The Department for Transport (DfT) is conducting a discovery into the process by which traffic regulation orders (TROs) are made, and how TRO data is made available and used across the country.
It is working on the project with GeoPlace – the joint venture between Ordnance Survey and the Local Government Association that maintains national spatial address datasets – and the British Parking Association.
They are gathering evidence to see how the TRO process is working, helping to identify how to deliver the most from the current system and how to support the transport network in the future.
Councils use TROs to implement changes on the road network. This includes changing features on such as signs and speed limits, implementing parking restrictions, limiting the movements of HGVs in residential areas, allowing temporary closures for street parties, roadworks and experimental changes.
The discovery is aimed at identifying how to use the current system most effectively, how it could work in the future, and producing a draft model for the storage of all TRO data. This should support the move towards making TROs available to the public when using road navigation apps or driving connected vehicles.
It will also lead to the publication of a free guide to help local authorities understand how they can work within current legislation.
Consultation and video
A consultation as part of the discovery is running until 21 December and GeoPlace has produced an introductory video.
Abbas Lokat, senior consultant at GeoPlace, said: “Better visibility of traffic regulations and access to additional information and services can help improve the citizen experience and increase innovation around traffic control.
“We want to understand if there is a growing demand for open, machine readable traffic regulation orders from users and developers looking to improve parking information for citizens to freight companies needing to route their fleets more effectively.”
Image by Sam Kelly through Wikimedia Commons
