Traffic Radio
- This article is about a former traffic information channel in England. For traffic information radio in general, see Highway advisory radio.
Traffic Radio was a digital radio station based in England.
It was a 24-hour rolling traffic and travel service for motorways and major roads in England, run for the Highways Agency by Global Traffic Network.
Traffic Radio could be heard on DAB digital radio, 1386AM (National Exhibition Centre, Birmingham only) and via the internet. It was available 24 hours a day, every day of the year and was updated every 10 minutes at busy times. It offered regional traffic news, depending on which part of the country people are listening, as well as national headlines. The information came from the National Traffic Control Centre, which has access to over 1,000 CCTV cameras and 3,750 road sensors, as well as information from the Highways Agency's seven regional control centres.
Traffic Radio was not designed as a competitor to local radio stations in the UK, many of whom provide travel information. It was a continuous spoken information service meaning people can quickly switch on for the latest traffic information before switching back to whichever station they were listening to.
Traffic Radio was broadcast in six regional variants:[1] This was a list of those variants and the DAB multiplexes on which they broadcast:
- West & Southwest (code C0D1) - Bath & West Wiltshire, Bournemouth, Bristol & Bath, Cornwall, Exeter & Torbay, Plymouth, Swindon
- South & East (code C1D1) - Cambridge, Kent, Norwich, Reading, Southend & Chelmsford, South Hampshire, Sussex Coast
- Midlands (code C2D1) - Birmingham, Coventry, Leicester, Nottingham, Peterborough, Stoke-on-Trent, Wolverhampton/Shrewsbury/Telford
- Yorkshire/Northeast (code C3D1) - Bradford & Huddersfield, Humberside, Leeds, South Yorkshire, Teesside, Tyneside
- Northwest (code C4D1) - Central Lancashire, Liverpool, Manchester
- London (code C5D1) - London
(London took the South & East version before subsequently switching to its own dedicated version operated with the assistance of Transport for London)
The station closed at 3pm on 31 August 2011 after the project was axed following the government spending review. Barry Lewis was the last Southeast and London reporter, Simon Temby was the last North West reporter and Andrew Bassett the last North East reporter.
The Highways Agency advertised an opportunity to license the Traffic Radio brand and operate a similar service at no cost to the taxpayer. Expressions of interest were received, but no company was prepared to take this forward. The opportunity was advertised in July 2011 and has now been closed.