Spring 2006

The first phase of a UK Government project to help arrange abnormal-load lorry movements online is now live. You can access the ESDAL (Electronic Service Delivery for Abnormal Loads) site at www. esdal.org.uk, which is a sub-section of the Highways Agency Web site.

The object of the scheme is to provide a Web portal to handle the entire process of planning and notification of Abnormal Indivisible Load movements by road. The scheme will provide a link between hauliers, police, structure owners and the Highways Agency AIL team.

At the moment the site simply presents information about the subject, drawing together the various forms that have to be filled in. Later it will provide a portal for submitting applications, as well as a full route-planning service.

The routing element is being developed by Serco Transport Systems, and uses Navteq digital mapping. Internet map display and interaction are handled with Intergraph's GeoMedia WebMap technology.

 

When finished, the system will allow hauliers to draw routes directly on to a screen map. These routes will then drive other processes, such as automatically identifying organisations requiring notification. Initially, ESDAL will return a list of contacts for each route; automatic notification will be added in the later phases of implementation.

According to Chris Bax, the ESDAL Project Manager at Serco: "This is not a conventional routing application, and the detailed attributes integrated into the map data are a vital element in route analysis for abnormal loads."