Conference Programme 2024

Thursday 18 April 2024

09:00

Met Office Civil Contingencies and the Road and Transport Sector

09:00 - 09:25
  • An overview of the Met Office’s involvement in the road and transport sector, including the National Severe Weather Warning Service (NSWWS).
  • An outline of the Scottish Flood Forecasting Service – a flood warning partnership between the Met Office and SEPA.
  • A short case study on Storm Babet and general review of winter 2023/2024.
  • How climate change may impact the future road and transport sector.

Speakers

09:30

PIARC: The 2024-27 Winter Technical Committee Plan

09:30 - 09:50
  • What is PIARC?
  • PIARC Workflow Update.

Speakers

09:55

Don't Make a Drama Out of a Crisis

09:55 - 10:15
  • How we work alongside SG/Ministers/Police to get our message across during major events and severe weather.
  • How the political and media landscape has changed and the most effective methods of communication.
  • Main learnings from recent events such as COP 26, CWC and Operation Unicorn.
  • What does climate change mean for communications?
  • Q&A opportunity with Stein Connelly before he deservedly walks off into the sunset of retirement.

Speakers

10:20

How Climate Assessments have Helped Practitioners Apply the NWSRG Guidance (Section 12) in Relation to Weather Forecasting

10:20 - 10:40
  • Providing a data-led climatological, topographical and meteorological review of a treated network.
  • Deciding which approach (single domain, multi domain or route based) is the most suitable for a practitioner’s network.
  • Drawing on a number of case studies, each with a slightly different client objective.

Speakers

10:40

Storm Challenges and Impact

10:40 - 11:00
  • A presentation focusing on scour management, including assessments, management strategy, programmes of works, and inspections.
  • Exploring the impacts and repairs of scour-induced problems on bridges Aray, Tummel and Braan in the North-West Unit of the Scottish trunk road network.

Speakers

11:00

Exhibition & Networking

11:00 - 11:30
11:30

Introducing the PREDICTOR Surface Water Flood Forecasting Tool

11:30 - 11:50
  • Motivation behind the development of the PREDICTOR tool.
  • High-level summary of the technical basis of the tool.
  • Application of the tool to forecasting impacts on the trunk road network.
  • Review of the tool’s performance in the pilot phase during recent flood events.
  • Next steps towards adopting the tool operationally.

Speakers

11:55

How Real-Time Data Solves Real Problems

11:55 - 12:15
  • How our relationship started with Transport Scotland through implementing their Gritter Tracker.
  • Having found success in the public eye, Transport Scotland looked inward with the new Mercury Dashboard, which went live last summer.
  • Introducing a third dimension for the winter season.
  • What’s next? Digital twins, weather, winter optimisation.

Speakers

12:15

Road Closures and the Haulage Sector

12:15 - 12:35
  • How do we hear of road closures?
  • The cost attached to diversions.
  • Where do we go when the roads are closed?
  • Partnering to do better.

Speakers

12:40

Winter Service on Scotland’s Trunk Roads: Our Journey towards Net Zero

12:40 - 13:00
  • Network Management Contract: contractual requirements for Winter Service 
  • Evolution towards a more sustainable winter service, including trials with de-icing salt applications.

Speakers

13:00

Lunch

13:00 - 14:00
14:00

Easy Insights: Unlocking Winter Road Maintenance in Challenging Areas

14:00 - 14:20
  • Challenges in monitoring winter road conditions across diverse locations.
  • IoT technology's role in collecting data from previously hard-to-measure areas.
  • Enhanced affordability and accuracy in obtaining road weather data with IoT.
  • Integration of data into a modern, hybrid road weather network.
  • Achieving quicker and more effective measures for ensuring safer roads through technology.

Speakers

14:25

Case Study: Smart Surface Temperature Sensing for Winter Road Maintenance

14:25 - 14:45
  • CENSIS has developed an Internet of Things (IoT) enabled monitoring system for roads, pavements and car parks.
  • Find out more about the initial challenge along with the main features of the system.
  • Hear about the local authorities already using the technology to deploy ‘smart gritting’ programmes.
  • Discover the technology blueprints helping Scotland’s local authorities realise the potential of IoT for the delivery of public services.

Speakers

14:50

Gap Analysis Panel

14:50 - 15:30
  • A discussion on the NWSRG’s Practical Guide for winter service and whether there are any gaps or areas to update in its coverage of key issues and topics.

Speakers

Moderator

15:30

Exhibition & Networking

15:30 - 16:00