Highways Agency
Printable version E-mail this to a friend

Delivering for Road Users: Highways Agency publishes annual report 2008-09

Delivering for Road Users: Highways Agency publishes annual report 2008-09

News Release issued by the Government News Network on 16 July 2009

The Highways Agency has today published its Annual Report for 2008-09.

The Annual Report shows that the Agency is making journeys safer, delivering better information for road users and using innovative techniques and technology to manage increased network capacity and traffic levels more efficiently, while working to reduce the impact of our major roads on the environment. Our performance against our target for Road User Satisfaction has also improved.

Over the past year the Agency has made progress, achieving seven out of our eight business plan targets, and making good progress on the eighth.

Achievements by the Highways Agency in 2008-09 include:

* During 2008-09 the number of deaths and serious injuries on England’s motorways and major A roads was further reduced (from 2,360 to 2,053);

* 16 major new schemes were opened in the year, including the £174 million M6 extension from north of Carlisle to Guardsmill.

* The Agency met targets on air quality, biodiversity, and water quality, and started to capture data on greenhouse gas emissions resulting from our business activities;

* Journey reliability continued to improve while an £800 million maintenance programme kept the roads safe and serviceable and we met our road condition target once again.

* Looking ahead, we are building on the successful pilot of Active Traffic Management on the M42 to deliver hard shoulder running and managed motorway technology on more of the motorway network. The national strategic roads programme, announced in January 2009, included a significant proportion of hard shoulder running schemes. Managed motorways will bring extra capacity at lower capital cost and with less environmental impact than conventional widening;

During the year the Agency and its suppliers received several awards, including a prestigious Prince Michael International Road Safety Award for safety on the M1 Junction 6a – 10 widening scheme. The Agency was named the 'Client with the Best Commitment to Health and Safety' by Building Magazine following the National Health and Safety team’s work with the Health and Safety Executive.

Graham Dalton, Highways Agency Chief Executive, said:

“Meeting or exceeding all but one of our key targets is an immense credit to our staff and our many suppliers.

“We made good progress delivering 16 major road schemes this year and a further nine major road schemes started construction. This means we have delivered 69 strategic road schemes since 2001 and we continue to progress the major roads programme to 2015 announced in January.

“The successful operation of Active Traffic Management on the M42, using the hard shoulder as a running lane, showed that we can deliver the benefits of improved traffic flows, journey time reliability and reduced emissions at a significantly lower cost than conventional widening schemes.”

Notes to Editors 1. The Highways Agency is an executive agency of the Department for Transport. We manage, maintain and improve the network of trunk roads and motorways in England on behalf of the Secretary of State. 2. The Highways Agency Annual Report and Accounts 2008-09 is available at www.highways.gov.uk. 3. Copies of the report are available to the public on www.highways.gov.uk or from TSO (The Stationery Office) PO Box 29, Norwich NR3 1GN. Telephone: 0870 600 5522. The cost is £26.60 per copy. 4. The Highways Agency traffic information website is at www.highways.gov.uk/traffic 5. For real-time traffic information, the Highways Agency 24-hour voice activated telephone service is on 08700 660 115. (Calls from BT landlines to 0870 numbers will cost no more than 8p per minute; mobile calls usually cost more). 6. To check the latest road conditions before leaving the house or office, people can listen to Traffic Radio on DAB digital radio. It’s also available at www.trafficradio.org.uk 7. For general information about the Highways Agency and its work, visit the Highways Agency website www.highways.gov.uk, or telephone the Highways Agency information line on 08457 50 40 30 at any time. (Calls to 0845 numbers cost no more than 4p/min from BT residential landlines. Call charges from other and mobile networks may vary.) Issued by the Highways Agency press office. Media enquiries including out of hours should be made to the Highways Agency National Press Office on 0207 081 7443.

Spotlight on women at Serco – Anita’s story