Racing Ahead At The Tour Of Britain
The tour of Britain is one of the highlights of Britain’s sporting calendar, as well as one of the most prestigious cycling races on the circuit. The Tour of Britain has only been in been in existence in its current guise since 2004. However, its history can be traced back to 1945.
In 2016, Amberon TM were responsible for Traffic Management on Stage 3 (Congleton to Knutsford) on behalf of Cheshire East Highways. Amberon operates from 18 depots across the UK, providing a truly nationwide service to the highways industry.
“The knowledge and expertise of large events along with the resources available enable the event to run smoothly.”
Wayne Ashdown, Cheshire East Highways
Also supported within the traffic management plans, the Knutsford Cyclefest- a place for the community of cycling fans and enthusiasts to gather and celebrate all things cycling. With around 1000 visitors attending this sub-event on Knutsford Common, Amberon had to be at their best.
Fully supported by in-house project management team, Amberon provide TM on over 80 events a year up and down the country, large and small, including many mass-participation sports events. The tour of Britain was a major project, with over 80 personnel on site, from gatemen to TSCO’s for contraflow sections.
See stage 3 of the Tour Of Britain here
With experience of providing TM for the world’s most prestigious cycle race-the Tour De France- in 2014, Amberon were able to call on their experience to deliver an efficient, safe TM operation for Britain’s biggest race. With safety of paramount importance at all times, Amberon debuted their new CCTV Traffic Monitoring Towers, providing live, real-time feeds to event control.
Additionally, the design of a contingency plan for the M6 in the event of any slight hiccups was in place and ready to go. Supported by Cheshire Police, the contingency wasn’t needed- but it’s planning and design made for a vital part of the event preparation in the event of unforeseen circumstances.
Wayne Ashdown, Network Manager, Cheshire East Highways told us:
“Amberon’s involvement as a partner to assist with the planning and the deployment of the traffic management for the tour of Britain was key to its success. The knowledge and expertise of large events along with the resources available enable the event to run smoothly.
On the day not only did we manage the most crucial parts of the race at the start and finish, but a contingency plan in the event of an incident on the M6 between Junction 16 and Junction 19 was required.”
