Press Release - Highways Agency: Maintaining England's
Motorways and Trunk Roads
5 March 2003
In recent years the Highways Agency has improved the condition
of England’s motorway and trunk roads network and has also
strengthened the management and delivery of its maintenance
programme. But, according to a National Audit Office report, there
is scope for the Agency to make further improvements in measuring
the condition of the network, targeting resources on the highest
priority work, controlling costs and ensuring that maintenance work
stands the test of time. It should also measure its own performance
better.
Sir John Bourn, head of the NAO, told Parliament today that the
Highways Agency had strengthened its management and delivery of the
road maintenance programme by making funding decisions more closely
based on need. It has also improved how it contracts for work and
has reduced the impact of maintenance on the motorist, in
particular by carrying out more work at night and at off-peak times
of the day. It has also met its national target of ensuring that no
more than 7 to 8 per cent of the network requires maintenance in
any year.
Further progress could be made, however, in key aspects of the
Agency’s work.
The Agency’s performance varies between regions with 5.2 per
cent of roads in the South West requiring maintenance in the next
twelve months, compared with 9.1 per cent of roads in the North
West.
Proposals for major capital maintenance schemes put forward by
the Agency’s contractors often lack sufficient detail to enable
schemes to be ranked according to the future maintenance cost
savings and the safety benefits they would bring. The Agency
therefore does not necessarily select the highest priority projects
for maintenance work within its regions or across the country as a
whole.
Cost control over the lifetime of projects is weak. The Agency
concentrates on controlling in-year spending, while projects
over-spend by an average of 27 per cent over their lifetimes.
The Agency also loses around £6.2 million each year when, for
example, fences or barriers on the network are damaged in road
accidents. The Agency does not recover all the costs of repairing
the damage because, for example, no culprit can be identified or
traced.
Contractors’ work is not guaranteed to last a given time and the
Agency does not know whether it stands the test of time.
Maintenance work is expected to be free of defects for only a
limited time after its completion, and the Agency’s maintenance
histories for the network as a whole are not sufficient to allow it
to assess how well maintenance performs over the longer-term.
Sir John Bourn said today:
"The Highways Agency has done much to improve the
condition of England’s motorways and trunk roads over recent years,
and its management of continuing maintenance work, particularly in
reducing the impact on road users. However, the Agency could do
more to prioritise its resources to projects delivering the best
outcome in terms of safety and value for money, and to manage costs
effectively over a project’s lifetime.
"The disruption to key parts of the road network caused
by the adverse weather conditions at the end of January 2003 shows
just how important effective maintenance procedures are. The Agency
is investigating the causes of the difficulties faced by many
drivers at that time, and plans to review its winter maintenance
procedures to prevent a recurrence."
Notes for Editors
- The Highways Agency was created in 1994 to take over functions
previously held by the Department of Transport to manage, maintain
and improve the network. The network consists of most of the
motorways in England, together with the most important A-roads. In
2001-02, the route length was around 9,500 kilometres, and is the
largest single government asset, currently valued at over £60
billion. The Agency directly manages almost all of the network –
600 kilometres are managed by contractors under design, build,
finance and operate contracts. The Agency spent over £56,000 per
kilometre on maintaining the roads that it directly manages, in
2001-02. The network is expected to reduce to 6,500 kilometres by
2005-06 as a result of planned transfer of some A-roads to local
authority control.
- Road maintenance includes major capital repairs, such as
resurfacing, and routine work carried out throughout the year, such
as drain cleaning, grass verge cutting and dealing with damage to
the network caused by accidents, as well as the salting of roads in
winter.
- Press notices and reports are available from the date of
publication on the NAO website at http://www.nao.org.uk/ Hard copies can
be obtained from The Stationery Office on 0845 702 3474.
- The Comptroller and Auditor General, Sir John Bourn, is the
head of the National Audit Office which employs some 800 staff. He
and the NAO are totally independent of Government. He certifies the
accounts of all Government departments and a wide range of other
public sector bodies; and he has statutory authority to report to
Parliament on the economy, efficiency and effectiveness with which
departments and other bodies have used their resources.
Press Notice 17/03
All enquiries to NAO Press Office:
Tel: + 44 (0) 20 7798 7400