Highways Agency

Chief Executive's Foreword

I am pleased to present the Highways Agency's Business Plan for 2004-05, setting out our priorities and targets for the coming year and the resources we will deploy to meet them.

The Agency has now been operating for ten years. We are still a young organisation, whose role has grown rapidly from road builder to highway manager and - from this year - that role will stretch again to become a traffic manager. Our strength lies not just in our own workforce, but also in the bond we have with other areas within the Department for Transport and with our extensive supply partnerships.

The key to our success is providing our customers with safe and reliable road journeys as demand for road transport grows from motorists and industry, particularly the freight industry. The services we deliver are fundamental to meet two of the Government's key public service agreement (PSA) targets - reducing congestion and improving road safety. The way we work is also important to the achievement of other PSA targets covering efficiency and impact on the environment.

In the coming year we will continue to improve the network. We expect to add 29 miles (46km) of new capacity by completing seven major improvements. A further eight schemes will start construction during the year, and many other projects in the Government's targeted programme of improvements will progress through consultative and statutory processes.

The major change in our service delivery will be the introduction of our traffic management operation. We have already commissioned the National Traffic Control Centre to provide up-todate traffic information for the motorway and trunk road network. We will extend technology to provide information to road users, particularly to inform them of impending road problems, and where we can, offer them a choice of route. This will help reduce congestion further.

The new traffic officer service, ensuring that delays arising from road accidents are minimised, will begin with a live pilot on the motorways around Birmingham from April. I expect new powers in the Traffic Management Bill now before Parliament to enable us soon afterwards to take the lead for managing traffic congestion from the police. Our experience from the West Midlands will then be included in the rollout of the service across England during the following year. We will work closely with the police, who will continue to be responsible for traffic infringements and the investigation of serious accidents. However, we expect the Highways Agency's contribution not only to improve traffic flows, but also to release police resources for other pressing duties. The Agency will not have an enforcement role; our job is to be a friend to road users, helping to improve their journeys.

Although our roads are among the safest in Europe, maintaining the existing network in a safe condition will remain a priority. To deliver the challenging targets set by Government, we need to reduce accidents on our network by about 500 each year, which we will do through a combination of network improvements and traffic management developments. Our network represents a particularly hazardous working environment for our staff and partners. We have reduced accidents at major road works on motorways over the years and remain committed to reducing them further.

The wear and tear on our network from hundreds of thousands of vehicles a day means that we have to undertake a rolling programme of maintenance. To reduce disruption we will continue to ensure that much of our routine maintenance is done outside peak periods.

Maintaining and operating the strategic road network has to be balanced with our responsibilities for the needs of neighbouring communities and for the environment. We have, for example, programmes to reduce traffic noise through the introduction of quieter road surfaces and our other programmes support wider Government initiatives on issues such as recycling, accessibility, biodiversity, water and air quality.

The catalyst for making this year's plan happen and for ensuring that the Agency delivers safe roads, reliable journeys, and informed travellers is our people - every one of whom has a crucial role to play. I look forward to leading them in tackling the challenges.

Archie Robertson
Chief Executive