Highways Agency

Chapter 6 Improving the Network

Targeting the areas where improvements are needed most

Indicator

To achieve by the end of the year no less than x% of the TPI scheme milestones listed in the Highways Agency's 2000/01 Business Plan

Target

90%

Performance

96%

The recently-completed final section (between Denton and Middleton) of the M60 Manchester outer ring road

The targeted programme of improvements (TPI) is a programme of major schemes (costing £5million or more) aimed at addressing some of the most serious problems on the Agency's network. These schemes will provide safer and healthier communities and support regeneration, integration and the economy. The programme also includes a major scheme near Stonehenge to improve the setting of this ancient monument.

In March 2001 the Government announced eight new additions to the TPI, bringing the total number of schemes to 49 at a value of nearly £1.9 billion. This has now increased to 50 with the addition of the A483 Pant-Llanymynech Bypass. The Agency is investigating ways of speeding up the delivery of these schemes, including developing ways to let contracts more quickly, public consultation at an earlier stage and using the same company to design and build the scheme. The Agency is also looking at options for streamlining the tendering process.

In 2000/01 the Agency invested a total of £480 million in these major schemes, including £202 million in public/private partnerships, meeting 23 out of 24 milestone targets. These included completion of the Manchester outer ring road with the opening of the final section of the M60 between Denton and Middleton.

During the year the Agency awarded 12 new contracts.

One was a £17.2 million scheme to build a new dual carriageway bypass to the north of Polegate in East Sussex. When it opens to traffic in 2002,it will remove heavy through-traffic from Polegate, making it cleaner and safer and improving the quality of life for local residents. It will also aid regeneration in the Eastbourne area.

The Agency has ensured - as with all its major construction schemes - that extensive environmental mitigation measures are integrated into the new road. Much of the bypass will be in a cutting to reduce noise and visual intrusion, and will be planted with 100,000 native trees and shrubs.

In east London, the Agency awarded a contract for the privately-financed A13 Thames Gateway project to relieve congestion, improve safety and open east-west access to the Docklands, Lower Lea Valley and other parts of the area. This £200 million project, which passed to Transport for London in July 2000, is the first public/private partnership to upgrade, operate and maintain an urban road.

Among the eight new TPI schemes announced in March 2001, is one to improve the A3 in Surrey. A new dual carriageway will bypass the village of Hindhead and benefit the local environment by putting through traffic in a 1.7 km (1.1 miles) twin-bored tunnel under Hindhead Common. The tunnel will take traffic away from the Devil's Punchbowl, a site of special scientific interest, and unite areas of National Trust land currently separated by the A3.

In the future TPI schemes could emerge from the Government Office led multi-modal studies now being carried out. New roads or major improvements proposed by these studies will be considered by regional transport bodies and assessed against criteria that look at each individual scheme's potential contribution to integration, safety, the environment, accessibility and the economy.

Case study: A1 Darrington to Dishforth DBFO

By 2010, one quarter of the finance required for major road schemes will come from the private sector. The Agency now has eight privately-financed roads open to traffic, including the A50 Stoke/Derby link road and the M1/A1 link road near Leeds. There are two more in the TPI programme.

In December 2000, the Agency announced bidders for the A1 Darrington to Dishforth DBFO (design, build, finance and operate) project. This £200 million project involves upgrading 11 miles of the A1 between Ferrybridge and Hook Moor and a three-mile stretch between Wetherby and Walshford, and the operation and maintenance of the remaining section of the A1 between Darrington and Dishforth.

This pioneering new form of contract rewards the contractor for keeping traffic moving at an average speed. The simple payment mechanism gives the DBFO contractor an incentive to avoid congestion by maintaining the road to a high standard, managing the traffic with appropriate signing and speed limits and responding quickly to incidents. This will also have significant benefits for safety.

A1 Ferrybridge power station, Yorkshire