the HA over the last 40 years. Alcatel is part of the GeneSYS consortium with its part of the deal valued at around €120m.

The upgrade will use internet-based technology to support advanced roadside services and new initiatives, such as access to real-time CCTV pictures of traffic conditions via the internet.

The first phase of the project will include work to install cables on parts of the M3, M4 and M62, and replace and upgrade electronics in more than 150 roadside transmission stations.

NRTS will carry data between roadside devices and HA control centres initially using the existing communication network but within two years will upgrade and expand it in order to provide a new nationwide network.

Roads minister Dr Stephen Ladyman said in a statement: "The £490 million upgrade, together with initiatives such as motorway traffic officers and traffic control centres, will give drivers the real time information they need to plan their journeys more effectively, avoiding congested stretches of the network, reducing the costs to business and the levels of driver stress that delays can cause."

Stay tuned - later this week silicon.com will publish a full interview with Denise Plumpton, director of information at the HA, talking about the role of information and technology in the UK's future road strategy.