Highway Care: The Unveiling of The Automated Cone Laying Machine

At Highway Care we strive to constantly innovate to help keep drivers and road workers as safe as possible. In February 2020 we trialled an Automatic Cone Laying Machine, which was developed in collaboration with Highways England, Kier and HW Martin Traffic Management.

Putting out cones is a job that can be particularly dangerous, strenuous and tiring. It is still currently undertaken by two people on the rear of a vehicle working in tandem, with the bulk of the work undertaken at night and carried out in most weathers, with the workers lifting up to 10 tonnes of equipment per shift.

Cone laying is essential but can be frightening to the cone layers, with traffic thundering past them. The Automatic Cone Laying Machine will also free up operatives to do other essential road work. The criteria for the new Automated Cone Laying Machine, is that it must be able to lay/collect at least 400 cones at a rate of one every 10 seconds. Industry influencers and experts who attended the trial were very impressed and had a lot of good feedback to impart on this new innovation.

With the current COVID-19 situation ongoing, Highway Care have had to put the next phase of testing on hold but we are hoping this can be done toward the end of the year with an unveiling of the final machine soon after.

Below is a video of the Automated Cone Laying Machine being trialled in Bruntingthorpe, Leicestershire:

To find out more about the ACLM please contact us on +44 (0) 344840 0088. To view more of our mobile traffic solutions click here.