Road Freight
Improving Distribution Efficiency
In parallel with measures to reduce the environmental impact of roadfreight, State of Freight in the East Midlands identified a key responsibility of East Midlands Regional Assembly and EMRFG in pursuing measures to
improve the efficiency of the distribution industry through highway schemes. Inefficient operation, of course, further exacerbates the environmental impacts described above. All actions however need to be mindful of their
varying effects on different sized operators, particularly small businesses. Key issues facing the industry as identified by State of Freight in the East Midlands are :-
- Significant congestion at key points on the road network, for example those highlighted by the FTA’s “Trade Routes” approach
- Sub-standard parts of the highway network, hindering efficient access to producers, particularly in the Northern and Eastern subareas
- Poor access to/from some ports and airports, weight restrictions on bridges; lack of overnight parking,
- Inadequate signing and inconsistent delivery restrictions
- Slow and unpredictable access to urban destinations, due to congestion, illegal parking, etc.
KEY POLICY 3:
Regional and local partners to work together to actively pursue a range of measures to assist the efficiency of the road haulage industry.
TARGET:
As part of its initial work programme, EMRFG to establish baseline regional data for vehicle loading and formulate a target for increasing loading efficiency.
|
|
Action Plan |
Lead Partner |
Supporting Partners |
Timescale |
|
3.1 |
Ensure that the requirements of the road haulage industry are fully considered in the development and implementation of regional and local transport strategies, in particular when establishing regional transport investment priorities and through |
EMRA |
EMRFAG |
Ongoing |
|
3.2 |
Reflect in particular in 3.1, the importance of achieving efficient access to/from key ports, airports with significant freight functions such as NEMA, and major employment sites. Whilst these may often lie outside the region, access to them is clearly no less important than intra-regional links. |
EMRA |
EMRFG |
ongoing |
|
3.3 |
Identify areas where operators are experiencing significant unreliable access to urban locations caused by indiscriminate parking, monitor the adequacy of enforcement, and explore with the Local Transport Authorities whether enforcement of parking restrictions could be better achieved, including making use of new legislative opportunities. |
FQP’s |
RFAG |
2005/6 and ongoing |
|
3.4 |
Encourage local FQP’s to engage with LTAs (as part of their network management duties under the Traffi c Management Act) in assessing the potential for introduction of traffic management measures which can give, where appropriate, priority to LGV’s. Such measures, e.g. LGV use of bus lanes or dedicated LGV only lanes should be developed through discussion with representative bodies of other road users (such as the Confederation of Passenger Transport) in order to make best use of total road space. |
EMRFAG |
FQPs |
Ongoing |
|
3.5 |
Agree, with delivery agencies, standards for highway design, maintenance and signage that assist definition of the strategic road freight network and contribute to effi cient freight movement. |
EMRFAG |
HA |
2006/7 |
|
3.6 |
Assess the potential of commercial GPS location systems, and the planned LRUC system (see Action Plan 2.5), to be developed to provide a regional real-time information facility for highway conditions/alternative routing. |
EMRFAG |
|
2006/7 |
Last updated: 8th March 2007