Southend-on-Sea City Council has received over £600,000 from the Government to upgrade traffic light systems and improve traffic flow across the city.
The funding comes after a successful bid to the Green Light Fund was made by the council's highways team. The money be used for projects over the next two years, including:
- updating traffic models for the A13 and A127 to maximise green times on all approaches
- upgrading our software and tuning up signals to better reflect current traffic conditions
- installation of new technology at Progress Road and Southchurch Road junctions to improve green light performance and traffic flow
- replace traffic light detector loops that are currently in the road to above ground detection. This will improve performance and reduce future maintenance costs
Cllr Kevin Buck, cabinet member for highways, transport and parking, says: “The funding we've secured from central government is very welcome, as although we have a lot of modern and responsive traffic light systems in many locations, there are areas that we can improve further and install newer technology that will help traffic flow and performance.
“This funding will also allow us to introduce above ground detection systems rather than the current loops that are cut into the road.
“I look forwards to this project starting this summer and delivering improvements to our network.”
Work will start in June 2024 and is not expected to cause any major disruption. Work will be carried out by the council, Swarco, our traffic signal maintenance and installation contractor and Marlborough, our highways contractor.