Central Traffic Management Ltd (CTM) is a leading provider of road management solutions, specialising in traffic management, road markings and signage. The company was established in 2001 and is the fastest-growing road management company in the industry. Headquartered in Stirling, CTM operates several regional depots and covers Scotland and the North of England. 

CTM began working with SRL in 2006 and, in doing so, became the first traffic management company in Scotland to adopt SRL’s equipment. The company was particularly impressed with how easy SRL’s temporary lights are to use, as Dave Oswald, managing director of CTM explains:

“A high concentration of our team is out on the roads across a large geographical area, so it is really important for them to have user-friendly products that are quick and simple to set up. SRL’s temporary lights fitted the bill and we began hiring all our equipment from them. 

“We have worked with SRL for 15 years now and we chose them to be our sole supplier of temporary traffic systems because of the high levels of service and support they give us. We have absolute confidence that they will look after us.”

Advancing with technology

Working on many major road schemes throughout Scotland has meant that CTM has naturally strived to be at the forefront of technology.

“As a leading road management company in Scotland, we work with many organisations, including local authorities, private contractors and energy companies, so it’s vital that we keep pace with advances in temporary traffic technology,” Dave adds. “SRL has always been an innovator, constantly bringing new developments to the industry that we can take to our customers. We want both ourselves and our customers to be at the cutting edge of technology.” 

Always an early adopter of SRL’s new product developments, CTM was the first company in Scotland to introduce SRL’s Urban64® intelligent temporary system into the region and it was successfully utilised on a complex junction in Stirling.

Collaborating on large scale projects

CTM and SRL embarked on their largest project together - a four-year scheme to deliver an elaborate temporary traffic management solution for the AWPR bypass. The City of Aberdeen bypass was one of Europe’s largest road projects at the time and it presented many challenges along the way.

“The scheme was designed with safety very much in mind and the planners wanted to avoid the need for marshalls to physically control plant crossings along the route,” says Dave. “The design incorporated 38 bespoke plant crossings, with six heads on each crossing, so it was very complex.

“At the height of the project, we had 1300 batteries on the route and we were changing up to 160 of them a day, which was demanding. SRL proved to be a very solid partner on that project, providing a reliable supply of batteries and any necessary support we needed.”

Bespoke products, flexible solutions

CTM has just taken delivery of 80 new SRL temporary signals with bespoke red and black coloured boxes. Every unit is fitted with a Smart Tracker device to enable CTM to remotely track the location and battery status, as well as check if signals are on red or green. 

“Introducing Smart Tracker has been a huge advantage for us,” Dave adds. “We now have live data on the status of all our signals and we can even see if they have been tampered with or moved – all without having to visit site. The time and cost savings on call-outs will be significant, not to mention the reduction in our environmental impact.” 

In addition to the bespoke signals, the company also hires a fleet of 10 pedestrian posts and five VMS signs and it has the flexibility to add new units when required.

“Hiring equipment means that we benefit from the most up to date systems, but it also means that we can add to the fleet whenever we need to. We can quickly adapt to our customers’ changing requirements and deploy additional equipment to them at short notice.”

Reliable support

The 24/7 support package from SRL is key to CTM and the SRL team is always on hand to assist on any project. Dave says: “We recently had an emergency job where our customer – a large strategic council – was dealing with an RTA at a four-way junction. The pedestrian crossing had been severely affected by the collision, so we immediately contacted SRL who delivered some emergency boxes to us. We had the whole system up and running in under two hours.”

CTM works on many high-profile schemes and is currently involved in the A9 Luncarty to Pass of Birnam project – one of Scotland’s worst accident routes. The scheme to upgrade from a single to dual carriageway is currently in phase two, with four sets of SRL lights installed around construction works.

“We’re proud to have been invited to work on some prestigious routes like the A9 and we are fully supported by SRL when we do,” adds Dave.  “We are always pleased with the service we receive from SRL and we have a strong relationship with them.

“Our successful partnership with SRL spans 15 years and I’m sure it will continue long into the future.”