New efforts to reduce the impact of roadworks were launched on Monday after an increase in disruption on main roads in London and falling bus speeds.
Mayor Sadiq Khan launched a £10m investment in his “infrastructure co-ordination service” to help utility companies to plan work to minimise delays.
Average bus speeds in the capital have fallen from 9.5mph to 9.3mph over the last year, according to the latest Transport for London figures.
At the same time, TfL says that a combination of roadworks and incidents has increased disruption on its Red Route network.
Because of the increasing number of vehicles on the road, this has meant that that “incidents are now more disruptive than last year”, with the A406 North Circular Road at Pinkham Way in North Finchley a particular problem.
According to City Hall, the infrastructure co-ordination service has “saved” 1,254 days of roadworks since its launch in 2019.
Mr Khan on Monday convened a meeting of the London infrastructure group at City Hall - including utility companies, telecoms, contractors, regulators and government representatives - to discuss how to better co-ordinate works and reduce delays for road users.
TfL already works with utilities and boroughs to coordinate roadworks. The ICS supports this by identifying places where utilities and others could work together more intensively on complicated projects, with the aim of avoiding having the road dug up twice.
Mr Khan said: “Roadworks, while often necessary, can cause frustrating delays for road users. This £10m investment will help to further reduce the delays and disruption caused by roadworks, by exploring new areas of innovation.”
Carl Eddleston, TfL's director of network management, said: “Our pioneering lane rental scheme, which allows us to charge utility companies and infrastructure providers a daily fee for digging up the busiest sections of London's roads at the busiest times, is supporting new technology and approaches to tackling congestion.”
