Highways Agency

• All About The M25
• Education & Resources

Key facts about England's motorways and trunk roads

Reliable journeys

• In 2003-04 we ensured that 99.4% of lanes were available during peak hours
• We have a team responsible for the movement of abnormal loads to help minimise traffic disruption
• During poor weather conditions we can mobilise around 500 gritters and snow ploughs
• We now employ Traffic Officers to help clear accidents and keep traffic moving
• Most congestion is caused by volume of traffic (65%), followed by accidents (25%) and roadworks (10%)

Use of our roads

Since 1980 vehicle use has risen by more than 80 percent. In 2002 there were more than 21 million cars, over 800,000 motorcycles and 75,000 public transport vehicles. (source DfT)

Traffic Officers

Did you know:

• Traffic Officers are now patrolling all of England’s 2025 miles of motorways from 7 RCCs and 31 outstations
• There are over 1100 Traffic Officers on the road, supported by 300 control room operators
• 25% of all congestion is caused by incidents. This is what the Traffic officer Service is tackling
• Traffic Officers are taking over 76% of all police motorway duties. This includes:
  
  • Providing temporary road closures and diversions
  • Assisting broken down motorists
  • Setting overhead signs
  • Answering emergency phone calls
  • Managing non-injury collisions
  • Clearing dangerous debris from the carriageway
  • Distributing traffic information to the media
  • Undertaking rolling roadblocks to ensure motorways are not closed and traffic doesn’t build up
  • Arranging repairs following an accident
  • Removing damaged or broken down vehicles
• Traffic Officers across the country are dealing with over 1000 incidents a day
• Over 70% of incidents are proactively spotted (by on-road or CCTV). This means improved customer service and increase in safety, as there is less chance of secondary incidents occurring
• In the West Midlands 90% of incidents are reached within 15 mins (target 75%). 83% are cleared within 30 minutes (target 75%)
• 77% all motorway incidents in West Mids now managed by Traffic Officers – Police are only involved when there is a suspected scene of crime
• In a recent survey, 95% of customers said the service provided by Traffic Officers was "better" or "much better" than expected

Informed travellers

In the last year:

• 64,000 customers called the Highways Agency Information Line
• we put up over 500 electronic message signs on the network, making more than 2000 in total
• our website was viewed over 19 million times
• the Agency replied to over 17,000 pieces of correspondence from the public
• our Communications Team issued over 1500 press notices to the media
• we surveyed more than 2500 road users to gather their views on the network and our performance
• we distributed half a million leaflets to motorists to raise awareness of winter and summer driving conditions

Did you know that:

• Our roads continue to be among the safest in the world. Despite carrying a third of all traffic, they only see approximately one eighth of accidents
• More than 151 billion vehicle kilometres of journeys take place on England's network every year
• England's motorways and trunk roads carry a third of all traffic and two thirds of all heavy freight traffic
• The network ranges from single carriageway routes carrying 10,000 vehicles a day to the M25, which serves more than 250,000 vehicles
• The M25 has 10,606 lights along its length and 2959 illuminated signs
• The Agency has more than 2000 variable message signs on the network
• A two lane motorway is 25.2 metres wide and a three lane motorway is 32.2 metres wide
• The M6 Preston by-pass was the first stretch of motorway, opened in 1958
• The M25 is 118 miles long
• There are 68 motorway service stations on the network
• Our website has over 2 million visitors a month

Length of the Network

Every year we add capacity to the network. In 2003-04 we added 50 miles.

We have a policy of returning the control of non-core roads to local highway authorities. This is called de-trunking. Due to this, the length of the network for which we are responsible has been reducing in recent years.

Agency spending

In 2004-05 we have a total budget of some £4.6 billion, which includes £2.3 billion of capital charges against our net assets valued at some £65 billion. Further details of our budget can be seen in our Business Plan.

Network Map

As at 1 October 2004 the length of the network is 4,818 miles / 7,754 kilometres

Click to enlarge map

The Highways Agency is an executive agency of the Department for Transport. On behalf of the Secretary of State for Transport we are responsible for managing, maintaining and improving England's trunk roads and motorways. We have 11 main offices in nine different regional locations in England.

The Agency's aim is "Safe Roads, Reliable Journeys, Informed Travellers".