Highways England heralds roads revolution

The government is changing the way England’s motorways and A-roads are built and managed with an ambitious package of reforms that is expected to save the taxpayer at least £2.6 billion more than the next 10 years.

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

Expressway to heaven?

Up to £15 billion will be invested over the coming years in a programme of functions that includes upgrading busy A-roads to ‘expressways’ by removing roundabouts and visitors lights.

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

CCTV monitoring will be employed to identify issues and handle visitors flow.

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

Sensible moves

Much more motorways will also be actively managed, with variable speed limits and visitors permitted to use the challenging shoulder as a 4th lane in the course of busy periods – the so-named ‘smart’ method.

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

Testing is also expected to take location on no matter whether electric automobiles can be charged whilst in motion by way of charging loops embedded in the road surface.

Jam these days, jam tomorrow?

New routes are also getting regarded as 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, like a 1.8 mile tunnel at Stonehenge in Wiltshire.

Other measures consist of 9 major improvements along the A1 from Berwick to London, taking it to motorway standard by means of Yorkshire and extending the continuous dual carriageway 24 miles additional north.

Highways England heralds roads revolution