Highways England heralds roads revolution

The government is altering the way England’s motorways and A-roads are constructed and managed with an ambitious package of reforms that is expected to save the taxpayer at least £2.6 billion over the subsequent 10 years.

Highways England, a new ‘at arm’s length’ government agency, will take more than the running of motorways and main trunk roads from the Highways Agency in April.

Expressway to heaven?

Up to £15 billion will be invested more than the coming years in a programme of operates that contains upgrading busy A-roads to ‘expressways’ by removing roundabouts and traffic lights.

These will be replaced with entry and exit slip roads, and refuge areas will be supplied for breakdowns and emergencies.

CCTV monitoring will be employed to identify problems and handle targeted traffic flow.

Slow visitors, such as tractors, will be banned from chosen routes. Cyclists may possibly also be barred from high-speed routes.

Wise moves

A lot more motorways will also be actively managed, with variable speed limits and targeted traffic allowed to use the challenging shoulder as a 4th lane during busy periods – the so-known as ‘smart’ method.

There are also plans to provide wi-fi connections by means of roadside signal masts so that drivers could be offered with data, by way of SatNav devices, relating to congestion, climate conditions and fuel prices.

Testing is also anticipated to take spot on regardless of whether electric automobiles can be charged while in motion through charging loops embedded in the road surface.

Jam today, jam tomorrow?

New routes are also being considered as a way to relieve congestion in notoriously busy places, such as the route from Devon to Cornwall and the trunk roads north of Newcastle and across northern England.

The government is currently committed to spending £2 billion on a ‘strategic corridor’ to the southwest via the A303, including a 1.8 mile tunnel at Stonehenge in Wiltshire.

Other measures incorporate 9 major improvements along the A1 from Berwick to London, taking it to motorway regular by way of Yorkshire and extending the continuous dual carriageway 24 miles further north.

Highways England heralds roads revolution