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App startup wins chance to reduce roadworks pain

A smartphone and tablet app startup company, Beepz.me, has won a £10,000 grant to develop a real-time information app to help motorists plan journeys around roadworks in Staffordshire. The app developer will receive the funding to develop an app showing all current roadworks across the county after winning the Tenshi Dare to Solve: Roadworks competition launched by Tenshi, a technology consultant working for Staffordshire County County Council.

Staffordshire and its highway maintenance contractor Amey have been working together for the past two years to develop an electronic, Internet based system of coordinating roadworks between the council and major utility companies operating across the county, with support from asset management software supplier Elgin, technology specialist Tenshi, plus a £400,000 grant from Innovate UK.

The Tenshi Dare to Sole competition was held as part of the Staffordshire Connected Roadworks Project, which will provide the project's collated roadworks data for Beepz.me to use in developing a new app.

Staffordshire County Council's Cabinet Member for Highways and Transport, Mark Deaville, said: “Staffordshire County Council is committed to improving the travel experience for road users and mitigating the impact of roadworks on the lives of residents, businesses and vistors to the region. Through this collaborative trial with Beepz.me, Amey, and Elgin, we’ll be better able to more strategically communicate our essential works to make our roads better for Staffordshire residents.”

Beepz.me CEO, James Manning, said: “This is a fantastic opportunity to enable road users to obtain and receive information on roadworks which affect their journey. The information will be tailored, relevant and most of all useful. We are looking forward to collaborating with all of the challenge partners to deliver this solution and reducing the pain of roadworks.”

Amey's principal delivery manager for smart data and technology, Simon Hunt, said: “At Amey, our goal is to create better places to live, work and travel. Beepz.me is a great example of how we can use mobile technology to take us closer to that goal.

"We'd like to congratulate the team behind the app on their win and say that we’re looking forward to working with them to trial their solution with data from the Staffordshire Connected Roadworks Project.

"The data we leverage from that project and feed into the app will ultimately help residents and businesses in Staffordshire better understand the impact to their regular journeys from roadworks in their area, thereby improving journey times and helping to avoid disruption."