Highways Agency & Football Safety Officers’ Association

(Daventry – 24th March 2011)

How it all began Background to the Traffic Officer Service • contribute to the development of the Agency as a network operator

• reduce incident related congestion

• improve safety

• free up Police resources to focus on criminal activity

• Traffic Officer Service began operating in April 2004 and is now operational on all motorways, and a small number of All Purpose Trunk Roads The Agencies Core Values

Safe roads

Reliable journeys

Informed travellers Nationally (2009/10 report)

• National network is valued at £86 billion

• Look’s after 2.3% of England’s roads, but carries 30% of traffic

• The Traffic Officer Service logs about 26,500 incidents a month

• 600,000 trees planted, second only to the Forestry Commission West Midlands Region Control Room at Quinton About us

• One of 7 regions in England

• Look after 408 miles of trunk road & 486 miles of motorway

• M6toll is operated and owned separately

• Has the busiest Motorway interchange in Europe

Great News

• On Tuesday morning the new hard shoulder running from junctions 8 to 10 (both ways) was delivered

• The project was delivered ahead of schedule

• This should see an improvement in journey time reliability on this busy stretch of the M6 motorway in the West Midlands 5 Stadia near our network

Coventry City – M6 jct 3

Aston Villa – M6 jct 6

Walsall – M6 jct 9

West Bromwich Albion – M5 jct 1

Stoke City – A50 & A500 Coventry City (RICOH Arena) Aston Villa (Villa Park) Walsall (Bescot Stadium) Stoke City (Britannia Stadium) West Bromwich Albion Fc

(Case Study) The catalyst for change was the delayed kick-off of the WBA vs. Man Utd game on Tuesday 27th January 2009

This was a televised SKY game, but by 19.45hrs fewer than two-thirds of the fans were inside the Stadium

CCTV images showed a significant number of fans walking along the hard shoulder of the M5 to reach the game

At the post-match debrief held by the club and Police the Traffic Officer Service had it’s first opportunity to work together and forge a new working partnership ANPRRouteKeyWhat(All) congestion on the M5 looked like Travel Time on M5 from M42 to M6 January 2009 Vs Manchester United Att 26,105

Average of Travel time mins 60

40 date 6 30 13 20 27 20

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

15 30 45 15 30 45 15 30 45 15 30 45 15 30 45 15 30 45 15 30 45 15 30 45 15 30 45 15 30 45 15 30 45 15 30 45 15 30 45 15 30 45 15 30 45 15 30 45 15 30 45 15 30 45 15 30 45 15 30 45 15 30 45 15 30 45 15 30 45 15 30 45 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23

2009

year month hour minute WBA vs. Man Utd game – Stats

• Tuesday 27th January – over 26,000 attendance

• By 19.45hrs (due kick-off time) only 18,100 fans were inside the ground

• Of the 8,000 still to arrive, less than a 1,000 were Man Utd fans

• When the game started at 20.15hrs, 800 fans had still to arrive at the game, almost all were WBA fans

• Albion had nearly 22,000 season ticket holders

• Man Utd used full allocation of 2,800 tickets We then looked further back Travel Time on M5 from M42 to M6 Before The Use of PVMS

Sum of Travel Time 40

30 Fixture Boro Att 24,925 27/02/07 Wolves Att 27,415 16/05/07 25 Stoke Att 20,048 03/10/07 Blackpool Att 22,030 23/10/07 Sheff Utd Att 22,643 12/02/08 Palace Att 20,378 12/03/08 20

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

15 30 45 15 30 45 15 30 45 15 30 45 15 30 45 15 30 45 15 30 45 15 30 45 15 30 45 15 30 45 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22

hour minute Travel Time on M5 From M42 to M6 February 2009 Vs Arsenal Att. 26,244

Average of AverageTravelTime Mins 35

25 date month 20 3 - Feb 3 - Mar 15 10 - Feb 17 - Feb 10 24 - Feb

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

hour minute The dynamics of M5 junction 1

• The M5 motorway and junction 1 copes with match attendance of up to 20,000

• Each additional 1,000 attendees adds about 8 minutes of congestion on the motorway at junction 1 from 19.00hrs

• 26,500 fans means an additional delay of about 53 minutes

What actions the HA can now influence • Traffic heading south to the ground will be able to queue (for half a mile prior to junction 1), following RCC advice, on the hard shoulder to add to their safety from 18.00hrs

• WBA “home fans” travelling north can choose to leave the M5 at junction 2 and use the signed diversion route to avoid congestion between junctions 2 and 1 and on the island itself at junction 1

• Traffic light sequencing above junction 1 was reviewed and slightly altered pVMS prior to jct 1 - southbound pVMS prior to jct 2 - northbound Key Success for 2010/11 season

• Evening kick-offs moved to 20.00hrs

• Gives staff an extra 15 mins to arrive

• 15 minutes equates to another 2,400 vehicles being able to pass under the junction before football traffic arrives Other notable liaison success’ for WBA Fc and the Agency • An Agency representative at most home games

• Liaison is on-going

• The club receives weekly updates on Roadwork's in the region

• Roadwork’s have been delaying or re-scheduled away from match night’s

• Traffic & Travel updates that the club can use for PA & large screen messages

• Information on the clubs website i.e., the Bowden Bridge replacement impacting travel to Manchester United’s Old Trafford

• Access to HA camera network - HANET How the club used their HANET access?

• A useful tool if your venue is within a few miles of the motorway network

• Has been used by WBA Fc and West Midlands Police to gauge traffic congestion

• It is free

How HANET assist’s in the Match-day Control Room What else influences congestion ? • Televised England games in the evenings bring the pm peak forward by about 60 minutes

• The recent Arsenal v Barcelona game – televised on ITV saw the pm peak start about 35 minutes early

• We have all experienced the school holidays reducing am peak congestion levels

• But daytime congestion then appears around theme parks, cinemas and shopping centres

• HA data suggests that “Thursday evening” has become the “new Friday” Delivered benefits

• Less severe congestion for a mid-week game

• Overall travel experience is improved for all users of the M5

• Nearby HGV hubs avoid the pre kick-off period around junction 1

• We have never had an island lock-up in the evening or at weekends since the partnership has delivered the improvements M5 northbound between J2 and J1 - WBA V's Wigan Tues 1st Feb 2011 MIDAS Site at M5/7060B (E401088, N289806)

1400 1350 1300 1250 1200 1150 1100 1050 1000 950 900 850 800 750 25-Jan-11 700 01-Feb-11

Flow 650 600 08-Feb-11 550 500 450 400 350 300 250 200 150 100 50

16:00:00 16:15:00 16:30:00 16:45:00 17:00:00 17:15:00 17:30:00 17:45:00 18:00:00 18:15:00 18:30:00 18:45:00 19:00:00 19:15:00 19:30:00 19:45:00 20:00:00 20:15:00 20:30:00 20:45:00 21:00:00 Time period ending Many thanks for your time

Frank Bird

Contingency and Event Planning

([email protected])