The roads reform agenda is transforming investment in and accountability for, the 4,400 miles of England’s roads that form the Strategic Road Network (SRN) managed by Highways England; there’s now a five-year rising funding commitment and firm specification of outputs monitored by a quasi-regulator.

But it has exacerbated the gulf between the SRN and the great bulk of the country’s roads, managed by 154 local highway authorities (LHAs) – they are significantly less well-funded on most counts than the SRN, still mainly subject to annual budget-setting, and lack a comprehensive performance regime. It doesn’t help that there has been little logical basis for determining what roads comprise the SRN; and the distinction is in any case largely invisible to road users.

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