Highways Agency

CHIEF EXECUTIVE'S FOREWORD

This Annual Report sets out how the Highways Agency has performed in meeting the challenging targets set for it in 1999/2000.That the Agency met or exceeded most of its key targets is an immense credit to all the staff who have achieved this, including my predecessors, Lawrie Haynes and, more recently, Peter Nutt.

The past year has been demanding and challenging as the Agency focussed on transforming itself from its former role as a builder and maintainer of England's £62 billion motorway and trunk road network, to the enhanced role of a network operator. The wider objectives set for the Agency to make better use of that network and provide improved levels of service in partnership with others was endorsed by the first Quinquennial Review of the organisation since its launch in 1994.

The Agency's positive response to major changes in transport policy, its innovative approach to operating and maintaining the motorway and trunk road network so vital to economic health, and the efficiency savings delivered over the first five years, satisfied the Government that the continued existence of the Highways Agency remained the most effective way of delivering better services to our customers.

In 1999/2000, considerable effort went into reshaping the Agency to deliver the challenging agenda set out in the Government's Integrated Transport White Paper and the ambitious long-term strategy now reflected in the 10 Year Plan, "Transport 2010". ThAgency's structure was reorganised to match regional planning boundaries more closely and advance planning enabled work on London roads and over a hundred staff to transfer smoothly to the new Greater London Authority when it was established in July 2000.The future will be equally challenging for us as, using modern technology, innovative approaches and partnerships with other operators, we implement the 10 Year Plan to tackle congestion.

In the next two years we will introduce a national Traffic Control Centre which will transmit up-to-date advice on which route to use if there are existing problems on the network.

Over the next 10 years we will make better use of the existing network by the increasing use of new technology to improve the real time management of traffic on our motorway and trunk road network. New systems will provide more reliable journey times, improve the safety and operation of the network, reducing its environmental impact and providing better integration with other forms of transport, and control traffic flows. Our `electronic motorways' will include extensive new roadside monitoring and communications equipment, linked to variable message signs and ultimately to in-car computers, providing both network controllers and drivers with real-time information about traffic levels, road conditions and incidents. These will be significant steps towards the `smart' roads of the future.

I am pleased to be joining such a dedicated, forward thinking team of people whose successful record demonstrates their ability to rise to the challenges ahead.

Tim Matthews, Chief Executive

Highways Agency Board