Highways Agency

• Traffic Incident Management Bulletin

April 2008

In August 2007, the Bulletin contained an article on the progress made with Tactical Diversion Routes. This is a significant project being undertaken within the Highways Agency Traffic Incident Management (TIM) programme and includes large-scale external consultation with a variety of stakeholders, including Police, Local Authorities and Service Providers etc.

Tactical Diversion Routes provide the public with a pre-planned, checked and agreed junction to junction diversion route that will circumnavigate an incident that has resulted in the closure of the main carriageway. Unfortunately there are some locations where suitable diversion routes are not possible.

This article will sum up the progress of the project during the financial year 2007-8 and detail the project’s future plans in striving to achieve its target of 85% coverage before March 2009.

In addition, the article also features some ‘good practice’ which has been used in certain Areas to overcome some of the projects complexities.

Where are we now

The past year has been both busy and successful in terms of delivering Tactical Diversion Routes. Prior to April 2007, 260 routes were agreed with stakeholders and ready for use. With lots of hard work from Area Performance Teams (APT), Service Providers and others, this figure has now increased to 865 – approximately 52% of the overall network. In this time, 150 routes have been used. This is a significant increase and the usage of the routes will be continually monitored by both the APT and TIM team.

Thank you

The below is a 'thank you' note from Wayne Norris, Implementation Manager of Tactical Diversion Routes to Area Performance Teams and others that have assisted in the progress of Tactical Diversion Routes over the last year:

"I just wanted to thank you, your team and your Service Providers for all your efforts in delivering the national target last year. Whilst I had every confidence in it being reached it would be prudent if delivery for 08/09 could be rolled out over the whole year rather than the rear end loading we experienced last year.

I appreciate that the initial funding for this year is not as bid for, however I would not wish that to slow progress down. I will continue to press for additional funding to enable you to assist us in delivering the challenging 85% national target for this year."

Good Practice

The costs of both planning and delivering Tactical Diversion Routes can be high and through adopting 'good practice' it is hoped that they can be reduced in time. 

Adding signs to existing infrastructure

1. One recognised piece of 'good practice' which has been adopted by some Area's is the usage of existing network infrastructure, where it is of a suitable nature and in the correct location. The infrastructure used for this included bridges and existing signage. Through adapting this to include a 'trigger sign', it eliminates the cost of having to implement 'brand new' signage which can sometimes require significant construction costs. 

The image below shows the adapted signage currently in use on the network.

Trigger sign

2. To make the project more cost effective, some Service Providers have weighed up the implementation costs of diversion route trigger signage against some of the below influencing factors:

• Environmental issues
• Financial costs of constructing permanent signage
• Historical data – how often has a diversion route been instructed there before?

Through assessing these factors it has become evident to some Area's that temporary signage for the 'triggers' would be more appropriate for some diversion routes. In these cases, a clear justification has been supplied with the agreement that temporary signage must be immediately accessible when it is needed on the network. However trigger signs along Local Highway Authority routes should be permanently fixed.

3. Finally in Scotland they have found during discussions with their Local Authorities that it was more effective to refer to Tactical Diversion Routes as 'Emergency Diversion Routes'. This has often led to more pro-active negotiations and achieved a greater level of ‘buy in’ from stakeholders.

The Future

The project still has some way to run and a large number of routes need to be completed as the Highways Agency strives to achieve its target of at least 85% of the network having ‘agreed and signed diversion routes’ by March 2009. In order to achieve this, the project will require a high level of effort and determination. Through each organisation displaying the same level of commitment as last year this is achievable.

Has this article been worthwhile reading? Why not take a moment to send us your comments, thoughts or questions. Please e-mail TIMbulletin@highways.gsi.gov.uk.