| Highways Agency | |
|---|---|
| Formation | 30 March 1994 |
| Type | Public body |
| Legal status | Executive agency |
| Purpose/focus | Transport authority |
| Parent organization | Department for Transport |
| Budget | £4.5 billion |
| Staff | 3,200 |
| Website | http://www.highways.gov.uk/ |
The Highways Agency is an executive agency, part of the Department for Transport in England. It has responsibility for managing the core road network in England. It operates a variety of information services, liaises with other government agencies as well as providing staff to deal with incidents on their roads.
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The agency was created on 30 March 1994.[1] The current Chief Executive, Graham Dalton, took up his post on 30 June 2008. Prior to joining the agency he was a director at the Department for Transport, responsible for the delivery of major rail investment projects including the Channel Tunnel Rail Link and Thameslink. He replaced the previous Chief Executive, Archie Robertson.[2]
The Agency is responsible for operating the strategic road network in England which consists of most motorways and significant trunk A roads.[3] It has a length of 6,500 miles (10,461 km), which accounts for 34% of all road travel and 67% of lorry freight travel.[4] Most lower grade roads are the responsibility of local authorities.
The Highways Agency's operations are split into six regions[5] that are roughly based on the regions of England. These regions are subdivided into 13 operational areas.[6] These areas are managed and maintained by an Area team and a contractor, known as a Managing Agent (MA) or Managing Agent Contractor (MAC). In addition, there are a number of sections of road that are managed by DBFO contracts separate from the area teams.[7]
The Highways Agency operates the National Traffic Information Service, which is the information hub of the English strategic road network.[21]
The £57 million service is based at Quinton near Birmingham and is responsible for providing accurate, real-time information to the driving public.[21] It collects information from MIDAS electronic loops in the road surface, Floating Vehicle Data, CCTV cameras,[22] and over 250 operational partners including the police and local authorities.[23]
It then disseminates this information to the public using 2,500 roadside variable-message signs[24] and the Traffic England website[25] and the telephone based Highways Agency Information Line (HAIL)[26] as well as distributing information to the media.[22][27] Together with Transport for London it also operates a digital radio station, Traffic Radio, which is available via DAB and the Internet.[28]
The motorway network is divided into "Areas". They are contracts that are awarded by the Department for Transport. The Area Teams work alongside the Highways Agency Traffic Officer Service – providing incident support, emergency traffic management and infrastructure maintenance. They are responsible for the management and operation of the roads in their area.[29] In 2009, fleet tracking has been deployed to assist area teams to manage their specialist winter maintenance vehicles during the Cold Snap. [30]
Click here for more information on the Highways Agency Traffic Officer service.
The Highways Agency employs uniformed Traffic Officers; on-road and control room, as well as specialist staff for work in engineering, surveying, accountancy, and administration. There is a graduate entry scheme, with general entry and specialist engineering entry options.[31] For the Traffic Officer Service each team is supervised by a Team Manager, one of between six and eight such managers generally working together, to ensure 24 hour management cover.
Traffic England is the Highways Agency brand for traffic information.[32] Currently there are three public channels delivering information on the Highways Agency's road network: a web site at trafficengland.com, a digital radio station, and a telephone service.[33]
The Traffic England web site gives the latest traffic conditions as well as details of any roadworks or events that may cause congestion.[34] By selecting current motorway information you can see the average speed between individual motorway junctions, what is being displayed on all the variable-message signs, and images from traffic cameras.[35] There is a downloadable traffic ticker so the latest traffic news appears straight on your own desktop.[36]
The Survive Group is a partnership between the Highways Agency, the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO), the breakdown/recovery industry and other road service providers. The Survive Group has been established to improve the safety of those who work on the road network and the travelling public and is also dedicated to the promotion of driving safety. The name Survive comes from Safe Use of Roadside Verges In Vehicular Emergencies.
The Survive Group website holds information on the Survive Group membership details and activities being undertaken by the working groups. It also supplies advice on how to drive safely in a wide range of driving conditions, advice on planning journeys. Survive also provides publications and new guidance produced by the Survive members plus news on new initiatives and forthcoming road safety events.[37]
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