The Highways Agency is an Executive Agency of the Department for Transport (DfT), and is responsible for operating, maintaining and improving the strategic road network (motorways and trunk roads) in England on behalf of the Secretary of State for Transport. We have a major role in delivering the Government's Ten Year Plan for Transport.
The strategic road network operated by the Highways Agency is the single largest Government asset comprising 9,380km / 5,863 miles of motorways and trunk roads.
The Agency's aim is 'Safe Roads, Reliable Journeys, Informed Travellers'.
The Agency's objective is to deliver a high quality service to our customers by:
- Reducing congestion and improving reliability through:
- A programme of improvements to the strategic road network.
- Improved management of incidents and roadworks.
- Influencing travel behaviour through better information to inform journey choices.
- Improving road safety.
- Respecting the environment.
- Seeking feedback from customers.
The Agency is committed to minimising the impact of the trunk road network on both the natural and built environment and to play a full role in implementing the Government's Biodiversity Action Plan. The Agency incorporates extensive environmental measures into all its work, from routine maintenance to the largest road-building schemes. The Agency has produced its own Biodiversity Action Plan, the HABAP, which sets challenging targets to protect and enhance the country's biodiversity where it exists side-by-side with our motorway and trunk road network.
The partnership approach is essential to the BAP process, due to the multidisciplinary nature of the task. In particular, it emphasises that the protection of species and habitats is not simply the remit of nature conservation organisations, but should also be the responsibility of business, the private utilities, local communities and a range of other interested parties. The HABAP process involved setting up such a partnership, which includes representatives from relevant divisions of the Highways Agency, and from various conservation and countryside organisations.
