Highways England is performing well but has areas for improvement, finds regulator

The Annual Assessment of Highways England’s Performance by the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) has found that the company is performing well against most of its performance targets. ORR says however that continued improvement is needed to plan when work takes place throughout the year. ORR, which is the official Monitor of Highways England, found that the company is meeting its targets to keep traffic flowing while delivering its programme of major improvements. It is continuing to focus on improving safety a
July 21, 2017 Read time: 3 mins
The Annual Assessment of 8101 Highways England’s Performance by the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) has found that the company is performing well against most of its performance targets. ORR says however that continued improvement is needed to plan when work takes place throughout the year.


ORR, which is the official Monitor of Highways England, found that the company is meeting its targets to keep traffic flowing while delivering its programme of major improvements. It is continuing to focus on improving safety and is delivering a comprehensive health and safety plan. And it is starting to carry out its work more efficiently, making savings of £169m over the last two years.

The Annual Assessment notes however that Highways England narrowly missed its targets on road user satisfaction and network condition for 2016-17. Road user satisfaction was 89.1 per cent against a target of 90 per cent, down from 89.3 per cent last year. The percentage of road in good condition was 94.3 per cent, against a target of 95 per cent. ORR will closely monitor the company’s plans to improve performance in these areas over the next year.

Highways England is improving its planning of major improvement schemes – a key recommendation of ORR’s last annual assessment and its Update Report in February 2017. The proposed changes aim to reduce disruption to road users and ease delivery constraints. They have the potential to give the company’s suppliers a more evenly spread timetable of work and should help to deliver future efficiency targets.

ORR has reviewed a sample of Highways England’s major schemes and carried out an in-depth review of how the company manages its assets. These reviews identified areas of good practice, but also opportunities for improvement. The company has engaged well with the reviews and committed to actions to address the issues raised.

Highways England now needs to improve its processes to show that it is delivering the right maintenance and renewals works to keep the network in good condition. It should also schedule work on its assets more evenly through the year.

Commenting on the report, Anthony Smith, chief executive of Transport Focus, said:

“Road users tell us that they want more predictable journey times.  Delivering this and managing roadworks effectively should be a future focus to deliver a road network that users want.  Our research – the National Road Users’ Satisfaction Survey – showed road users of motorways and major ‘A’ roads gave them a satisfaction rating just below the 90 per cent target at 89.1 per cent. It is reassuring to see that the Office of Rail and Road assess Highways England is performing well but need to improve their planning of road works.”

UTC

Related Content

  • November 7, 2012
    Europe's electronic toll service closer to operational reality
    After much debate and delay, a unifying European Electronic Toll Service is now finally on the horizon, says ASFiNAG’s Klaus Schierhackl. Here, he talks with Jason Barnes about what that might mean. Aworkable European Electronic Toll Service (EETS) which will allow truck drivers to travel across the continent and pay tolls using a single account and OnBoard Unit (OBU) was originally timetabled to be in place and operating by October of this year. A lack of urgency from some of the stakeholders involved in t
    Read More
  • November 23, 2021
    Cloud keeps UK traffic on the move
    Sopra Steria is introducing the new digital infrastructure for National Highways' NTIS
    Read More
  • August 21, 2017
    Cost benefit goes under the microscope
    Conventional cost benefit analysis (CBA) of plans for urban smart mobility initiatives needs serious rethinking, according to a recently-completed European study. The three-year Evidence Project (the Project) emerged in response to concerns about the availability and quality of documented research – including CBA – required to prove that investment in sustainable urban mobility plans (SUMPs) can be economically beneficial. Covering 22 sectors ranging from electric vehicles to shared spaces, the Project clai
    Read More
  • August 25, 2017
    UK to trial truck platooning by the end of 2018
    The first truck platooning trials on UK roads are planned to take place by the end of 2018, Transport Minister Paul Maynard has said. Announcing the US$10 million (£8.1million) government funding for trials today, Maynard said advances such as lorry platooning could benefit businesses through cheaper fuel bills and other road users thanks to lower emissions and less congestion. The platooning trials will see up to three heavy goods vehicles, travelling in convoy, with acceleration and braking controlled by
    Read More

Highlighted Content