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Publications and reports

This page provides a directory of publications and reports supported by Rees Jeffreys Road Fund. 

Click on the section below for links, downloads and more information.

As part of the Future Transport Visions Group, Gemma Bridge and Bernard Fanning have produced a toolkit to support improved engagement with young people in public consultations

Royal College of Art have published a report of their research findings exploring how neurodivergent people experience roads and creating a list of recommendations for those responsible for road design.

University of the West of England published the report of the Road Investment Scrutiny Panel - Key Questions for Road Investment and Spending.  The Report considers national and local road investment and expenditure.

Rees Jeffreys Road Fund trustee Andy Graham has authored a report for the RAC Foundation considering the funding and development of “connected vehicles”. Driven By Information Revisited – Stepping up a Gear is available on the RAC Foundation website.

Reed Mobility have published their report “Self-driving but guided by people” which sets out an approach for technology developers and regulators to engage with the public in the development of self-driving technology.

Low Traffic Neighbourhoods and the Paradox of UK Government control of the active travel agenda“, a study by G. Dudley, D. Bannister and T.Schwanen has been published in the Political Quarterly. You can find a copy of the article here.

Supporting new drivers in Great Britain is a report on research carried out by TRL, jointly funded with RAC Foundation. The report identifies Graduated Driver Licensing as a route to improving new driver safety.

“Urban Local Authorities and the Delivery of Micromobility Strategies – Obstacles to bicycle hire in the UK” by G DudleyD Banister and T. Schwanen, examines the challenges facing urban local authorities in regulating the innovation in micromobility, with a focus on dockless bicycle hire.

Dockless Bicycle Hire – is a summary report of the study by Dr. Dudley and colleagues.

Transport for New Homes CIC have published their report “Building Car Dependency” which outlines helpful guidance for planners about how to develop housing and communities with sustainable travel and transport options for residents.

Elaine Hardy has produced a research report on the resale of vehicles which have been judged as an insurance write off with recommendations to improve safety and the experience for unwitting car purchasers. The final report, Bridging the Gap, can be accessed here.

Interacting with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay when driving: the effect on driver performance. IAM RoadSmart’s research report published March 2020.

Independent Transport Commission (ITC): the study “The Shape of Changing Bus Demands in England” published in January 2020.

Assessment of the Sustainability of Road Safety in Local Government: the Road Safety Foundation published a report in July 2019, funded by a grant from Rees Jeffreys Road Fund, which explores the challenges being faced by local authorities when it comes to improving road safety. The report also proposes a variety of possible solutions.

Major Road Network Study The Fund has commissioned a substantial study to develop a long term vision of the role and evolution of the major road network with the aim of informing and influencing policy-making in the next Parliament and for the longer term. Roads for the Future: the Rees Jeffreys Road Fund published it’s report on a Major Road Network for England in 2016. Roads as a Service: Phil Carey’s report “What Do We Want From Our Roads?“, published in 2019, follows up on aspects of the 2016 MRN work. A Vision for the Governance of the MRN (Major Road Network): this study report from WSP, published in 2019, also follows up on aspects of the 2016 MRN work.

Uber Study: in 2017, the Fund commissioned a study by Dr Geoffrey Dudley, of the University of Oxford, into “The Governance of Transitions in Urban Mobility: The Case of Uber in London”. The final report has now been published.

York Civic Trust: Rees Jeffreys supported the creation of York’s Citizens Transport Forum, enabling the public to be involved with the city’s transport plan. This was also featured in an article in Transportation Professional in September 2020.

Disappearing Traffic: an evaluation of Pedestrianisation in Taunton Town Centre by UWE’s study, funded by Rees Jeffreys.

Will We Learn to Share?: the executive summary of a dissertation by Georgina Wells B.A looks at how car and ride sharing behaviours might adapt when autonomous vehicles arrive. The Fund paid for the survey work.

The following reports are examples of work on road transport issues which have been supported by the Rees Jeffreys Road Fund in 2014 and earlier years.

As part of the Future Transport Visions Group, the XT Junction team have developed an alternative design for road junctions. 

University of Nottingham and others have conducted a study into the circularity of asphalt.  Click here to see a summary of their work. 

CIRIA (Construction Industry Research and Information Association) have published a guide “Improving the performance of linear assets through green infrastructure.” The guide provides practical information for all highways professionals involved in the design, delivery or maintenance of linear assets (highways and roads, but also rail, water and energy networks). A free copy of the report can be downloaded from the CIRIA website.

Independent Transport Commission roundtable How can transport infrastructure make a positive contribution to the local environment? : Transport infrastructure is often seen as detrimental to the local environment, generating pollution, carbon emissions, and negatively impacting local ecology. We know that much of the UK’s transport infrastructure, including our road and rail networks, are providing important wildlife and floral habitats and have a major role to play in supporting local biodiversity. What greater role can transport infrastructure play in making a more positive contribution to local environment?

Plantlifea best practice guide to Managing Grassland Road Verges, funded by a Rees Jeffreys Road Fund grant, has been published aimed at highway managers, road engineers, operations managers, landscape architects and all those engaged with verge management and creation. Highways England have adopted recommendations from Plantlife’s best practice guide, which was funded by Rees Jeffreys Road Fund. For more detail, please see the HE announcement.

University of Plymouth: a research project into the feasibility of multi-functional CNT/PU coatings for future road surface design and road coatings was completed in February 2020 by Prof. Sung-Hwan Jang.

Roads and the Environment: Putting an Innovative Approach at the heart of the Road Investment Strategy 2 (RIS2). This report, Roads and Environment, produced by Campaign for Better Transport with support from the Fund was published in 2018.

Roads Value of Trees Toolkit: Commissioned by the Association of Directors of Environment, Economy, Planning and Transport (ADEPT) and funded by the Rees Jeffreys Road Fund, the Value of Trees toolkit provides information on species selection and latest guidance on tree planting and maintenance and is aimed at local authorities and third party organisations, such as developers.

Transform Scotland have published their research findings exploring the potential use of European-style zebra crossings in Scotland.

CycleStreets have produced a map of Low Traffic Neighbourhoods fed by the experience of cyclists and other road users. 

  • Rees Jeffreys Road Fund is delighted to be working with the Future Transport Visions Group programme supporting the development of early career transport professionals. Their latest reports on five projects supported by grants from Rees Jeffreys Road Fund are available on their website.
  • Read more about Future Transport Visions Group: the role of shaping the future of transport.

The Rees Jeffreys Award is for the best paper on highway engineering published by the Institution. The award has made annually since 1998, and the author(s) receives a premium of £200 and a certificate.  Each year ICE award authors from both industry and academia who have produced work judged by their peers to be of exceptional quality and benefit to the civil engineering, construction and materials science community.  A full set of winning papers can be found here.

The Road Investment Scrutiny Panel report captures input from a panel of transport specialists, considering the key questions to ask when assessing investment in road infrastructure. The report was also discussed at the 2023 Transport Select Committee. You can watch the discussion here, starting at 1hr 15mins.

Rees Jeffreys @ 70 Webinar Event What have the roads ever done for us? July 2020 : a report re-thinking what we want our roads to do for us and an article in Highways.

Round Table Discussion Paper June 2019: notes from a round table discussion A Fresh Perspective on England’s Roads hosted by the Fund on strategic challenges involving senior figures involved in future planning for England’s road network.

A wide range of transport-related reports and publications are contained in the Rees Jeffreys Library. This is located within the departmental library facility of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Skempton Building, Imperial College, London SW7 2AZ.

A list of publications held at ICL and by the Secretary can be found at  Archive – Imperial College Transport Library and at Archive list Secretary

Further contributions of appropriate material are always welcomed for inclusion in the Library.