New congestion-cutting technology for North East

The government has released funding to upgrade traffic management technology across the North East Combined Authority (NECA) area.

NECA, made up of the seven councils which serve County Durham, Gateshead, Newcastle, North Tyneside, Northumberland, South Tyneside and Sunderland, will use the investment to upgrade traffic signals on key regional routes with Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras, Variable Message Signs (VMS) and integration with public transport data from Nexus.

Nick Forbes, leader of Newcastle City Council and transport lead for the NECA, said: “This funding is great news for commuters and business and will help cut journey times across the area. We have a great facility here in the North East where we work together across the area to monitor the traffic network across local authority boundaries. This new investment means we can connect up traffic signals across key routes so we can smooth our traffic flows where we see congestion building up and adjust traffic signals right across the network to keep traffic moving at peak periods.

“Providing reliable journey times and improving connectivity across the region is also a real benefit for our local economy as it helps people to access jobs and training and supports the efficient transport of goods.”