The management and impact of abnormal loads

Congestion on Britain’s roads is an increasing problem. The movement of large and heavy abnormal indivisible loads (AILs) through the road network can cause additional delays to other traffic. Delays caused by AILs could potentially be reduced by management measures based on a better understanding of how they are related to the types of load and the conditions under which the loads are moved. This Insight Report covers several projects that have investigated the prevalence and congestion impact of AILs and the effect of mitigation measures such as movement by water or by night. It concludes, however, that the overall impact of AILs on network delay is small and mitigation measures will be most effective if selectively targeted.