Tees Valley traffic digital twin picks up two more awards in September, authority says

Tees Valley Combined Authority's traffic digital twin, developed with Aimsun and Yunex Traffic, won awards at the 2026 Highways Awards and at a summit in Toronto during September, the authority has said.

The Tees Valley Traffic Digital Twin won the Digital Transformation and AI Award at the Highways Awards, according to Tees Valley Combined Authority (TVCA). It also received the Smart Mobility Center's Smarter Traffic Technology Award at the 2026 Global Cities Executive Summit in Toronto.

TVCA said the wider Tees Valley FUSION project, which adjusts signal timings as traffic conditions change, was runner-up in the Best Use of New Technology category at the Highways Awards.

Cllr Steve Harker, TVCA Cabinet Member for Transport and Infrastructure, said: "The systems may be complex behind the scenes, but their purpose is simple: make better use of the roads and signals we already have so traffic can keep moving."

Sean Fryer and Andrea Reacroft of TVCA collected the award in Toronto. The authority said the summit brought together transport leaders from cities including Toronto, Montreal, Calgary, Halifax, Vancouver, Hamburg, Helsinki, Daejeon and New York City.

Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen said: "This is fantastic recognition for the cutting-edge work our team is doing to make journeys quicker and more reliable for people using our roads."

How the system works

The digital twin is a computer model of the region's road network. TVCA said it takes in information from roadside equipment and buses to predict what is likely to happen next, and can then change signals to keep vehicles moving.

The authority describes it as the UK's first fully operational, region-wide, AI-enabled automated traffic digital twin to be built into an Urban Traffic Management and Control (UTMC) system. Aimsun describes it as the first system in the country to connect directly to on-street traffic signal infrastructure, allowing automated interventions.

Aimsun announced TVCA's selection of itself and Yunex Traffic to provide the twin on a page dated 19 February 2024, with the initial aim of improving bus reliability and traffic management. The system was specified to predict traffic states up to 60 minutes ahead, drawing on Yunex Traffic's existing Stratos and UTC-UX traffic management systems integrated with Aimsun Live.

The figures

TVCA has said the twin's initial six-month pilot cut all delays by 13.7% on roads where it was deployed. Aimsun gives the same figure as a reduction in average delays for general traffic where targeted strategies were applied.

The authority said buses recovered more than 11mph in average speed within 15 minutes of an intervention. Aimsun's figures for bus weighted mean segment speeds are:

Bus weighted mean segment speed	mph
Before intervention	4.3
Within 15 minutes of intervention	15.9

The FUSION project uses Yunex Traffic FUSION technology across 57 co-ordinated sites and 196 traffic signals, according to TVCA. Across six monitored sites it saved about 5,000 hours of travel time in a year, which the authority equated to more than 200 days, with delays halved at some busy locations.

The largest single saving was 2,780 hours at the A174 Parkway Junction, Thornaby Road. TVCA said it has invested more than £2m in the FUSION and digital twin projects.

Earlier recognition

The twin won the Technology & Digital Transformation Award at the Chartered Institution of Highways & Transportation (CIHT) awards, held at the Royal Lancaster Hotel in London on 17 June 2026. CIHT lists the winner as Tees Valley Combined Authority and Aimsun.

TVCA said the projects were delivered by its Digital Transport team with the UTMC centre, the five Tees Valley local authorities, Aimsun and Yunex Traffic. Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council was also shortlisted at the Highways Awards for a road safety scheme in Hartburn.

Regional group

Mr Fryer, TVCA's Digital Transport Delivery Manager and intelligent transport systems (ITS) Lead, has been named a co-chair of a new regional community for Northern England, which TVCA calls ITS UK North and ITS UK mainly calls ITS North.

ITS UK said the group will be co-chaired by Mr Fryer, Stuart Wilson of Nicander and Peter Simm of Mobius Networks. It said Mr Fryer led business case development for a £70m Tees Valley ITS investment programme.

ITS UK said ITS North will soon publish a strategy for the group, along with details of future events and activities.