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The National Traffic Control Centre collects real-time information on road conditions.
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How We Manage Our Roads
In this section you can find out more about how we manage and maintain these roads and plan for the future
The Project Control Framework
On 1st April 2008 we launched the Project Control Framework. The Framework sets out how we, together with the Department for Transport, manage and deliver major improvement projects.
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Managing Our Roads
Highways Agency Areas
In order to manage England's strategic network, the Agency has divided the country into thirteen (formerly fourteen) areas. Each of these Areas is assigned an Area team and a contractor, known as a Managing Agent (MA) or Managing Agent Contractor (MAC).
Each Area team, along with their corresponding Managing Agent, is responsible for the maintenance of the Agency's roads in their area. Area teams are part of Network Operations Directorate (NOD).
- View a map of Agency Areas and find projects located in these Areas
- Find out more about the Areas and how they are managed
There are a number of other types of project managed by the Agency:
Major Projects
We also manage a series of larger projects, including the Government's Programme of Major Schemes. This is a programme of major road projects costing more than £5 million.
These projects are assigned their own project teams, and are the responsibility of Major Projects (MP) Directorate.
When Major Projects are deciding whether to ahead with a project and which options to proceed with they use an Appraisal Process to help with the decision-making process.
Design, Build, Finance & Operate
Parts of the motorway and trunk road network are managed under Private Finance Initiative. These contracts are known as "Design, Build, Finance and Operate" (DBFO) contracts.
Bridge Structures
With a few exceptions, the Highways Agency is responsible for all bridges on the trunk road network in England. The trunk road network consists of almost all motorways and a number of major 'A' roads and provides the main inter-urban and inter-regional routes for through traffic. The Highways Agency is also responsible for most other structures associated with those roads, such as drainage culverts, sign gantries, lighting columns and retaining walls.
The New Deal Detrunking Programme
The policy of detrunking was first set out in the White Paper "A New Deal for Transport", published in July 1998. It involved transferring up to 3,200 km (about 30% of trunk road network at April 1999) of non-core routes from Highways Agency control to local highways authority control. The detrunking programme was concluded at 31 March 2009.
