How can tech help manage traffic and road infrastructure used by commercial operations in rural and remote communities?

In rural and remote Scotland, commercial operations in primary industries provide many jobs and benefits to local communities, their economies and way of life.

But those rural and remote communities are often served by single track roads, and this can cause problems when the public road infrastructure is overwhelmed by peak or sustained commercial use, or by the flow of seasonal visitors. These can negatively impact not just the residents of those communities, but also visitors, customers, other businesses, and the provision of emergency services. They can also impact detrimentally on the environment.

We want to make road use as effective as possible for all – efficient for the businesses involved, and also safer and less disruptive to the communities that support and rely on them, and the visitors that use them.

Our use case is Balquhidder, a small community some 10 miles north west of Callander at the head of Loch Voil. Balquhidder’s main artery is a single track Class C road, and it – along with other roads around the community - needs to meet the demands of significant and sustained use from residents, farm machinery, hospitality businesses, visitors and large forestry haulage vehicles. In this regard, forestry activity involving heavy machinery is likely to be extensive and sustained for the next 20 years across multiple sites in the area, using all the roads.

So how can tech help manage traffic and road infrastructure used by commercial operations in rural and remote communities?

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