West Berkshire Council has installed thermal sensors on some of its street lighting to produce real time data to support its road gritting operations.
It has carried out the £225,000 initiative with its highway maintenance partner VolkerHighways, placing the sensors along its winter maintenance routes and on gritting vehicles to use in its winter forecasting for decisions on when roads should be treated.
The project is a continuation of the £1.2 million Thames Valley Berkshire Smart City Cluster programme for the use of internet of things (IoT) technologies, supported by a Local Growth Fund capital grant from the area’s local enterprise partnership.
The target is to reduce the number of treatments across Berkshire by 40% by 2027, minimising the use of salt and reducing CO2 emissions by approximately 26 tonnes per annum.
Exciting opportunity
West Berkshire’s service director (environment), Jon Winstanley, said: "This is a very exciting opportunity to take advantage of this emerging technology making our services more efficient and we are proud to be leading on this initiative across Berkshire.
"Long term this will have significant environmental and financial benefits whilst continuing the council's excellent winter maintenance service."
