The West Midlands efforts to ease congestion on the region’s roads and create an integrated transport system has been given a £27m boost by the Government.

Visiting Birmingham today (Thursday 30 March), Secretary of State Alistair Darling gave the go-ahead for a new Urban Traffic Control Centre, to be based alongside the new National Centre at Quinton.

The scheme will create a new computerised control centre to tackle congestion and make journeys more reliable on local roads.  It is promoted by transport co-ordination body Centro-PTA along with the three cities and four boroughs of the West Midlands as part of their Local Transport Plan.

“This announcement is a good sign that the Government recognises our efforts to give the region an integrated network that combines public transport improvements with smarter use of the highways network,” says Centro-PTA chairman Cllr Gary Clarke.

“We are looking for continued support to bring forward a package of proposals that offers travel choices to people in the West Midlands, tackles congestion and boosts regional business.”

In a statement released today the Department for Transport says it is working closely with the region on tackling long-term congestion through the Transport Innovation Fund.

"We are matching investment to innovative ways of getting the most out of our road network. A traffic centre for the West Midlands area has great potential to tackle congestion and make journeys more reliable,” says Secretary of State Alistair Darling.

The UTC scheme will cover the West Midlands Metropolitan Area – Birmingham, Coventry, Dudley, Sandwell, Solihull, Walsall and Wolverhampton.  It will apply the latest intelligent transport technologies to the existing road network and traffic lights. This will improve traffic flows for all road users and make it much easier to keep traffic moving when there is an incident or accident.

One of the aims of the scheme is to achieve traffic control coverage across the West Midlands 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Congestion is currently estimated to cost the West Midlands £2.5bn every year and recent official figures show the Centro-PTA area has the busiest roads and the slowest motorways outside London.

The West Midlands currently has five traffic control centres across the region – the ‘eyes and ears’ of traffic control on a daily basis.  The UTC scheme will introduce technology and traffic control techniques which for the first time will create a Metropolitan Area-wide network of traffic management.

During his visit to formally open the National Traffic Control Centre, the Secretary of State also gave the green light to the £49m Selly Oak New Road scheme in Birmingham.  The road will cut some 50% of through traffic from the existing A38 through Selly Oak, with environmental improvements and better conditions for public transport, cyclists and pedestrians using the centre.