Highways Agency TechMAC
The Highways Agency relies on technology to monitor and control road usage, provide up-to-date traffic information to the public and to keep road users safe. So telent helps the Highways Agency to ensure that it's myriad technological assets are all functioning properly.
A new journey to a successful destination with telent Atkins Joint Venture.
About Highways Agency
Highways Agency – the Executive Agency of the Department for Transport (DfT) — is responsible for managing traffic on the more than 2,000 miles of Britain’s motorway network, used by 40 million drivers and countless freight vehicles. So naturally, it relies on top class communications technologies to help tackle congestion, inform road users and improve safety.
Highways Agency’s requirement
Highways Agency has many tens of thousands of communications assets to manage. So it approaches maintenance on a regional basis, creating responsibilities in each area. This means that dedicated teams of Technology Managing Agent Contractors (TechMACs) are needed to be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to provide fault management and maintenance throughout the year across each region.
Our solution
Our solution was one based on partnership. We formed a joint venture with Atkins, called Road Technology Solutions (RTS), to manage the Midlands area of trunk roads and motorways for Highways Agency. Following its success, Highways Agency awarded RTS a five-year contract to provide the same service in the North West region.
Highways Agency has more than 17,000 communications assets and responsibility for over 400 miles of strategic motorway and trunk roads throughout Merseyside, Cheshire, Lancashire, Cumbria and Greater Manchester. This makes it arguably the most complex region of the English roads network.
In addition to maintenance, an RTS team now identifies and advises Highways Agency on network enhancements and investment opportunities, ensuring that they are effectively evaluated, scoped, planned and executed for best value for the end user.
Result
Through RTS, the Highways Agency has benefited from shared experience and innovation to deliver a reliable motorway and trunk road communications system. We carry out regular reviews to reduce and better focus routine maintenance spend. And the ‘whole-life’ approach has developed a greater understanding of the life expectancies of assets, obsolescence issues and new technology options to optimise network spend.
Now Highways Agency’s CAT3 capability assessment — designed to help suppliers to identify strengths and areas for development — has placed telent as one of its leading TechMACs agents. The assessment highlighted our attitudes towards diversity, innovation and risk management, as well as corporate social responsibility and putting customers at the heart of Highways Agency’s business.
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