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01 / Introduction

Although the 2020 Budget will be remembered principally for the chancellor’s covid-19 response, it also confirmed a £27.4bn allocation for the Road Investment Strategy (RIS2), the largest funding settlement ever made in England for roads investment. With a portfolio of 29 schemes starting construction in early 2020, Highways England (HE) is in a strong position to accelerate the upgrade and expansion of the Strategic Road Network (SRN) over the 2020-25 period of RIS2.

The SRN has a critical economic role. Though representing only 2% of the country’s roads by mileage, it supports 34% of all road traffic including 69% of lorry traffic. Delay and disruption resulting from capacity constraints or roadworks has a significant economic cost as well as being frustrating for users. Customer demand is showing no sign of easing off, and road use increased by 11% between 2013 and 2018. However, the SRN is a hugely complex network that operates as part of a much larger multi‑modal national transport system. Any change to one element alters the balance of the system and can cause big problems for critical users such as road hauliers. On top of the usual challenges, the impact of covid-19 on traffic levels will need to be assessed to inform the planning of upgrades and renewals of an increasingly ageing infrastructure.

HE was formed in 2015 as a government-owned company charged with operating, maintaining and improving England’s motorways and major A roads. Its first programme, RIS1, is considered successful, albeit that key stakeholders such as transport passenger watchdog Transport Focus keep demanding ever higher standards. Over the five-year programme of RIS1 running from 2015 to 2020, HE delivered 44 schemes worth £6.3bn, will deliver RIS1 efficiency savings worth £1.2bn, and through early-stage development work has built the foundations for the expanded programme for delivery up to 2025, RIS2.

HE has key objectives on its three priorities of safety, serving the customer, and efficient delivery of the road investment programme:  

• Safety concerns both road users and road workers, and there is a big programme of innovation planned to reduce the requirement for an on-road workforce as well as a safety programme for single-carriageway corridors.
• Serving the customer will continue to be focused on the enhancement of safety, journey times and road condition, but there is a growing interest in customers who are not drivers, such as pedestrians, cyclists and other road users who are affected by the SRN.
• Delivery of the programme will unlock wider benefits including economic levelling‑up across the country, enabling of new housing and jobs, and connecting up new infrastructure such as the HS2 rail network, ports and airports.

To meet these complex and evolving objectives, HE has been changing fast. It has prioritised the development of new skills and capabilities in digital technologies and data to better create and manage the network and in doing so is becoming a more diverse organisation. Its aim is that everyone within the organisation and its project teams should focus on the user and how the network supports them.

02 / Greater focus on the customer

Highways England is undergoing a vital transformation from an asset-centric organisation to one focused on customer experience. This means investments are planned to deliver outcomes and benefits rather than simply infrastructure assets, with a shift in mindset that is enabling HE and its teams to focus on the key operational aspects of an investment. An example has been the forward planning for operational expenditure associated with variable-speed lanes – involving a combination of technology and people on the ground to ensure safe operation and enforcement. Whole-life thinking has been essential, as the design, construction and operation of the asset cannot be separated from the ways in which users will behave and be affected both during construction and after completion. 

Changing expectations mean that customers no longer distinguish between particular means of transport, but rather merge them into journeys or services. The definition of SRN customers is so much broader than vehicle passengers: whether users are transporting freight, commuting to work, travelling by coach to an airport, crossing a highway while cycling, or ordering an item for same-day delivery, they all depend on the quality and predictability of road journeys.

As diverse as the SRN’s customers are, though, they do share an expectation that conditions on the roads will enable safe, predictable, comfortable and seamless journeys. For hauliers, for example, having early warning of road closures is absolutely critical. However, the reality is that on a busy network such as the SRN, asset condition problems cannot be improved without causing disruption. Providing advance information and managing expectations around closures and congestion is a key element of the customer experience equation.

The user perspective extends beyond road users. It includes people who live close to busy roads and whose neighbourhoods have been changed as a result of the expanded network or a temporary diversion. The 2016 options consultation for the Lower Thames Crossing received 47,000 responses, and the statutory consultation in 2018 received 29,000.  Typically, the interests of stakeholders will focus on environmental impacts such as loss of habitat, or the potential for the creation of jobs and homes. Would-be customers should also be taken into account: these include people who at the moment