Highways Agency - Safe roads, Reliable journeys, Informed travellers

The Highway Agency’s existing research collaborations are wide-ranging and include partnerships with organisations from the UK, European and international stage.  The Agency is developing a more strategic approach to collaborative research and is increasingly focusing on identifying those organisations in the UK and internationally which offer the most potential for knowledge transfer.  This is a key component of the Highways Agency’s Strategic Plan 2010-15, to develop smarter collaboration.

Collaborative working offers significant value for money and allows the HA to showcase its best practices and also learn from others experiences. The Highways Agency is involved with a number of organisations and forums; some of these relationships focus on the sharing of best practice, whilst others offer opportunities for collaborative investment on projects and programmes of shared interests.  The Highways Agency also has Memoranda of Understanding with the Netherlands, Japan and China (through DfT).

Organisations and links to their pages:

Department for Transport	http://www.dft.gov.uk
Technology Strategy Board (TSB)	http://www.innovateuk.org
Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI)	www.innovateuk.org/deliveringinnovation/smallbusinessresearchinitiative
UK Roads Liaison Group	http://www.ukroadsliaisongroup.org
Highways Efficiency Liaison Group (HELG)	http://www.helg.org
ITS (Intelligent Transport Systems) Radar	www.highways.gov.uk/knowledge
Framework Programme 7 (Collaborative research through the European Commission)	http://cordis.europa.eu/
ERA-NET ROAD Project (Collaborative road research enabling project, funded by the EC)	http://www.eranetroad.org
ERTRAC (European Road Transport Research Advisory Council)	http://www.ertrac.org
ERTICO (CVIS)	http://www.ertico.com
FEHRL (Forum of European National Highways Laboratories)	http://www.fehrl.org
PIARC (World Road Association)	http://www.piarc.org
Transport Research Arena (TRA) Conference	http://www.traconference.eu
Transport Research Bureau (TRB)	http://www.trb.org
Organisation Economic Cooperation and Development – European Joint Research Centre	http://www.oecd.org
EASYWAY	http://www.easyway-its.eu/

Descriptions of relevant portfolios, projects and links to their pages:

Project	Portfolio	Link
Climate Change Programme (as part of the ERA-NET ROAD I project)	10	ERA-NET Road Climate Change Research
Road Safety Programme (as part of the ERA-NET ROAD I project)	2	Road Safe Programme
Low Noise Pavements (as part of the ERA-NET ROAD I project)	Asset Management	ERA Net Fast Track Pilot
Optimization of Thin Asphalt Layers (as part of the ERA-NET ROAD I project)	7	ERA Net Road Optimization of Thin Asphalt Layers
Performance Based Service Agreements (as part of the ERA-NET ROAD I project)	TBC	Link coming soon
Maintenance Backlog (as part of the ERA-NET ROAD I project)	SSN1	ERANET maintenance backlog
Effective Asset Management Programme (as part of the ERA-NET ROAD II project)	TBC	Link coming soon
BexPrac (comparative study of road maintenance and operating practices in Europe) Project (CEDR initiated project)	SSN8	CEDR Comparative Survey of Maintenance/Operational Costs