GeoPlace working with the Department of Transport

Everyone wants the roads to be open at the right time, closed for the right reasons and to be a safe and reliable way to get from A to B.

Councils use Traffic Regulation Orders (TROs) to implement changes on the road network. They are used for a range of diverse activities such as changing features on the road like signs and speed limits, implementing parking restrictions and limiting the movements of HGVs in residential areas, allowing temporary closures for street parties, roadworks, and experimental changes.

The Department for Transport supported by GeoPlace, the British Parking Association and Ordnance Survey are conducting a discovery into the process by which Traffic Regulation Order (TRS) are made, and how TRO data is made available and used across the country.

Abbas Lokat, Senior Consultant at GeoPlace said: “Better visibility of traffic regulations and access to additional information and services can help improve the citizen experience and increase innovation around traffic control. We want to understand if there is a growing demand for open, machine-readable traffic regulation orders from users and developers looking to improve parking information for citizens to freight companies needing to route their fleets more effectively.”

The discovery will gather real world evidence to see how the TRO process is working, helping to identify how to deliver the most from the current system and how to support the transport network of the future.

Using the evidence gathered from the discovery, a free guide will be produced to help local authorities understand how they can work within the limits of current legislation based on best practice. A further output will be a draft data model for TROs, compatible with both Connected and Automated Vehicles and the international TRO landscape, supporting the move towards TROs being easily accessible to the public whether using apps of driving connected vehicles.

Watch the introductory video and participate in the survey at www.geoplace.co.uk/TROdiscovery.

www.geoplace.co.uk