Alexander BURROWS

📢 This. Is. Not. A. Drill. This is a call to climate action for members of the Chartered Institution of Highways & Transportation (CIHT). We are delighted today to announce the launch of an important new initiative called ‘CIHT CLIMATES’. I can’t wait for the broad church of our members to step up and engage. Last night I was in London. At 8pm it was sweltering at 28C. I couldn’t imagine being in Delhi where it recently sailed close to 50C …. in 2024. Thanks to the billions of tonnes of CO2 each year still pouring into the atmosphere from human activity, global warming is continuing. New temperature records will be set and broken. Even when annual emissions peak, the CO2 already in the atmosphere will continue doing its work. So where is the world heading? Will global climate action be enough to bend the emissions curve? Or will we follow one of the possible paths depicted by the IPCC that leads towards a catastrophic 4C+ future? What does this mean for the transport sector and the organisations and individuals involved? By exploring possible futures, what insights can we bring back to inform our actions in the present? CIHT CLIMATES – ‘Changing Landscapes for Infrastructure and Mobility: Assessing Transport and Environment Scenarios' – will involve a series of 8 UK workshops from September to December 2024, followed by further online workshops in early 2025. They are open to CIHT members and free to attend – but you need to book a place to secure your spot. Don’t delay! Head to https://lnkd.in/eU2KuhtW The more diverse the attendance at workshops is, the better – whether or not you feel well-informed about climate change and climate action, whether or not you are seriously concerned about the future, whether you are in contracting or consulting, in planning or engineering, or love heavy metal or not – you would be very welcome at one of the workshops. Workshops are day-long allowing participants to fully engage in shared thinking and insights as they explore their views, travel forward as CIHT scouts to 2035, and home in on the priority actions for the different actors in our sector back here in 2024/25. The initiative will later include a survey to gather wider views on where we might be heading and what we should be doing to equip ourselves and our sector for what may be approaching. Please don’t pass this initiative by – spread the word and consider attending. I am looking forward to each and every workshop and can’t wait to see who comes along and what we learn from each other. Thank you Mott MacDonald for sponsoring CIHT CLIMATES and making possible the journey ahead we are about to embark on. P.S. If you're taking part please feel free to bring your authentic self and wear what you like. #climateaction Andrew Crudgington Annette Smith Janice J. Daniel Isichei Andrew Theobald Nikki Van Dijk Sharad D Kerai Swati Mittal Emily See Peter Molyneux Sue Percy Stephen Cragg Thomas Knight Greg Marsden Jillian Anable Kim Yates

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Report launched yesterday by my Transport Action Network colleagues, arguing that the roads programme represents poor value-for-money and is not a good way to boost the economy or address Labour's other 4 missions. These would be better achieved by pausing or (preferably) scrapping £15bn (at least) worth of road schemes, and reallocating the money to sustainable transport alternatives and to repairing our existing pothole-ridden roads: https://lnkd.in/emqy4EgB

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We have updated our transport insights document for Q4 2023 Context: each quarter, the transport sub-section of Cambridgeshire County Council’s Policy & Insight Team publish a slide pack which seeks to summarise how transport and mobility is recovering / has recovered from the impacts of Covid-19. This includes metrics relating to strategic road usage, local road usage, footfall levels, air quality, car park usage and levels of active travel. Headlines from Q4 2023: Park & Ride passenger numbers overall continue to exceed 2019 levels. Vehicular flow recovery on the strategic road network continues to progress – and is now 6% ahead of 2019 levels. Multi-storey car park use is 11% below 2019 levels. This is the closest to pre-Covid since the Park Street facility closed for redevelopment in early 2022. Retail footfall in central Cambridge has dropped to 15% below pre-Covid levels, although weekends (-8%) are far closer to recovery than weekdays (-25%). https://lnkd.in/gN5A9Sbb

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Opportunity alert! Department for Transport (DfT), United Kingdom's Transport Research and Innovation Grant (TRIG) fund is now open, delivered by Connected Places Catapult, with organisations and academics able to win up to £45,000 in funding. TRIG supports businesses and academics working on #innovative ideas in the early stages of their research. It aims to improve #transport across the country and support skilled UK jobs. This year’s competition is seeking proposals focused on: - Nation Specific Transport Solutions – for projects that address transport challenges in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland. - Local Transport Decarbonisation and Maritime Decarbonisation - Critical & Emerging Technologies - Open Call https://lnkd.in/eqFb7b5U Kelvin Davies, Dan Piner, Catherine Appleby, Milda Manomaityte, Railway Industry Association, Shona Clive, Alan Peters, Kristoff van Leeuwen, Women in Transport, Women in Rail, Ian Evley, Eli Rees-King, Rail Forum, 💡Robert Cairns, William Reddaway, Matt Mullen, Global Centre Of Rail Excellence

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Welsh transport projects in 2025 and the funding challenges faced! 🧐 Without a needs based new funding model the Welsh Government faces a tough funding outlook on transport infrastructure investment > https://ow.ly/JJ1n50UyJj9 #Transport #Rail #Infrastructure

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This report looks excellent and timely. "Throughout this work, Arup found the most opportunity for acceleration, cost reduction and improved outcomes was identified during the first 10% of a project’s lifecycle. These early-stages offer the most opportunity to drive Greener, Faster, Cheaper delivery. Ensuring the initial stages of project planning are robust and innovative, sets the foundation for success. Defining and driving programmes based on operational outcomes, not just the asset, leads to greater buy-in and support." As Prof. Bent Flyvbjerg says the key to getting big things done is "think slow, act fast" Great work Arup and Cath Leech! #megaprojects

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Towards the end of 2024, government assumed direct responsibility for Britain’s railways with the Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Bill receiving Royal Assent and the timeline for nationalisation being announced. In 2025, government needs to address the wider issues of reform on the railway. The second Bill on rail reform, expected this year, needs to explain how GBR, the regulator and the passenger watchdog will be configured to drive the necessary reductions in subsidy while ensuring the passenger experience is one of more reliable and affordable train services. Our Chief Executive Andy Bagnall wrote an article for RAIL Magazine on this at the end of last year. Read here: https://lnkd.in/ed4-5DDq

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UK's most flood affected railway stations revealed >>https://lnkd.in/ee27u7mD<< Flooding is just one part of the climate change challenge that extreme rain events create for the railway - I've explored more here>> https://lnkd.in/gqHHsUbr << including some of the ways that better realtime infrastructure information can help reduce risks and delays. #railway #infrastructure #resilience #climatechange

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CIHT on Budget 2024 The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rt Hon Rachel Reeves MP yesterday delivered her first UK Budget. Whilst most of the focus has been on the potential for spending cuts, CIHT has reviewed the budget to look at the wider implications for highways and transportation Sue Percy CBE, Chief Executive, CIHT said: "We congratulate Rachel Reeves on delivering the first Labour Party Budget in almost 15 years. Like many sectors, those of us engaged in highways and transportation were expecting difficult decisions to be made and the tone of the government has been that this would be delivered in an economically challenging environment." “As we had called for in our manifesto, we were pleased to see alignment on some of our key asks particularly around the importance of the local highways network and commitments to deliver on a number of integrated transport projects to improve connectivity." CIHT will be providing a more detailed analysis in the coming days but some of the highlights we welcome include: *The changes to fiscal rules and the commitment to public investment in new infrastructure should help create the environment for a more long-term approach to infrastructure investment. *Acknowledgement of the importance of local roads and the providing a nearly 50% increase in funding for local roads highway maintenance, an increase of nearly £500m in 2024-25. *Support for a number of significant local transport schemes. *An indication to improve uncertainty by funding through an interim roads settlement, and the third Road Investment Strategy will be set out in the next phase of the Spending Review *Providing £200 million for City Region Sustainable Transport Settlements and an £100 million investment in cycling and walking infrastructure in 2025-26. *Funding for 300 additional planners to improve local planning authority capacity. For more information on the Autumn Budget 2024, please contact CIHT Public Affairs Manager Liberty Hibberd MA, MCIPR #UKBudget #Budget2024 #Infrastructure #Transport

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So this could be quite interesting. Analysis I have done (if slightly rudimentary) seems to indicate that successful parking and traffic policy interventions need buy in across the board, so politically, media and sector. See Scotland for a good example of this and 20mph as a bad version. So this Bristol intervention is one to watch. It’s local so allows the rest of England to have a contrary opinion. Politically should be ok, Greens support it, Labour and the Lib Dems probably do too. But messaging worries me. Telling people to reconsider having a car or ‘just walk a bit further’ could easily alienate people. I would urge them to speak to councils in Scotland who have implemented pavement parking recently. They have some great example of how they have managed to implement it and keep residents onside. Oh and if anyone can tell me the mechanism Bristol will use to implement this please do, if successful seems it would negate the need for a centrally legislated order.

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🚆 Transforming UK Railways! 🚆 The Secretary of State for Transport has outlined a bold vision for balancing open access with public ownership. 📜✨ Key Highlights: - Open access innovation vs. taxpayer impact. - Future Focus: Moving towards a financially sustainable, passenger-first railway. Read more: https://lnkd.in/eGBbJdN5 Department for Transport (DfT), United Kingdom Office of Rail and Road (ORR)#RailwayReform #OpenAccess #PublicOwnership #UKTransport 

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The Transport Secretary has written a letter to the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) about her expectations for how open access will operate alongside a publicly owned railway. In the letter, Heidi Alexander has said: “I recognise the benefits that can be provided by open access operators in the right circumstances and that both existing and new open access operators can open up new markets, drive innovation and offer choice to passengers." #railnews #railways #ukrail #rail 

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The Transport Secretary has written a letter to the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) about her expectations for how open access will operate alongside a publicly owned railway. In the letter, Heidi Alexander has said: “I recognise the benefits that can be provided by open access operators in the right circumstances and that both existing and new open access operators can open up new markets, drive innovation and offer choice to passengers." #railnews #railways #ukrail #rail 

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The King’s Speech today underlines the importance of the rail sector to our new government’s plans. No less than three seperate pieces of legislation to deliver the reform the industry so badly needs and also to address the bottleneck that exists between Crewe and Manchester on the network. As an industry and supply chain we should get behind these changes to make the railway best placed to deliver the needs of passengers and freight customers.

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DTAG asks Dorset Council to support car reduction targets in the new Transport Plan, writes Giles Watts. DTAG have written to Cllr Jon Andrews (portfolio holder for Transport at Dorset Council UK) to ask whether the council will support Low Traffic Future’s “Transport Choices Challenge”. Low Traffic Future (LTN) is an organisation set up by Roger Geffen MBE (ex policy lead for UK cycling). The group has been supporting councils with guidance to local authorities over their Local Transport Plans when none was forthcoming from government. Now, LTN has set up a “Transport Choices Challenge” which encourages local authorities to reduce car-dependence locally, by setting ambitious targets in their Local Transport Plans, together with some headline policies to achieve these targets. Several councils including Reading Borough Council, Oxfordshire County Council, West Midlands and City of York Council have joined the scheme and proposed or set out genuinely ambitious targets to reduce motor traffic. Now DTAG is asking Dorset Council whether it will do the same. Roger Geffen writes: “Low Traffic Futures have invited all Local Transport Authorities in England to signal their aspirations to reduce car-dependence locally, by setting ambitious targets in their Loccal transport Plans. Several other LTAs have already signed up and we were wondering if Dorset would consider doing so as well ?” https://lnkd.in/g7T4j-_N

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Low carbon mobility specialist David Connolly to share his insights at Transport Planning Day 2024. 🗣️ 🚗 With governments across the UK having expressed the need to reduce car use to net zero and tackle the wider impacts of a continuing growth in road traffic, and with increasingly polarised debates on ‘anti-car’ measures and freedom of choice, this year’s theme for Transport Planning Day, ‘The Road Less Travelled: the Principles, Policies, Practicalities and Politics of Reducing Car Use in the UK’, will focus in on a number of questions: 🤔 Is reducing car travel necessary if we want to decarbonise the UK’s transport system? 📃 What policies would need to be implemented to deliver a reduction in car travel? 💭 What practical changes would need to be made to the UK’s transport system to allow for a reduction in car travel? ⬇️ What are the political implications of delivering a reduction in vehicle kms? David Connolly’s panel discussion will delve into the event’s theme in more detail, and explore the challenges of reducing car use in rural areas, with some consideration for urban difficulties too. Find out about our transport decarbonisation offering ➡️ https://loom.ly/7tpxQ68 Katie Hall, Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE), Darren Kirkman, Transport Planning Society #transportplanning #transport #transportplanner #lowcarbon #netzero #decarbonisation #carbonreduction #transportdecarbonisation #sustainabletransport #car #publictransport #TransportPlanningDay #ICE #civilengineering #roads #ruraltransport #urbantransport #urbanmobility #ruralmobility

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Check out my article "Unlocking Smart Cities' Potential" on pages 39-40, what are your thoughts on how we can leverage the presence of ITS infrastructure to become a centrepiece of Smart City deployments?

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