Highways Agency

MODERNISATION

Carol Moore

Customer Service Operator Carol Moore from the Highways Agency Information Line - 08457 50 40 30. HAIL provides up-to-date information to help with journey planning, including details of roadworks affecting motorways and major roads. HAIL handled 67,501 calls during 1999. This information is also available on this website

OUR ORGANISATION:THE HIGHWAYS AGENCY MAINTAINS, OPERATES AND IMPROVES THE 6,350 MILE NETWORK OF ALL PURPOSE TRUNK ROADS AND MOTORWAYS IN ENGLAND ON BEHALF OF THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE ENVIRONMENT, TRANSPORT AND THE REGIONS.

Bathampton Meadow Nature Reserve was created as an integral part of the A4 Batheaston Bypass.

Links between Highways Agencies Strategies

THE AGENCY WORKS CLOSELY WITH LOCAL AUTHORITIES, AND RAIL, COACH, BUS,WATER AND AIR OPERATORS TO INTEGRATE THE NETWORK WITH NON TRUNK ROADS AND OTHER MODES OF TRANSPORT.

Although the motorway and trunk road network is relatively small, accounting for less than four per cent of England's roads, it plays a key role in the country's transport system, carrying over a third of all traffic and more than two thirds of freight. It is a valuable national asset, currently worth about £62 billion. 

Our Aim

The Agency's strategic aim is:
To contribute to sustainable development by maintaining, operating and improving the motorway and trunk road network in support of the Government's integrated transport and land use planning policies. 

Our Objectives

• Ministers have also set the Agency eight key objectives:
• To give priority to the maintenance of trunk roads and bridges with the broad objective of minimising whole life costs.
• To develop its role as a network operator by implementing traffic management, network communications and other measures aimed at making best use of the existing infrastructure and facilitating integration with other transport modes.
• To take action to reduce congestion and increase the reliability of journey times.
• To carry out the Government's targeted programme of investment in trunk road improvements.
• To minimise the impact of the trunk road network on both the natural and built environment.
• To improve safety for all road users and contribute to the Government's new safety strategy and targets for 2010.
• To work in partnership with road users, transport providers and operators, local authorities and others affected by its operations.
• To promote choice and information for travellers, monitoring and publishing information about the performance and reliability of the network.
• To be a good employer, managing the Agency's business efficiently and effectively, seeking continuous business improvement. 

Streamlining the Agency

All Government agencies are subject to review every five years and the first such review of the Highways Agency since its launch in 1994 was completed in July 1999.The review evaluated the Agency's performance over the period and considered whether Agency status remained appropriate. On the Agency's performance the review concluded that it had been largely successful in meeting the targets it was set, had improved its procurement of maintenance and major schemes and cut its running costs substantially. It had also responded quickly and positively to major changes in policy. In particular, the Agency had shifted its focus from being a road builder to encompass its additional role as a network operator.

On institutional arrangements the review concluded that the most effective way of delivering a more integrated transport system and a better service to road users was to build on the achievements of the Highways Agency. The Highways Agency therefore retained its status as an Executive Agency of the Department of the Environment,Transport and the Regions, providing us with a stable basis for developing our network operator role.

To fulfil that role more effectively the operational side of the organisation was reshaped into four regions - South-west, South-east, North and Midlands - to match regional planning and Government Office boundaries more closely. This is strengthening the partnerships with planning bodies, including the Regional Development Agencies, to deliver customer-focussed integrated transport solutions. This enables our Network and Customer Service teams to concentrate on developing relationships with these and other partners, while Project Service teams focus on the delivery of work programmes.

This reshaping of the organisation also had to take account of the new Greater London Authority which assumed responsibility for London's roads in July 2000. Advance planning enabled work on London's motorway and trunk road network and over a hundred staff to be successfully transferred to the Capital's new transport body, Transport for London. 

Strategies for Action

To deliver our network operator role we are developing a series of Strategic Plans to explain what we will be doing in the next five to ten years to promote the Government's policies for sustainable development and to guide us in providing integrated transport solutions. They will encourage innovation, ensure a consistent approach, help spread best practice, and will be taken forward as we develop more detailed Route Management Strategies for individual routes. This family of plans will cover each of the investment areas and investment criteria set out in the Integrated Transport White Paper.

Our first strategic plan covering the environment, "Towards a Balance with Nature", was published in November 1999. The second covering Safety, Making the Network Safer, was published in March 2000, and has been followed by the plan for Maintenance in April 2000.