National Highways
National Highways, formerly Highways England and before that the Highways Agency, is a government-owned company charged with operating, maintaining and improving motorways and major A roads in England.
It sets highways standards used by all four UK administrations, through the Design Manual for Roads and Bridges. Within England, it operates information services through the provision of on-road signage and its Traffic England website, provides traffic officers to deal with incidents on its network, and manages the delivery of improvement schemes to the network.
Founded as an executive agency, it was converted into a government-owned company, Highways England, in April 2015. As part of this transition, the UK government set out its vision for the future of the English strategic road network in its Road Investment Strategy. A second Road Investment Strategy was published in March 2020, with the company set to invest £27billion between 2020 and 2025 to improve the network as described in the strategy. The current name was adopted in August 2021.
History
In March 1994, the Highways Agency was created as an executive agency of the Department for Transport.As part of the Department for Transport's 2010 Spending Review settlement, Alan Cook was appointed to lead an independent review of the government's approach to the strategic road network. It recognised that the Highways Agency was closer to central government than other infrastructure operators, resulting in a lack of a strategic vision and certainty of funding due to the wider policy environment in which it operated, as well as the limited pressure to drive efficiencies compared to that faced by regulated sectors. In April 2015, it became a government-owned company with the name Highways England. In July 2015, Jim O'Sullivan became chief executive, replacing Graham Dalton.
In 2020, the agency launched an advertising campaign using the song "Go West" by Village People and covered by Pet Shop Boys. The lyrics changed to "Go Left", encouraging people to stop on the left hand side of the motorway in case of breakdown.
In August 2021, Highways England was rebranded to National Highways, removing any reference to England from its name. This move coincided with the permanent appointment of Nick Harris as CEO, after taking over as interim CEO from Jim O’Sullivan in February 2021. It was suggested that the 'national' in the new name refers to the fact that the company is responsible for setting highways standards for the whole of the UK, through the Design Manual for Roads and Bridges, even though decisions on the building and maintenance of roads outside of England are devolved to the Scottish Government, Welsh Government and Northern Ireland Executive.
The renaming met with some criticism, being the third name for the agency in six years, and with reports that 'Highways Agency' is colloquially used more than either newer name. The name has also attracted criticism from the other countries of the UK, particularly in Wales where the use of 'national' has been criticised despite transport being devolved to Wales.
Responsibilities
National Highways is responsible for operating, maintaining and improving the strategic road network the motorways and major A roads in England. The SRN comprises over of road and includes structures such as bridges, tunnels, drainage systems and technology assets including variable message signs and cabling. The SRN includes only around 2% of the total road length in England, but it carries around a third of all its motor vehicle traffic.National Highways is responsible for the Design Manual for Roads and Bridges providing the standards, advice notes and other documents relating to the design, assessment and operation of trunk roads, including motorways in the United Kingdom. The manual is produced by National Highways in conjunction with the devolved governments of Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. The manual is also used in some parts of the Commonwealth.
The authority produces the Manual of Contract Documents for Highway Works, and Asset Maintenance and Operation Requirements which supersedes the Network Maintenance Manual and Routine and Winter Service Codes, and its predecessor the Trunk Road Maintenance Manual. Contractors and subcontractors are generally paid via a project bank account, which is the agency's default mechanism for ensuring that payments flow down through the supply chain, and prevent payment hold-ups for sub-contractors undertaking work on behalf of a prime contractor.
Operating the network
National Highways' operations are split into areas which are loosely based on the regions of England. These regions are subdivided into nine operational areas. Eleven areas and routes are managed by DBFO companies. Each area is managed and maintained by an area team, with a Managing Agent, MA, and a contractor, the Managing Agent Contractor, MAC. The M6 Toll is a PFI concession, which is part of the strategic road network.Strategic Road Network
| DBFO area | DBFO name | Roads managed | DBFO Company | Commencement date |
| 5 | M25, link roads to GLA Boundary, Berks, Bucks, Herts, Essex, Kent & Surrey | Image:UK-Motorway-M1.svg|1000x20px|link=M1 motorway, Image:UK-Motorway-M3.svg|1000x20px|link=M3 motorway, Image:UK-Motorway-M4.svg|1000x20px|link=M4 motorway, Image:UK-Motorway-M11.svg|1000x20px|link=M11 motorway, Image:UK-Motorway-M20.svg|1000x20px|link=M20 motorway, Image:UK-Motorway-M25.svg|1000x20px|link=M25 motorway, Image:UK-Motorway-M26.svg|1000x20px|link=M26 motorway, Image:UK-Motorway-A1.svg|1000x20px|link=A1 motorway, Image:UK road A1.svg|1000x20px|link=A1 road, Image:UK road A2.svg|1000x20px|link=A2 road, Image:UK road A3.svg|1000x20px|link=A3 road, Image:UK road A13.svg|1000x20px|link=A13 road, Image:UK road A20.svg|1000x20px|link=A20 road, Image:UK road A23.svg|1000x20px|link=A23 road, Image:UK road A30.svg|1000x20px|link=A30 road, Image:UK road A40.svg|1000x20px|link=A40 road, Image:UK road A282.svg|1000x20px|link=A282 road, Image:UK road A316.svg|1000x20px|link=A316 road, Image:UK road A405.svg|1000x20px|link=A405 road, Image:UK road A1089.svg|1000x20px|link=A1089 road, Image:UK road A3113.svg|1000x20px|link=A3113 road | Connect Plus | October 2009 |
| 25 | A69 Newcastle to Carlisle | Image:UK road A69.svg|1000x20px|link=A69 road | Road Link | April 1996 |
| 26 | A19 Dishforth to Tyne Tunnel | Image:UK road A19.svg|1000x20px|link=A19 road, Image:UK road A168.svg|1000x20px|link=A168 road, Image:UK road A174.svg|1000x20px|link=A174 road, Image:UK road A1053.svg|1000x20px|link=A1053 road | Autolink Concessionaires | February 1997 |
| 27 | M1-A1 Link | Image:UK-Motorway-M1.svg|1000x20px|link=M1 motorway, Image:UK-Motorway-M62.svg|1000x20px|link=M62 motorway, Image:UK-Motorway-A1.svg|1000x20px|link=A1 motorway | Connect M1-A1 | April 1996 |
| 28 | A50 / A564 Stoke to Derby | Image:UK road A6.svg|1000x20px|link=A6 road, Image:UK road A50.svg|1000x20px|link=A50 road | Connect A50 | July 1996 |
| 29 | A1 Alconbury to Peterborough | Image:UK-Motorway-A1.svg|1000x20px|link=A1 motorway | Road Management Services | April 1996 |
| 30 | M40 Denham to Warwick | Image:UK-Motorway-M40.svg|1000x20px|link=M40 motorway | UK Highways M40 | January 1996 |
| 31 | A417 / A419 Swindon to Gloucester | Image:UK road A417.svg|1000x20px|link=A417 road, Image:UK road A419.svg|1000x20px|link=A419 road | Road Management Services | April 1996 |
| 32 | A30 / A35 Exeter to Bere Regis | Image:UK road A30.svg|1000x20px|link=A30 road, Image:UK road A35.svg|1000x20px|link=A35 road | Connect A30/A35 | October 1996 |
| 33 | A1 Darrington to Dishforth | Image:UK-Motorway-A1.svg|1000x20px|link=A1 motorway | Road Management Services | March 2003 |
| 34 | A249 Stockbury to Sheerness | Image:UK road A249.svg|1000x20px|link=A249 road | Sheppey Route | February 2004 |
Improving the network
In common with the regulated sectors, National Highways works to fixed funding periods called Road Periods. Each Road Period is currently five years in length, and a particular Road Investment Strategy will broadly align with this. Before a new Road Period starts, National Highways will provide the Secretary of State for Transport with an SRN Initial Report, including an assessment of the state of the SRN, maintenance and enhancement priorities, and future development needs. Following this, the government produces a draft RIS setting out the high-level outputs that National Highways will need to deliver within the corresponding Road Period, alongside the proposed funding.National Highways will then respond with a Strategic Business Plan detailing its plans for delivering the RIS. This is reviewed by the Highways Monitor to assess whether the proposed requirements are deliverable with the proposed financial resources and sufficiently challenging. After the Strategic Business Plan and RIS are finalised, National Highways must deliver the agreed outputs and will be monitored on its progress by the Highways Monitor.
Development of the SRN is achieved through National Highways' capital investment programme, funded entirely by government through grant-in-aid and set out in the first Road Investment Strategy. For Road Period 1, Highways England invested around £15billion in its network, with additional funding to address other local challenges in proximity of the SRN relating to the environment; air quality; cycling, safety and integration; and growth and housing.
For Road Period 2, National Highways will invest over £27billion in its network, of which £14billion is for road enhancements. The rest is for operating, maintaining and renewing its roads, and further funding to address challenges on the environment and wellbeing; users and communities; innovation and modernisation; and safety and congestion. As of this Road Period, National Highways' activities will, at least in part, be funded by vehicle excise duty.