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 15, 2022
    Asecap: get ready to rethink everything you know
    How can we make our infrastructure ready for new sustainability challenges? What kind of investments are needed? And who will finance them? Tolling association Asecap has some thoughts. Geoff Hadwick reports from Lisbon
    Read More
  • March 12, 2012
    Predicting the future for video camera systems
    Jo Versavel, Managing Director of Traficon, talks about near-term trends in video camera systems. Jo Versavel starts by making one thing clear: long-term forecasts as to what the future holds for video-based traffic monitoring are to all intents and purposes meaningless. The state of the art is developing so fast that in reality it's impossible to say where we'll be in 10 years' time, says the Managing Director of Traficon. In his opinion making firm predictions even five years out is too ambitious, whereas
    Read More
  • February 25, 2016
    Technology targets Red-X transgressors
    Currently deployed technology is being used to detect motorists ignoring the ‘red-X’ signs that indicate the lane is closed, as Colin Sowman hears. With an increasing network of ‘Smart Motorways’ - all-lane running or the opening of hard shoulders during times of congestion - Highways England (HE) has identified a growing problem with ‘red-X’ compliance. The ‘red-X’ sign signifies a closed lane or lanes and used to provide a safer area for stranded motorists, emergency workers or road maintenance crews and
    Read More
  • March 31, 2015
    Secretary Foxx sends six-year transportation bill to Congress
    Over the past year, US Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx has visited more than 100 communities and heard one common story about crumbling infrastructure and dwindling resources to fix it with. Foxx has now sent to Congress his solution to this problem: a long-term transportation bill that provides funding growth and certainty so that state and local governments can get back in the business of building things again. The Grow America Act reflects President Obama’s vision for a six-year, US$478 billion
    Read More

Highlighted Content