Highways Agency

Reliable journeys and informed travellers

Increasing the network's capacity is a crucial element in the battle against congestion. However widening roads or building new ones can't solve all the issues. We need to get smarter about how we manage our network and develop new tools and ideas.

Targeted programme of improvements

This year another 10 schemes in the Government's major road improvement programme opened to traffic. The targeted programme of improvements includes all schemes worth more than £5 million. For 2003-04 we achieved 44 out of 48 major scheme milestones, plus another scheme early in 2002-03.

We also delivered eight milestones which were not originally in the 2003-04 Business Plan.

Schemes which opened in 2003-04

• A500 Basford, Hough, Shavington bypass
• A2/M2 Cobham-junction 4 widening
• A46 Newark - Lincoln improvement
• A6 Rothwell - Desborough bypass
• A6 Rushden & Higham Ferrers bypass
• A41 Aston Clinton bypass
• A1033 Hedon Road improvement
• A6 Alvaston bypass
• A650 Bingley relief road
• M6 Toll road

Additional milestones achieved (not originally included in the 2003-04 Business Plan)

The four milestones not achieved by March 2004 were:

• A120 Stansted-Braintree improvement - opened in July 2004. Completion was delayed because we were required to re-route utilities services on part of the route and due to bad weather conditions.
• The A11 Fiveways-Thetford - publication of draft orders was held back so further work to minimise the environmental impact and to achieve best value for money could be carried out.
• A11 Attleborough bypass scheme -publication of draft orders was held back to ensure that we delivered a scheme with the best design option at the lowest cost to the public.
• A483 Pant-Llanymynech improvement - this was delayed to allow schemes with greater congestion and safety priorities to be carried out.

Headlines for 2003-04

Smaller scale programmes

This year we delivered 294 smaller scale schemes. Thirty-three were designed primarily to ease congestion, 185 to increase safety and 76 to deliver environmental benefits. The schemes can be very simple, ranging from altering the layout of a road by painting new lane markings costing a few thousand pounds to re-building slip roads to improve access to a motorway or trunk road, costing up to a maximum of £5 million.

An example is the A2070 Cloverleaf junction at Ashford, Kent. Popular with motorcyclists, research showed that of 21 accidents in past five years, 14 casualties were attributed to motorcycle accidents. A motorcycle friendly barrier system to supplement the existing safety barrier was installed to help save lives and prevent serious injuries caused by crash barrier collisions.

Road conditions

We aim to keep disruption to a minimum when we carry out roadworks. In 2003-04 we ensured that 99.42% of lanes were open to traffic during the network's busiest times. We also tried, wherever possible, to avoid holiday times and major events when carrying out maintenance work.

Informed travellers

Keeping drivers informed means they can make choices and don't increase the queues when delays occur. The national traffic control centre collects data from cameras and in-road sensors, together with information from the police, local highway authorities and other sources. The information is passed to drivers through travel reports, electronic messaging signs, the Agency website and a telephone service.

Abnormal loads

On 1 April 2003, the Agency took responsibility for heavy, long and wide loads. We established a new team dedicated to load movements, routing and policy. They agree when vehicles can be moved. A system to enable the haulage industry to submit movement notifications electronically will be launched in 2005.

Automatic Warning System

The motorway incident detection and automatic signalling system (MIDAS) helps drivers make decisions to avoid congestion and protects those already in a queue. Using in-road loops it picks up slowing traffic, automatically setting signs and reducing speed limits. By March 2004 we had delivered 440 miles/710 km of operational MIDAS, with extensive coverage on the M1, M6, Birmingham box, Manchester box and parts of the M25. By 2005, we will be saving about 17 fatal accidents, 100 serious accidents and 700 slight accidents annually.

Case study - Our new traffic officers

The last 12 months have seen great progress in our efforts to become a traffic manager. Recruitment and training for the new Highways Agency traffic officer service was successfully completed in early 2004 for the initial roll out in the West Midlands.

Patrolling the network seven days a week, recruits are assisting the police with traffic management duties, spotting and clearing debris from the carriageway, organising accident clear ups and reporting on traffic conditions. The Agency has also established a regional control centre with our staff working side by side with police colleagues from the Central Motorway Police Group. The success of this project is highly dependent on a strong partnership with England's police forces.

Applications for the traffic officer role were considered against a set of stringent competencies developed in consultation with the police. Assessment centres were held throughout December 2003 and January and February 2004. The training programme was supported by West Mercia Police, the Fire Service College at Moreton-in-Marsh and other specialist contractors.

Top: A traffic officer with vehicle.

Right: The interior of a traffic officer vehicle.