Kainos and Department for Transport partner to revolutionise roadworks across England
Kainos has been working closely with the Department for Transport (DfT) for the past two years to develop and launch two new digital services, Street Manager and an Open Data service. These new services will transform the planning and management of street and roadworks across England, minimising disruption and improving journeys for all road users.
Working with DfT as the lead delivery partner, Kainos put together a 40-strong team to work collaboratively with over 500 local authorities including, Highways England, TfL, Transport authorities, utility companies and their contractors. The goal was to develop Street Manager, enabling better planning and management of roadworks, and an Open Data service, which gives registered users near real-time notifications on live street and roadworks.
It's estimated that the approximately 2.5 million road works carried out every year have an economic impact of £4 billion. This £10 million investment in digital transformation gives more than 500 organisations and 7,500 users a clear, consolidated picture of the whole network that enables them to better coordinate work. The service enables them to obtain permission to carry out works and identify opportunities for collaboration, helping to reduce the number of street and roadworks across England. As part of the project, Kainos also collaborated with HS2 Ltd to give local authorities visibility of their planned major infrastructure works.
The transformational services were written into legislation earlier this year and launched in July to replace outdated systems with a more modern service designed to meet user needs. Street Manager also enables consistent working practices and will evolve and adapt as the transport infrastructure does.
The Open Data service is designed to give registered users such as journey planners, sat-nav companies, universities and researchers, a single source of live and planned street and roadworks information, minimising disruptions for the public, informing policy development and reducing the effects of congestion.
Throughout its development, Street Manager successfully passed all GDS service assessments, has been recognised as an exemplar digital delivery project within the DfT and has already been nominated for industry awards.
The resulting services open up the market, providing organisations with more choice from not being locked into existing vendors. It also enables DfT to introduce future legislation that will further optimise how street and roadworks are carried out.
Russell Sloan, Head of Digital Services at Kainos, said 'We are once again delighted to deliver an exemplar digital delivery project working with and on behalf of the UK Government. We have a strong reputation for digital transformation in the public sector and these latest services are testament to the talent, skills and ingenuity of our people. We'll continue to support and enable them to grow their skills and to enjoy rewarding roles at the forefront of digital innovation. It's what we all thrive on.'