Highways Agency

Chief Executive's Foreword

There is no doubt that 2002-03 was a demanding year for the Highways Agency, particularly given the background of traffic levels rising by a further 2 per cent on the strategic road network. The Agency nevertheless achieved 9 of its 14 key targets, only narrowly missing three of the five targets that were not met.

Although the number of journeys on our network continues to increase, the Agency also made significant progress towards delivering the Government's 10 Year Plan for Transport targets and the Department for Transport's Public Service Agreement (PSA) targets of reducing congestion and improving safety on the network. It has achieved this while keeping delaysto the minimum with 98% of traffic lanes available at peak times.

Important lessons have been learned about contingency planning and winter operating procedures. Improvements have been put into place for this winter following the problems encountered during severe weather on parts of our network in January 2003.

The future will be even more challenging with greater emphasis on reducing congestion and our increased responsibilities for traffic management from 2004-05. While the safety of the network continues to improve, we need to maintain this trend and to focus more effort into improving the safety of those who carry out work on the network.

Whilst I have only been Chief Executive of the Agency for a short period I have been impressed by the skill and enthusiasm of both its staff and its contractors. I am looking forward to leading them in meeting the new challenges and in contributing to delivering transport services that work for everyone.

Archie Robertson
Chief Executive