Scotland’s number one traffic and transport show returns to the Glasgow SEC on 28-29 November, with an exceptional line-up including a keynote speech from minister for transport Fiona Hyslop.
Transport minister Ms Hyslop is set to launch Road Expo this year, setting the tone for the two-day event by discussing the big issues facing the Scottish road network. The issue of resilience is likely to be prominent following the terrible impact of Storm Babet, which brought the vulnerability of roads and infrastructure to flooding into sharp focus.
On this theme, the conference also features presentations on the Vulnerability to Flooding on Scottish Trunk Roads from Neil Ferguson of Strathclyde University, as well as Drew Hill, senior environment engineer and Karen Russell, head of standards, roads directorate, both from Transport Scotland. Delegates will also get expert insights into Transport Scotland’s Approach to Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience policy document.
Innovation and adaptation are the two key themes running through the conference programme and, as ever, Highways and the Hemming Group have worked closely with Transport Scotland to showcase potential solutions and in-depth analysis, in the face of both the climate emergency and the challenging economic environment.
Numerous domestic innovations will be unveiled across the event, including efficiency gains in retroreflectivity surveys as well as on-site quality assurance during asphalt construction using GPS, lasers and software.
Professor Alex Stedmon, one of the innovators behind the 2023 Highways Awards’ Road Safety Scheme of the Year, will also be on stage to discuss the largest ever investigation of motorcycle rider behaviour. The research involved 32,213 motorcyclists and resulted in pioneering road markings for motorcyclists.
Perceptual Rider Information for Maximising Expertise and Enjoyment, or PRIMEs, were installed on the approach to demanding bends at 22 trial sites and two comparison sites across the West Highlands of Scotland.
Resulting in statistically significant positive behavioural changes in speed, lateral lane position and braking, the project has rightfully received industry acclaim, not least its success at the Highways Awards, which also saw it win the Judges’ Special Merit Award.
‘Project PRIME is the first time this kind of research has been done to look at dedicated road markings for motorcyclists,’ says Prof Stedmon.
‘It’s been a great opportunity to use applied psychology principles in the real world to support behaviour change for a specific group of vulnerable road users, which underpins the safe system approach to road safety and supports Scotland’s Road Safety Framework to 2030.’
Asset management is also on the agenda, as well as a debate on the role of AI and further research insights – this time undertaken by WSP, which will be sharing findings from its Research into Service Life of Reinstatements carried out in partnership with the Scottish Road Works Commissioner.
On the wider environmental agenda, there will be a call to do more to reduce carbon from road and street works from HAUC (UK), which together with TfL is in the design phase of its Road to Net Zero blueprint - designed to look at how future road works could be carried out in a way that reduces congestion and supports net zero carbon emissions.
Day two will also bring key insights into decarbonisation, this time from the Highland Council and its crucial work reducing the carbon footprint of its fleet, while WSP will shed light on how carbon reduction can be embedded in wider transport planning.
A host of lively panel debates will make up a fair share of the second day, with experts discussing key topics including IT and data, the skills gap and mobility as a service.
Road Expo also co-hosts Bridges Scotland – the largest dedicated bridges event in the devolved nation, brought to you by Highways’ sister publication Bridge design and engineering. The Bridges event has seen year-on-year growth since it was launched in 2017 and, just like Road Expo, is now established as a major event not just in the UK calendar but internationally as well.
