Road Network

Roads and rail services in England and Wales continued to be hit by disruption caused by flooding from Storm Bert on Monday.

Balfour Beatty VINCI has moved a 1,600-tonne steel and concrete bridge into place in Birmingham in just five hours as part of works to take HS2 to the city.

Network Rail has postponed the re-opening of a major road route into Oxford and has not been able to say when its beleaguered project will be completed.

North Yorkshire Council is ditching plans to stop using apostrophes on street signs and has promised to reinstate the punctuation mark on a controversial sign.

Thomas Harrison, transport and infrastructure expert at PA Consulting, looks at the implications of changes to the HGV levy's pricing structure.

A new National Highways report says its will focus on making the most of its existing network with an 'increased focus on smaller £2-25m schemes' but mega projects are set to still dominate RIS 3.

Data experts have successfully delivered live in-vehicle signage into a vehicle’s head unit using the car’s own connectivity rather than a tethered smartphone.

Campaigners against the Silvertown tunnel have said the start of tunnelling on the project is not the end of their attempts to stop what they called a new urban motorway.

Transport operators have welcomed the end of Plan B restrictions in England but London mayor Sadiq Khan has complained that removing the legal requirement to wear face coverings will create inconsistency.

Electric cars will not solve issues of pollution and climate change or tackle the dominance of the vehicles on roads and footways, local government place directors have been told.

Spending on smart motorways fails to deliver the economic benefits predicted because local road users take up the increased capacity, negating the intended benefits, according to a former chief scientist at the Department for Transport.

Regulator the Office of Rail and Road has confirmed John Larkinson as its permanent chief executive officer, following a public competition and the endorsement of the prime minister.

Herefordshire County Council has scrapped plans for two major roadbuilding schemes near the city of Hereford, citing the climate emergency and the need to decarbonise transport.

A coalition of campaigners has taken the first step towards a legal challenge against the Government’s plan to build a tunnel at Stonehenge.

Grant Shapps has announced that £13m major road network (MRN) cash will be released for upgrades to the A595 at Grizebeck, Cumbria – two years after his predecessor cited the scheme as one of the first to be funded under the MRN.

An estimated 18 million leisure trips will be taken by car this weekend, 1.8 million more than last year, new research from the RAC suggests.

Highways England has met its reduced target for the delivery of major schemes but must do more to improve safety on its network, the strategic roads regulator has said.

The condition of Transport for London’s major structures could be at risk as the cash-strapped authority considers the future of its Surface Transport Asset Renewals Programme.

Contractors working for HS2 Ltd have installed a 65-metre road bridge across the M42 in Solihull in just two days.

The Welsh Government has announced £38m ‘to make Wales a safer place to cycle, scoot and walk’.

The Department for Transport is urgently seeking local authority transport data to aid the response to Covid-19.

A new nationwide campaign aims to put pressure on Highways England to improve the quality of its signage and road safety.

Highways England is still sending much-criticised warning letters to drivers who illegally drive under red X signs on smart motorways, six months after a change in the law allowed camera evidence to be used for prosecutions.

The Government has announced ‘the next stage in the development’ of the York Outer Ring Road – a year after the previous transport secretary said the scheme would be funded under the Major Road Network (MRN).

A key figure from the UK intelligent mobility sector is set to make a major announcement in his keynote address at the ITS (UK) Summit, which kicks off on Wednesday evening in Coventry.

Transport for London has revealed the final bids in this round of the major road network competition, putting 10 schemes in the running for a share of the £3.5bn up for grabs from 2020-2025.

The emerging sub-national transport body (STB) for the East of England has submitted bids for a share of £3.5bn local share of the National Roads Fund.

The South West peninsula’s regional transport body has submitted a list of nine high-priority road improvement schemes for a share of £3.5bn government cash.

Transport for the North has submitted bids worth £700m to the National Roads Fund, including 12 schemes for the major road network and four for the large local majors.

A £120m plan has been announced to demolish Liverpool's dilapidated Queens Drive Flyover and replace it with a new dual lane tunnel and a major redesign of the city's busiest junction.

Doubts have arisen over ministers’ claims to have ‘doubled’ funding for electric vehicle chargepoints after the Government would not deny that it was recallocating unclaimed cash from a scheme that has previously experienced low take-up.

The country’s biggest rail franchise has promised to carry out a full investigation to establish why its new flagship trains shut down and would not restart after Friday’s major power outage.

Highways England has been given a reasonably clean bill of health by its watchdog's annual report, although more progress must be made on safety, customer satisfaction and the continuing delays to delivery.

Nicola Bell, Highways England’s regional operations director for the South East and a judge at this year’s Highways Awards, tells Transport Network about the value of the awards and how the judging can get ‘a wee bit heated at times’.

Ministers have launched a £2m fund to provide more accessible toilet facilities for disabled people at service stations in England.

Traffex 2019 will take visitors through a virtual time machine visualised by partners Costain and Mott MacDonald.

The transport watchdog has called on Highways England and others to do more to meet the needs of people with disabilities using the road network.

The latest in the series of popular Talking Transport podcasts discusses the human side of driverless cars by talking to key members of the FLOURISH project in Bristol, as it reports on the second year of its research.

The Department for Transport has responded to criticism from charity leaders who have accused ministers of stalling on the issue of pavement parking.

Traffic on Britain’s roads reached yet another all-time high last year, with car, van and lorry use all increasing but bus mileage continuing to fall.

With the consultation on the Department for Transport's major road plans having closed in late March and ministers now considering their next moves, Dominic Browne reports on reactions from leading professional bodies.

The new president of the Local Government Technical Advisers Group (LGTAG) began his premiership with a call for radical resilience, tapping into a restlessness in the highways sector and a desire to end the ‘we have always done it this way culture’.

Campaigners and contractors have called for ministers to take action after an official report found that infrastructure investment and planning decisions need to take better account of road and rail connections to ports.

The return of bad weather this Easter weekend will add to congestion on the roads at a time when 19 million separate leisure journeys will be made by car, the RAC has warned.

The Department for Transport (DfT) has announced plans to allow the roll-out of lane rental schemes across the country, giving local authorities the option to charge utility companies up to £2,500 a day for digging up the busiest roads at peak times.

An annual record 324 billion vehicle miles (bvm) were travelled on Great Britain’s roads in 2016, up 2.2% on the previous year, while people walked on average the distance from London to the Yorkshire Dales.

A leading expert in autonomous vehicles has described Chris Grayling’s target of seeing self-driving cars on British roads by 2021 as ‘very, very optimistic’ and suggested that it might take at least another decade.

Chris Ames looks at the new projections on what a new runway at Heathrow - and the other options - might do to illegal levels of air pollution.

Local authorities need to take a proactive approach to avoid falling behind as potentially game-changing digital innovation is applied on the strategic road network (SRN) and in large smart cities, council directors have warned.

Reading westbound services on the M4 has been named England’s top motorway services in a new user survey, which found that visiting services significantly improves the mood of drivers.

The new £600m Mersey Gateway Bridge opened at the weekend, ‘on time and under budget’.

A minister has asked Highways England to improve the speed at which it re-opens sections of the strategic road network after incidents as new data suggests traffic jams on motorways and A roads costs the economy £9bn a year.

Congestion in Scotland fell slightly last year, despite a 2% increase in car traffic, while the number of bus passengers fell by nearly 4%.

The number of people killed on Britain’s roads rose by 4% last year to the highest level since 2011.

The RAC Foundation has called for motorways to be made ‘welcoming and safe’ for drivers who rarely use them after Department for Transport (DfT) data showed that many people cannot access the network easily.

Councils and motoring groups have welcomed government proposals to introduce by-the-hour lane rental for road works but warned that the quality of repairs must not suffer if utility firms are incentivised to complete works more quickly.

Nearly 200 Manchester cyclists are carrying out the first large-scale British trial of a combined bike light and road condition monitoring unit.

The latest statistics on travel trends in England show a continuing fall in the total number of journeys people are making, including a slight drop in trips – and distance travelled - by car.

Highways England has announced an amended route for its £282m scheme to take the pressure off the M42 junction 6 near Solihull.

Highways England narrowly missed its key target for customer satisfaction after drivers complained about the way roadworks are managed, a national watchdog has revealed.

The size of the planned major road network (MRN) for the North poses a funding challenge for both the body that has proposed it and the Government, a key figure behind the MRN concept has told Transport Network.

Roads and public transport have again been affected after another incident in which a van was driven into pedestrians on the pavement in London, causing casualties.

Council directors, campaigners and motoring groups have praised London mayor Sadiq Khan’s draft transport strategy, which includes a single per mile charging system for the capital’s road users.

The RAC Foundation has called for the winners of Thursday’s election to make the ring-fencing of Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) a binding statutory scheme, as part of plans to support 'safe and sustainable' motoring.

Chris Grayling has kept his job as transport secretary after Theresa May carried out a minor post-election reshuffle, but Michael Gove has returned to the Cabinet as environment secretary.

TomTom and Bosch have created an HD map with integrated ‘Radar Road Signature’ that could allow automated vehicles to determine their exact location down to a few centimetres.

Rail freight can make a much greater impact on reducing road congestion than previously thought, campaigners have said.

Traffic on Great Britain’s roads reached another record high in the year ending in March, with vans again leading the increase, according to new statistics from the Department for Transport.

Highways England’s licence requires it to update the national standards and requirements for the UK motorway and all-purpose trunk road network. Arash Khojinian – team leader for pavements, safety, engineering and standards at Highways England – reveals what reforms are on the cards.

A research project led by council directors in collaboration with EY, O2 and Ringway looks at using digital innovation to create a road system for the future.

Confirmation of Government backing and a preferred route for the Lower Thames Crossing – expected to cost £4.4bn – has stirred new controversy, with local Conservative MPs voicing their opposition to the longstanding project.

Highways England chief executive Jim O’Sullivan gave Transport Network an interview at Traffex this week and said he was very impressed with the event and confident about his company’s capital funding position.

Highways England is lifting more than 300 miles of roadworks for the Easter getaway, with as many as 20 million cars expected to hit the roads.

Ministers have unveiled the Government’s first Litter Strategy for England, which includes plans to fine drivers for litter thrown from their vehicle by passengers.

Highways England has confirmed the award of a £96m contract to the Costain Galliford Try joint venture to upgrade a section of the M1 to a Smart Motorway.

The Government and Highways England urgently need to agree a more realistic delivery plan for the Road Investment Strategy (RIS), the National Audit Office (NAO) has warned.

An official Government report has come out against widening the South West Quadrant of the M25, backing measures such as developing alternatives to travel and moving traffic to ‘more sustainable modes’.

Lord Selborne, chairman of the Lords Science and Technology Committee, talks to Transport Network about the issues that the development of connected and autonomous vehicles raise for central and local government.

Guess where the UK came in the top ten most congested developed countries in the world - it's quite high...

The Scottish Government has announced an extra £167m for the country’s trunk road network next year and promised ‘a vastly improved motorway network fit for the 21st century’.

The United Kingdom is the worst country in Europe for traffic jams, and London the most congested city in the continent, according to major new research.

The transport secretary has announced further details of £1.3bn of additional funding for roads, including a £925m pot highways authorities can bid for.

Traffic levels in Britain rose by 1.4% in the last year to a new record high, led by rises of over 3% in mileage by vans and lorries.

Cambridgeshire County Council is a central partner to Highways England on its £1.5bn A14 scheme, due to start main construction in November. Transport Network spoke to senior figures at both organisations to find out more about how they are working together to shape this long-awaited scheme.

Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) has appointed Kevin Hargreaves to be ‘the UK’s first Key Route Network (KRN) Manager’, responsible for the development and performance of the region’s 600km network of major roads.

Transport bosses from the country’s biggest city regions have set out a route map for what an effective relationship with Government should look like, including prompt enactment of the Bus Services Bill, more stable funding and tougher action on toxic air.

Camera enforcement at yellow box junctions in central Cardiff appears to have caused a major reduction in obstructions, and bus services are beginning to benefit, Transport Network can reveal.

Council leaders have called on ministers to make it easier to introduce lane rental schemes, warning that some areas of the country face ‘rush hour gridlock’ from utility company road works.

Devon County Council has published three route options for a controversial new section of the A30/A303, as it aims to secure funding through the Government’s Road Investment Strategy (RIS).

With the RMT union striking because Southern Railway won’t delay changes to the role of guards and ministers delaying a decision on the Hinkley C nuclear plant, here are our Top 5 procrastinations in transport and infrastructure. As Saint Augustine might have said, give me new transport schemes, but not yet.

North Lincolnshire Council has given the go-ahead for the final phase of the £1.3bn Lincolnshire Lakes development, which will see the detrunking of a section of motorway and other transport and infrastructure improvements.

Highways England is inviting people living along the A14 in Cambridgeshire to apply for grants of up to £10,000 to help ‘lock in the benefits’ of a major upgrade of the road.

In advance of our groundbreaking conference in Manchester on 23-24 September, bringing together the national and local sides of the highways network for the first time, Transport Network takes a look at some of the major schemes and collaborative working happening around the country.

Ministers have launched a consultation on plans to pave the way for automated cars to be used on British roads.

The Government is funding repairs rather than prevention when dealing with wet weather events. Rhodri Clark reports on why proactive planning for the future is essential.

Highways England has unveiled a £75m scheme to create the North East's first 'triple-deck' road junction at the congested Silverlink roundabout in North Tyneside.

Councils have been urged to take a balanced approach when Network Rail construction works affect their highways, after one authority fined the infrastructure owner for over-runs on bridge reconstruction schemes.

Bus franchising, better orbital links and ‘the next generation of rapid transport links’, including tram-train, are some of the highlights of Greater Manchester's 25-year transport plan.

Professor Stephen Glaister CBE has been reappointed as the chair of the Office of Rail and Road - the UK’s independent rail regulator and strategic roads monitor for England (ORR) - until December 2017.

Highways England has closed a northbound section of the A1 near Newcastle and Gateshead after a hole appeared in the carriageway on Saturday (25 June).

Flooding returned to the UK this week, following a year that saw local government deal with record flood levels as well as the usual challenges of winter service. Cold Comfort 2016 in Manchester saw officers swapping stories from the storms.

UKIP has dropped its opposition to the ‘black route’ M4 relief road in South Wales, boosting the controversial scheme’s chances of going ahead.

Transport for West Midlands (TfWM) said it will drive forward more than £4bn of transport infrastructure over the coming decade, including more tram extensions, new suburban rail lines, cycle routes and better motorways.

A mother is seeking an investigation to find out whether poor air quality in London contributed to daughter’s death from an asthma attack.

The case for building a vast lorry park costing £250m as an alternative to parking lorries on the M20 in Kent through Operation Stack, has not yet been made, according to MPs.

Funding for a proposed ‘Major Road Network’ (MRN) from the future National Road Fund (NRF) should not simply replace existing money given to councils, the architects of the MRN have warned.

The Government today confirmed plans for how a more independent Highways Agency would be held to account following the passing of the Infrastructure Bill.

Traffic volumes in England have reached an all-time high, having finally exceeded their pre-recession peak, with local road users continuing to experience the worst delays.

The Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) has invited tenders for a research project designed to analyse road project impacts in England.

Road use statistics show a countrywide overdependence on cars that risks marginalising people who don’t drive, campaigners have said.

Highways England has opened a new 20 mile section of smart motorway in the East Midlands, completing a £205m upgrade.

The country’s roads are expected to be busier over the Easter weekend than last year, while Network Rail will deliver around 20% more maintenance and improvement projects.

London topped the global congestion ranking last year, while nearly two thirds of UK cities suffered traffic delays, a new report has revealed.

An influential group of MPs has backed one of the core transport asks of English local government - granting local authorities the power to enforce against moving traffic offences.

The Transport Systems Catapult will hold its third annual ‘Imagine’ Festival in June

Outgoing mayor Boris Johnson’s proposals for new road tunnels in the capital have become an issue in May’s election after Labour and Conservative candidates for London mayor took opposing positions.

The Department for Transport (DfT) has announced a sixth strategic study of the road network, looking at the performance of transport systems between junctions 10 and 16 of the M25.

Council leaders have called for powers to fine lorry drivers who ignore weight restrictions in rural areas, with any surplus put towards fixing potholes.

Transport minister Andrew Jones has opened a new £110m bypass in Devon.

Pollution levels inside cars could be around 20% higher than on the road outside a pilot study has found, raising fears among experts for the safety of professional drivers.

The Department for Transport (DfT) has appointed Tricia Hayes to the new role of director general of roads, devolution and motoring.

Electric bike sharing, using electric vehicles (EVs) for car sharing and local deliveries, and installing smart parking bays are among schemes to be trialled in London under the EU's €25 million six-city Smart Cities and Communities Lighthouse programme.

MPs are putting pressure on Volkswagen (VW) after the company said it would compensate US customers but not European ones affected by the engine testing scandal.

Transport Network caught up with George Lee, head of the Road Safety Markings Association (RSMA), to chat about dangers and opportunities, standards and skills, and the threat of driverless cars.

Highways England has outlined a four-pillar network operation strategy that it vowed would look beyond ‘its own boundaries’ and integrate with local networks for the first time.

The Government is under threat of further court action over pollution levels after it emerged London breached its total annual emissions limit in the first week of 2016.

Major new research suggests an ambivalence towards in-car technology and a lack of commercial incentive for manufacturers, with many in the public raising safety fears and citing a lack of improvement to the driving experience.

Highways England has announced plans to work more closely with local authorities and third parties to help integrate and develop its traffic information strategy.

Jon Masters talks to former transport minister, Stephen Ladyman, about the challenges in the new traffic technology sector.

An expert from infrastructure giant AECOM takes us through the issues highlighted by its recent survey of business with the CBI, including the potential for road user charging in the UK.

The AA is backing a Europe-wide campaign aimed at ensuring that motorists' privacy will not be compromised by the data-sharing implications of connected vehicle technology.

Car access to the proposed East Midlands HS2 station should be via one road only, a study of design principles has recommended.

Highways England is already exceeding some of its toughest targets, although the key measure of improving safety is 'at risk', according to the industry watchdog.

More changes to the national regulations governing street signs are planned for next year, with local authorities set to gain greater freedom over parking bays.

A new study into the future of English highways could break down the barriers between the national and local networks, with its authors suggesting the new concept of a ‘major road network’ (MRN) is already gaining traction.

Leaders in the West Midlands have signed a provisional £1bn devolution deal with government that brings a directly elected mayor to the region from 2017, responsible for a raft of new transport powers.

British scientists are hoping to develop a portable ‘gravimeter’, which would allow councils to test for utilities under streets before major works begin.

All speed cameras will be coloured yellow from October 2016 onwards to increase visibility, following a government policy review earlier this year.

Highways maintenance specifications should be changed in response to growing shortages of materials and cash, public sector and industry figures have suggested.

Highways England has hit back at suggestions the management of the motorway network is about to be handed to private firms, labelling the reports ‘completely untrue’.

Road Expo Scotland this week is set for a record year with registrations topping the 1,500 mark for the first time ever.

Highways England has launched a trial of new motorway signs that will show the price of fuel along a section of the M5 between Bristol and Exeter.

Highways England has appointed a joint venture to lead a £500,000 study into the potential for a dedicated road link between Oxford, Milton Keynes and Cambridge.

The UK’s first ‘smart pavement’ has been switched on today in Chesham high street, Buckinghamshire, providing a free wireless broadband connection to some 21,000 local residents.

Business secretary Sajid Javid has committed £11m towards an autonomous vehicle research programme, as part of plans to keep the UK 'at the forefront of the robotics revolution'.

Transport secretary Patrick McLoughlin has continued to push for ‘real-world’ driving emissions tests in the wake of the VW scandal in a meeting with European transport ministers.

The City of Cardiff Council is ready to issue Penalty Charge Notices to drivers who stop illegally on yellow box junctions, making it the first council outside London to do so.

Further cross-boundary collaborative working between Highways England and local highway authorities is inevitable and essential, senior figures from the sector have said.

Transformation is taking place in the highways sector and authorities must adapt to reap the rewards, Peter Molyneux, head of highways at Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) has warned.

Two major highways studies have been launched by the Department for Transport (DfT), looking at local use of traffic management technology and potential improvements on the A1.

Work has started on the first leg of the largest transport project in Scotland’s history – the £3bn A9 Perth to Inverness dualling programme.

The proposed Derby and Derbyshire Combined Authority would seek a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Highways England but will not push for bus franchising powers, Transport Network understands.

Oxfordshire CC's Mark Kemp on the importance of communication when roadworks are round the corner.

London has become the most congested city in Europe with drivers losing 96 hours a year to gridlock, the equivalent of 12 working days.

Under-road electric vehicle charging systems are set to be tested for the first time in the UK later this year.

Surveyor magazine’s groundbreaking event this September Highways Management: Smarter roads for the future has been approved for Continuing Professional Development (CPD) accreditation.

Passenger Focus recently became Transport Focus after being handed responsibility for representing users of the Strategic Road Network in England from 1 April this year. Transport Network spoke to chief executive Anthony Smith about making the transition to highways, his biggest fears, gamification and the importance of sticking to a plan.

Mott MacDonald has secured a £2.5m technology software systems (TSS) contract from Highways England.

Nine major road improvement sites have been given new look signs and road markings as Highways England trials different ways of making its roadworks clearer and safer.

The Government has revealed the wide-ranging action it is taking to support driverless cars, including international negotiations on regulations, behavioural tests on road users and new guidelines on legal responsibilities.

Local leaders and bosses from Manchester and Highways England have held the first meeting of a local strategy board to help define shared priorities for the region's key road network.

David Metz talks to Jon Masters about the need for a national policy on how to accommodate population and traffic growth and the battle against congestion.

Highways England has appointed six joint-venture companies to design and build around £1.5bn worth of smart motorway projects.

Highways England is building up teams of ‘the best of the best’ in the sector, using staff from different private contractors and designers as well as in-house personnel to deliver major schemes, Transport Network can reveal.

The city council of Rotterdam has revealed it is considering piloting a new type of road surface made entirely from recycled plastic.

London Assembly members have called on Boris Johnson to work with government and local boroughs to see how the whole of the capital could tackle current illegal pollution levels by 2020.

New funding sources could be unlocked for transport if investment was linked to the impacts of improved road safety, a report claims.

Councils stung motorists with at least £30m in fines last year for bus lane infringements alone, according to new figures.

After 30 years experience in highways, Trevor Collett talks to Dominic Browne about his hopes and concerns for the sector and being next in line to be president of the Local Government Technical Advisers Group (TAG).

The north west is set to benefit from nearly 80 miles of extra smart motorway over the next five years as part of a £1.5bn Highways England investment plan.

Motorists have been left baffled after a pair of contradictory speed limit signs were put up just metres apart on the same street.

Highways England has appointed an airports expert and former Heathrow boss as its new chief executive, following the departure of the popular Graham Dalton.

Jaguar Land Rover has revealed it has produced an off-road vehicle that can be remote controlled using a smartphone.

Highways England has set up a panel of experts to develop 'excellence in road design', as it sets about delivering £11bn worth of investment over the next five years.

A new repair service to extend the life of Variable Message Signs (VMS) has been launched by Swarco, with one local authority already working with the company on up to 40 signs.

French firm Bolloré has announced a £100m investment plan to massively expand the capital’s electric car network along the lines of the Boris Bike scheme.

An innovative research project could soon see cars sharing real-time data on potholes with other drivers and councils, potentially slashing local authority costs.

The first contract awards on the £1.5bn A14 improvement in East Anglia have been announced, however the process has led Highways England to signal principal contractors must rethink their approach to win work on major projects.

Senior Conservatives have briefed the media over fears of a George Osborne ‘fudge’ on his promise to freeze fuel duty.

Without the engineering workforce, financial investment in regional powerhouses is meaningless - so where does the solution lie?

The procurement process at Highways England is in disarray and major trade bodies should stand up for the industry and help tackle the problem according to tier one suppliers.

The Office of Rail and Road – a new watchdog formed out of the Office of Rail Regulation today – has launched a consultation on its plans for monitoring the performance of Highways England.

New research has suggested living next to a busy road can lead to less active lifestyles and increase the risk of obesity.

As Highways England embarks on an £11bn road revolution, Graham Bradley, UK country manager at INRIX, discusses how smart motorways can significantly reduce congestion.

Our cartoonist Rhiannon Rees puts Cameron in the driving seat after the election.

Highways England could face an early investigation from the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) after major overruns on engineering work in Chester.

A new analytics platform is the first to exploit big data from Internet connected cars and devices and could have a major impact on local and national planning, developer INRIX has said.

Chief executive of Highways England, Graham Dalton, told Traffex delegates that local authorities would play a key role in medium and long-term planning on the strategic roads network.

Capita has been awarded a contract to make Cardiff’s ‘roundabout to nowhere’ actually go somewhere by connecting the A4232 with the A48.

Councils could be left at the mercy of the courts if they seek to take of advantage of the Government's plans to radically reform traffic signage, an industry insider has warned.

Newly released urban design guidance will be promoted by leading professional body the Chartered Institution of Highways and Transportation (CIHT) at Traffex 2015, along with a new membership offer for apprentices.

Highways England will be at Traffex 2015 to speak directly to the UK traffic and transport industry for the first time since its launch on 1 April.

Europe’s largest traffic management and parking exhibition, Traffex, is set for a record year in Birmingham next week with more companies than ever taking part.

Swansea CC has agreed to modify one of its roads after a spate of incidents including two fatalities prompted criticism from a coroner.

Motorists are still confused about smart motorways 12 months after their introduction to England, road safety experts fear.

Potholes and general road maintenance are bigger issues for the majority of motorists than safety concerns, a new survey has suggested.

Highways England plans to develop a ‘multi-layered’ relationship with local authorities centred on individual strategic memorandums of understanding (MOU) with key councils or groups of councils, Transport Network can reveal.

Bill Taylor, managing director at Ringway, is clear on where progress must be made in the transport sector.

Disruption to transport networks over the Easter weekend could be eased by the removal of hundreds of miles of roadworks across England.

Senior figures in Highways England have claimed the new company’s multi-billion pound investment programme will put pressure on the nation’s lorry capacity rather than its aggregate industry.

Chief executive of Highways England, Graham Dalton, has said the new strategic highways company has ‘no plans’ to operate a commercial enterprise selling expertise or knowledge.

Congestion in 14 out of the Britain’s 17 biggest cities has increased over the last year, with the average commuter wasting 129 hours a year in jams according to a major annual traffic index.

Highways England has revealed how it will spend £11bn over the next five years once it takes responsibility for the country’s motorways and major A-roads network from 1 April.

Reading Borough Council has opened up all its travel and transport data to help guide local drivers and public transport users.

A £350,000 Government investment will fund assessment of a potential new bypass for the north of England, ministers have confirmed today.

Highways England has been formally appointed to be the strategic highways company from 1 April 2015, with responsibility for managing the motorway and trunk road network.

An ongoing dispute between the UK’s largest local authority and its highways contractor over a £2.7bn roads deal has taken a turn for the worse, amid claims and counterclaims over the state of the network.

Councils have been warned against ‘demonising’ diesel cars and penalising drivers, under efforts by vehicle manufacturers to ‘set the record straight’.

MPs have demanded a new motoring strategy be launched to match the growing momentum behind driverless vehicles and automotive technology.

Fewer traffic lights and parking spaces, less congestion and more shared space schemes could be among the local impacts of driverless cars according to one senior member of a British consortium trialling the new technology.

The Coalition Government has rejected calls for a diesel vehicle tax to combat pollution but will consider implementing a national network of low emission zones, it has emerged.

A digital road map of England and Wales that could 'transform highways maintenance' has been awarded £3m of government funds.

Local councils in Shropshire have called for Heavy Goods Vehicles (HGVs) to be diverted from three town and village centres in their area due to concerns over congestion and damage to property and pavements.

Labour has redrawn its battle lines over the nationalisation of the railways, with shadow transport secretary Michael Dugher taking a more bullish stance than ever.

The way England's strategic road network is managed will change from April this year after the Infrastructure Act became law last week, paving the way for the Highways Agency to become Highways England.

Prototype driverless cars that will be tested in four English cities were unveiled today, with ministers suggesting the £19m government seed funding for the schemes could help develop a £900bn industry by 2025.

Scotland’s transport minister Derek Mackay has suggested a roll out of average speed cameras across the devolved nation could be on the cards following the success of a scheme on the A9.

The mayor and Transport for London have unveiled plans to build an 11km backstreet Cycle Superhighway between White Hart Lane in Tottenham, Stoke Newington, Dalston and the City of London - acting as an A10 bypass.

The Department for Transport has announced plans to make major changes to permit scheme regulations – one the key local authority tools for managing street works to reduce local congestion - by 1 October 2015.

A Welsh local authority is poised to open bus lanes to motorbikes and private hire vehicles under a six-month trial that could slash congestion.

This week saw transport minister John Hayes make a speech, which like the Robert Frost poem it references, speaks of ‘a road less travelled’ and how that could make all the difference.

A south of England highways permit scheme designed to coordinate local roadworks to minimise disruption has been joined by two more local authorities - creating a six-council framework with a 130-mile span.

Google and top automotive supplier Bosch plan to have driverless cars on the roads within five years it has emerged.

Brighton and Hove City Council launched its first low emissions zone (LEZ) this week, after partnership working with local bus companies.

A north London borough will soon charge residents with diesel vehicles for parking permits in a bid to improve local air quality.

The UK’s leading traffic and parking exhibition this year features a new section simulating a live public highway to help delegates explore the latest technology and design developments, Transport Network can reveal.

What better way to have a laugh this festive season than look at some of the traffic industries most obvious calamities. Signs!

Influential MPs have called for radical action to tackle air pollution including higher taxes for diesel cars and a possible devolution of powers to councils to help tackle the health impact - equivalent to 29,000 deaths a year.

Three driverless car test projects will receive £19m of funding to test infrastructure, public reactions and legal protocols in four English cities - the Government has announced.

Cities are being urged to help re-schedule freight deliveries and improve road safety and congestion, under new guidance published today.

Almost a fifth of councils are raising gritting salt stockpiles this winter, with 49% of town halls preparing to share supplies – a poll reveals.

The Government has revealed it will amend legislation to increase the speed limit for Heavy Goods Vehicles (HGVs) from 50mph to 60mph for lorries over 7.5 tonnes on dual carriageway roads.

A measured approach is needed when discussing the future of the UK's infrastructure needs according to Adept's annual policy prospectus. Dominic Browne reports.

The UK’s top business lobbies have stressed the need for greater roads investment in the run up to the chancellor’s Autumn Statement, backing schemes for tunnelled highways under Stonehenge and the Pennines.

Stephen Joseph OBE of Campaign for Better Transport looks ahead to the Autumn Statement and sees trouble up the road.

On 10pm on Saturday 29 November cash payments end on the Dartford Tunnel bringing to a close the payment system that has operated since 1963.

Local authorities will be given much more flexibility over traffic signage next year after Government plans for an overhaul of key legislation were given a positive response from the sector.

A new report has highlighted a major connection between simple highways infrastructure improvements and safety, finding an 80% reduction in the number of people killed or serious injured (KSIs) on 15 stretches of road after a series of low-cost interventions.

Greater Manchester has seen the use of municipal electric vehicle charging points rapidly increase over the first year of operations, with a twelvefold jump since September 2013.

Road user charging could be back on the political agenda in London after the mayoral election in 2016 with the Greater London Authority in a potential race with the Treasury to introduce it first, the capital’s head of transport has said.

Transport Scotland has won a £3.2m legal battle with a road salt business, Nationwide Gritting Services (NGS), which claimed procurement law had been breached during two historically cold winters.

Londoners consulted on plans to launch the world’s first Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) in the capital by 2020.

Winning bids from four cities to run the UK's first on-road trials of driverless cars will be announced in November, Department for Transport vehicle standards minister Claire Perry MP said today.

Labour’s shadow transport secretary has attacked the Government’s road building plans as politically motivated and refused to back key schemes such as the dualling of the A1 north of Newcastle.

Road construction could increase over 40% by 2018 following a major spending boost for the Highways Agency, according to construction industry representatives.

The average car produces seven times more toxic nitrogen oxides (NOx), which are linked to heart and breathing conditions, than the legal limit set down in the latest European emissions standard.

‘Platoons’ – road trains of up to nine ‘electronically tethered’ vehicles, led by an HGV - could increase motorway capacity by between 15% and 20%, according to transport consultancy Transport Research Laboratory (TRL).

The transport minister is understood to have approved a 60mph limit on a new dual carriageway in a bid to reduce air pollution.

Growing doubts over the planned early 2015 start for the UK’s on-road trials of driverless vehicles emerged at the Road Transport Information and Control 2014 conference in London this week.

With the news that the South East Permit Scheme is expanding to cover three more councils, Surrey CC’s cabinet member for highways, John Furey, tells Transport Network what makes the scheme a success.

The Department for Transport’s (DfT) approach to road maintenance funding is ‘ludicrous’, with decades of ‘unpredictable and fluctuating budgets’ putting value for money at risk, an influential group of MPs has claimed.

Taxi drivers could once again bring the centre of London to a standstill due to another slow driving demonstration beginning at 2pm this afternoon in Trafalgar Square and Parliament Square.

A disabled man with one arm has been told he can only qualify for a parking permit if he loses ‘another arm or a leg’.

The Welsh Government has forced City of Cardiff Council to delay its planned introduction of enforcement of moving traffic regulations.

The Government’s £317m ‘pinch point’ road improvement programme has cut congestion at 39 bottlenecks since its launch in 2011, according to the Highways Agency.

The decision by Manchester City Council to roll out 20mph speed limits on its non-major roads beggars the question – are our existing limits too high? The answer in my view is a definite ‘yes.’

Transport secretary Patrick McLoughlin has praised the Royal British Legion Industries’ (RBLI) new road and rail sign printing enterprise at a visit this week.

Seventeen local authorities have won grants from the latest round of the Clean Vehicle Technology Fund, with £5m handed out to make public service vehicles greener and cleaner.

Sunderland City Council has approved plans to complete the continuous dual carriageway between the A19 and the city centre, however residents may have to wait years before work starts.

Road schemes designed to tackle some of the UK’s ‘most notorious and long-standing hotspots’ are likely to be announced later this year, ministers have revealed.

Leading transport analysts have finalised new standards for the communication and use of air and noise pollution data in traffic solutions.

London is embarking on its first trial of new hybrid bus charging technology that enables specially designed buses to wirelessly charge their batteries while they wait at stands.

Sections of the M6 between junctions 10a and 13 will be closed at night for the next two weeks as part of the ongoing smart motorway upgrade near Birmingham.

Two multi-million pound highway dualling contracts have been put to market by the Scottish Government, with work on the A96 and A9 up for grabs.

139mph in a 60mph area - new figures reveal the worst recorded cases of speeding offences in Scotland.

The Liberal Democrats would scrap tolls on the Severn crossings if they won power at the next election, in a move designed to save the average commuter around £1,500 a year.

Around a third of Manchester’s roads are set to become 20mph zones from Monday next week, with 111 miles across 1,100 streets covered by the permanent restrictions.

Road drainage this summer was no better than during the severe winter storms, according to 40% of AA members.

Scotland achieved its lowest number of road casualties last year according to figures released this week, as congestion also fell to its lowest level since 1999.

Wigan Council to invest £11m in roll-out of 31,000 LED street lights in the next three years, to save £1m a year.

A 62-year-old businessman from the West Country has spent £150,000 building his own toll road to bypass roadworks on a damaged section of the A431.

Islington LBC officers will fine drivers £20 if they do not turn off their engines when asked, if their car is standing idle.

Transport for London has unveiled four new ‘pure electric’ buses to help deliver air quality benefits through zero tail pipe emissions, along with plans to make all new taxis ‘zero emissions capable’ by 2018.

Driverless cars could be on the UK's roads from January next year, business secretary Vince Cable has revealed.

A major state of the nation motoring report has warned of growing public dissatisfaction with the state of the UK’s roads, local parking services, the costs of motoring and the quality of public transport alternatives to driving.

Official figures have revealed Fareham in Hampshire is Britain’s most car dependent town.

The Department for Transport (DfT) is set to raise the speed limit for lorries on single carriageways from 40 to 50mph next year, in a controversial move that Whitehall’s transport analysts believe could provide an £11m boost to the industry.

Brighton and Hove Council has used real-world bus emissions data to identify an air pollution hotspot for priority traffic smoothing.

MPs have called for testing of a ‘total transport’ solution in isolated communities that are faced with declining access to bus and rail services.

Birmingham City Council has revealed just 233 fines worth around £14,000 in total are to be refunded to motorists caught driving in certain bus lanes despite tens of thousands being given penalty charge notices in areas where signs were ‘inadequate’.

The Department for Transport (DfT) will carry out a detailed appraisal of two lower Thames crossing options, after confirming that a new crossing will be built in east London.

A reported £1.8m is to be paid back to motorists that were fined for driving over a city centre bridge in York, after an independent review found the council might have acted unlawfully.

Transport minister Baroness Kramer has opened a major highways scheme in Luton to help tackle traffic jams while supporting active travel for pedestrians and cyclists.

The prime minister has announced plans to give local authorities the power to stage motor sports events on public roads, in a move some suggest could boost the UK economy by £40m over five years.

The Government has launched a £1m grant programme for local authorities in England to tackle air pollution from road transport, after more than 30 projects benefited from the scheme last year.

Motorists are ‘losing the plot’ thanks to the ‘forest’ of varying local speed limits introduced by councils, a senior motoring representative has warned.

Former under-secretary of state at the Department of Environment, Transport and the Regions, Lord Whitty, has been appointed chairman of the Road Safety Foundation, taking over from Lord Dubs who has led the charity since 2007.

Councils chiefs are seeking amendments to the Government’s legislation – launched this month with the Queen’s Speech – to transform the Highways Agency into a Government-owned company.

Transport secretary Patrick McLoughlin has rejected plans to limit speeds on key motorways to 60mph between 7am and 7pm seven days a week.

Steve Kent, president of the Association of Directors of Environment, Economy, Planning and Transport (ADEPT) lays out why the national response to extreme weather must improve and how ADEPT members are best placed to take a leading role.

Oxford Street has the highest levels of toxic nitrogen dioxide (NO2) emissions anywhere in the world, according to a new report.

New research has found nine in ten councils changed speed limits in their areas last year.

The latest official figures show road deaths decreased by 2% last year compared to 2012, reaching the lowest figure since national records began in 1926 at 1,713.

Council directors are set to help ‘fill the void’ left by the Department for Transport (DfT) when it ends its management of the national specifications for traffic systems and equipment in 2015, Transport Network can reveal.

Highways workers will benefit from the easier and more accurate detection of active or abandoned underground utilities through a new publicly available specification (PAS) issued this week by the British Standards Institution.

Mashed potato bought a major Yorkshire road to a stodgy standstill this weekend after powdered granules fell from a lorry onto the A64.

A group of councils in the North East are set to tender a highways surfacing contract framework worth at least £30m - with some estimates reaching as high as £100m over its potential five-year term - as part of the wider NE Highways Alliance project.

The Midlands Highways Alliance (MHA) has revealed the contractors appointed for its £261m transport infrastructure framework.

Significant reforms to Sheffield’s winter maintenance service could see preventative gritting routes slashed across the region by more than 100 miles of road.

South Gloucestershire Council is selling unused speed cameras to the local police for a ‘nominal sum’ that could be as low as £1 a camera.

The Scottish Government has announced a further £6m will be invested in the A83 in Argyll and Bute to mitigate the effects of landslides.

Transport Scotland has named Connect Roads as its preferred bidder for the historic £745m Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route/Balmedie Tipperty (AWPR/B-T) road construction project.

Ministers are expected to rewrite the Highway Code to allow the use of self-driving vehicles on Britain’s roads as the UK looks to rival Google in driverless car technology.

Birmingham City Council has released a 25-year Mobility Action Plan (BMAP), outlining proposals to challenge the historic car culture of the city.

The number of rail passenger journeys across Britain jumped by 5.7% this year to reach 1.59bn for 2013-14, according to the latest official statistics, while road traffic volumes rose by only a fraction.

Highways Agency reforms will not be enough to address the problem of unpredictable funding for roads maintenance, government auditors have warned.

Transport for London has asked the High Court for a ruling on the legality of an app that calculates the costs of taxis amid anger from the taxi industry and threats of a ‘traffic chaos’ demonstration.

Camden LBC has outlined a £26m plan to transform the Tottenham Court Road area of the West End ahead of the new Crossrail station in 2018, when Tottenham Court Road station will be busier than Heathrow Airport.

The Asphalt Industry Alliance’s Annual Local Authority Road Maintenance (ALARM) survey is seen by many as the national benchmark for highway maintenance performance in the UK. Its chairman Alan Mackenzie talks to Dominic Browne about the need to push for a long-term approach to highways maintenance.

Google has revealed it will soon begin production on a prototype fleet of 100 driverless vehicles.

Hounslow Highways is installing new LED street lights in the top 60 crime hotspots in the borough, as part of a joint initiative with local police.

Emergency services personnel have warned the growing use of cameras to penalise moving traffic offences is making drivers reluctant to move aside for emergency vehicles, potentially increasing response times.

Transport for London (TfL) would need to charge users of the Silvertown tunnel under the Thames from the outset but no further charging schemes are planned, bosses have revealed.

It has been ten years since the introduction of advice in TA89/04 issued by the UK Highways Agency on the use of Passively Safe roadside furniture.

The Highways Agency is considering ways to allow electric vehicles to recharge their batteries while they drive on the UK's strategic route network.

Investment in roads will have to ‘substantially’ increase over the next decade with the Government having to find 'new funding streams' to support increased demand, MPs have said.

London mayor Boris Johnson has unveiled initial plans for a 22-mile £30bn underground ring road in London, dubbed the ‘Inner Orbital Tunnel’.

The first council outside London to take on enforcement of moving traffic offences says drivers who are ‘forced’ to infringe the Highway Code to assist emergency vehicles will not receive Penalty Charge Notices.

Ministers should provide more specific examples of nationally important transport schemes and develop an integrated strategy reaching across national and local networks, an influential group of MPs said today.

Parsons Brinckerhoff has won a two-year government contract to deliver the National Road Traffic Census data collection programme. Here the firm discusses its new approach.

The UK is 'leading the world in ecommerce' as the freight industry sees growth boosted for the first time since 2010 with help from online sales, according to a major new report.

Milton Keynes Council together with infrastructure company Ringway have officially launched a highways network maintenance and services contract in the unitary, worth up to £200m.

The Department for Transport (DfT) has insisted English councils bidding for a share of a £168m pothole give away must sign a pledge setting out the number of potholes they will repair.

Transport secretary Patrick McLoughlin today officially approved plans to transform the Highways Agency into a government-owned company in less than a year.

Ministers have changed planning rules to allow councils to put up boundary signs marking traditional English counties that date back more than 1000 years, including the likes of Cumberland, Huntingdonshire and Middlesex.

The UK Government is under growing pressure from the European Commission (EC) to produce a ‘credible and workable plan’ for meeting European emission standards, Transport Network can reveal.

Engineering consultant Parsons Brinckerhoff has secured a contract to undertake national road traffic census counts for the Government, forming a key part of the evidence base for transport funding.

When you are short of money, what is the one thing you do with your assets? You look after them. You know you cannot afford to replace things, so you repair and maintain them instead.

Britain is set for the busiest day of the year on the road network with around 6.5 million people estimated to be planning day trips over the holiday period, according to a survey from Visit England.

A new park and ride and motorway bus lane is about to be completed in Portsmouth to help with nearby development. Sally Devine finds out more.

The Highways Agency has announced a red X traffic control will be employed for its latest smart motorways scheme on the M25, commanding motorists to not drive in a motorway lane where the sign is displayed.

The Highways Agency has released updated plans for its £1.5bn A14 upgrade, reiterating there will be no tolling involved.

Central London’s Square Mile will become a 20mph zone in July after the City of London Corporation’s transport committee voted to implement the speed restriction this week.

With surface dressing season upon us, Dr Howard Robinson chief executive and company secretary of the RSTA, takes us through what you need to know.

Experienced highway engineer Chris Summers takes a look at how road maintenance techniques have changed over the last generation, for better and worse...

'We all now recognise that there is a problem, and if we are to secure the improvements that are needed in London, we all need to play our part.'

London assembly members are calling for emergency measures to allow traffic restrictions in the capital, as Government experts warn ‘very high’ levels of air pollution made worse by Saharan desert dust will continue in England and Wales for several days.

The majority of local residents and politicians believe parking on the pavement should be banned considering the dangers it causes vulnerable residents especially the blind and partially sighted, a new poll suggests.

A £1.8m transformation fund for London has been launched to boost sustainable transport and test new street layouts and alternative ways that roads can be used.

The Department for Transport's (DfT) strategic roads director used his speech at the first national Chartered Institution of Highways and Transportation (CIHT) conference this week to send out warnings to both contractors and politicians.

Volvo has announced a step forward in the driverless car market, with an approach that seeks to adjust both the cars that we drive and the roads that we drive on.

A recent study looked into the distances that commuters travel to work and whether the area that they lived in had a vital part to play.

Chancellor George Osborne has announced £140m of new funding to repair and maintain flood defences in his 2014 Budget.

The widow of a cyclist who died after hitting a road defect on his bike, plans to sue North Yorkshire CC it has emerged.

Road safety markings in Wales and Scotland have fallen ‘well below’ UK standards, with a majority requiring replacement, a survey has concluded.

Does an online tool published earlier this year represent the future of analysing road safety for local authorities? James Evison reports.

The Government’s draft National Policy Statement (NPS) proposes building new roads for 40% more car, van and lorry trips by 2040. This is neither realistic nor desirable.

Downing Street has confirmed the strategic road network is now ‘operating as normal’, as the UK’s transport network gets back on track following the devastating weather of the last few weeks.

Liverpool City Council is set to invest £80m over the next eight years in its highways network, in a move set to significantly cut Liverpool’s £256m highways maintenance backlog by 2022.

Roads safety campaigners have called on the Department for Transport (DfT) to end its ‘needlessly stringent' signage rules ahead of an expected public consultation on the issue, claiming the regulations are a barrier to 20mph zones.

Roads minister Robert Goodwill says 'capacity will be a problem' in delivering the Government’s £24bn highways investment commitment by 2021.

The UK’s flooding crisis shows no sign of abating as weather forecasts predict more rain throughout the week and ministers and transport bosses warn the devastation could take months to clear up.

Roads minister Robert Goodwill has raised expectations that councils across England could be given powers over enforcing moving traffic violations, suggesting he is only waiting for positive feedback from Transport for London.

Cyclists could be better protected if councils were granted stronger powers to target dangerous drivers, council leaders have said.

Pothole damage costs Scottish local authorities more than £1,600 a day in compensation claims last year, figures suggest.

The UK’s flooding crisis continued this week as record water levels were recorded at several locations on the Thames, affecting train services between Staines and Windsor and Eton Riverside stations.

The chairman of the Environment Agency has issued a stark warning on flood protection, suggesting the Government cannot afford to protect both town and country from extreme weather.

The first in a series of exclusive articles for Transport Network from the Road Surface Treatments Association, charts the rise and fall of high friction road surfacing.

A masterplan for future transport provision in East Lancashire will support ‘millions of pounds’ of local investment, councils have confirmed.

The Transport Research Laboratory (TRL) has announced it will be taking part in a major European Commission project into wireless charging for electric vehicles.

The south of England is set for more severe weather, potential floods and transport disruption, as six severe flood warnings are issued for coastal stretches in Devon and Cornwall.

Communities secretary Eric Pickles has announced the 12 shortlisted projects in line to receive a share of a £100m infrastructure fund for local enterprise zones.

David Cameron pledged that river dredging in Somerset will start as soon as possible in prime minister’s questions today, as the Government’s emergency response committee met to discuss the issue of flooding.

The Environment Agency has defended its response to recent flooding in the wake of criticism that it has not done enough to dredge dangerous rivers.

Communities secretary Eric Pickles has blasted Cambridge City Council over its decision to abolish apostrophes on new street signs, labelling it ‘disingenuous and unnecessary’.

More flood warnings have been issued by the Met Office for southern England, as some local MPs voice growing public anger over situation.

Highways around central London could require a massive overhaul due to the impact of the new Crossrail service, a report has claimed.

Damage caused by the latest tranche of severe weather has cost the Highlands Council almost half-a-million pounds, it has been revealed.

More 'shared space' schemes are set to go ahead in the south west of England, while the debate rumbles on over safety concerns for the visually impaired and disabled.

Road safety campaigners have slammed the opening of a pub at a motorway service station, claiming it is ‘at odds’ with public opinion.

The RAC has recorded a 67% rise in vehicle related pothole damage last year, with motorists spending £100m repairing the damage.

Major schemes on England's strategic road network on average deliver a £4 return in long-term benefits for every £1 spent, according to a major study from the Highways Agency.

Congestion charge and Low Emission Zone (LEZ) operations in London will be passed back to Capita from next October alongside a bus lane enforcement contract.

A motorist in Colchester whose car was damaged by a pothole has won a £500 payout from Essex CC, after taking the case to the county court.

Winter resilience measures in Northern Ireland are facing intense scrutiny after the devolved nation suffered 42 collisions on its roads in a three-hour period, one of which was fatal.

A new £250,000 asphalt recycling centre for road and pavement surfacing projects by both the private and public sector has opened near Bedford.

Southern England faces a risk of more flooding this week the Environment Agency has warned as more rain is expected.

Leading infrastructure companies have been invited by the Highways Agency to bid for two major maintenance and improvement contracts for England’s trunk road network.

Plans to only partially install quiet road surfacing on a section of the M3 earmarked for a smart motorways scheme have been criticised by local leaders – who have approved plans to call on cabinet minister and local on MP Michael Gove for help.

Maintenance of major roads in the West Midlands will be passed to EM Highway Services from July this year, the Highways Agency (HA) has announced.

A new report shows councils have invested heavily in extra gritting salt, hardware and social media use this year, in order to keep the country's highways moving this winter.

The severe storms that brought transport chaos and misery to many over Christmas show no signs of letting up as forecasters warn of fresh flooding dangers.

Transport infrastructure remains vulnerable to adverse winter weather, with robust public communication needed to drive further improvements, according to MPs.

English councils made a record haul of almost £600m from parking charges in 2012-13, according to a report from the RAC Foundation.

Cotswold DC has called on the Highways Agency and the Department for Transport to support a dualling scheme in the area to tackle ‘chronic’ congestion problems.

Congestion in the UK’s 18 largest urban zones is costing car commuting households £4.4bn a year, according to estimates from a new economic study.

Cycle safety in London could receive a boost in the New Year after ministers approved the first UK road trials of eye-level traffic lights from January.

Ministers have revealed the winners of the latest tranche of local pinch-point funding, releasing £49m for 25 schemes designed to tackle congestion hot spots, alongside announcing a raft of major road and rail works.

Plans to drastically lower the planning bar for new road schemes have been released by the Department for Transport (DfT).

A violent storm has battered the UK leaving at least two dead, closing rail services across Scotland and hitting swathes of coastline with a tidal surge that forced thousands of residents to evacuate their homes.

Cambridgeshire CC has been given the chance to trial a new traffic light system that could help save cyclists lives by giving them a head start at junctions.

Travel chaos has hit the north of the UK as Transport Scotland has escalated its travel warning to stage four red.

Chancellor George Osborne kept true to form in today’s Autumn Statement, with tax relief for motorists forming a central plank of the Government’s transport announcements.

Scotland has been hit by 100mph winds as large parts of the UK face massive travel disruption and the Environment Agency warns of a significant coastal flooding.

The Department for Transport (DfT) has launched a consultation on the policy framework that transport secretary Patrick McLoughlin will base nationally significant road and rail scheme planning decisions on.

A new report has outlined Whitehall's responsibilities for the management of major national flooding incidents, including details on transport and infrastructure.

Harrogate BC has been caught in an unprecedented legal debacle over its hosting of the Tour de France next year, which has resulted in a parliamentary intervention from communities secretary Eric Pickles.

Operators of heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) should sign-up to a voluntary safety improvement charter - or risk legislation after the next election - Labour shadow transport secretary, Mary Creagh has said.

The Department for Transport (DfT) has agreed with the Freight Transport Association (FTA) to reject extra EU regulations on identifying a professional driver's training needs.

By 2025 at least half of road vehicles will be capable of ‘reading’ road signs and markings, according to a new report.

Transport minister Baroness Kramer today gave a final go-ahead to release funds for £18m worth of major roadworks on some of the busiest networks in Merseyside.

The Highways Agency could slash procurement costs by 20% and make savings by laying and maintaining some stretches of road to lesser standards, the non-executive director, Alan Cook, has told the transport select committee.

The Government has committed to maintaining a substantial national strategic salt reserve, local transport minister Norman Baker told Surveyor’s Cold Comfort 2013 event.

A survey of more than 1,000 motorists has revealed more than a quarter of UK drivers have been involved in a road accident, with 22.6% admitting it was their own fault.

The metropolitan police have launched a major road safety operation involving 2,500 officers on London streets during rush hour, following six cyclist deaths in the last two weeks.

With six cyclists killed on London’s roads in just two weeks, road safety is very much in the headlines. Ending the Government’s acquiescence to the road haulage industry is an important first step in keeping all road users safe.

Digital counters have been installed at nine sites across Scotland to monitor the number of cyclists passing through the area.

As new figures show half a million UK drivers have points on their licence for multi-tasking at the wheel, road safety charity Brake has launched a national campaign to crack down on driver distractions to launch national road safety week.

London has shown a surprise fall in congestion on locally managed 'A' roads over the past year, as Government figures suggest national levels are rising.

Roads and homes across England are facing an increased flooding risk this winter because the ground is saturated and strong westerly jet streams will bring heavy bands of rain, the Environment Agency has warned.

A £1m robot has been used to repair gas mains in south London without having to dig holes in the road.

The east of England is due to deliver an impressive cost-benefit return on planned roads investment of £6.4bn for less than £876m spent, according to new Department for Transport (DfT) data.

Road surveying and consultancy work worth £100k a year for Hounslow LBC has been awarded to technology firm Yotta from the beginning of 2014, it has been announced.

The Highways Agency has unveiled plans to bring smart motorways – formally known as managed motorways – to Greater Manchester, creating an extra lane in busy sections of the M62.

Around two thirds of councils have made cuts to streetlighting by either dimming lights or switching them off altogether, it has emerged.

Plans to deploy one hundred driverless ‘pods’ in Milton Keynes by 2017 have been announced by the local authority.

Council chiefs have warned the Government against creating an external scrutiny system for local authority roads responsibilities, calling it ‘unnecessary and counterproductive’.

Overwhelming parish council and local community support for the use of red diesel fuel in any vehicle gritting rural areas has resulted in the move being signed off by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC).

The Highways Agency has awarded a £70.5m construction contract to Carillion PLC to convert the hard should of a major strategic section of the M6 into an active lane.

A £28m sea defence scheme has been unveiled along the south coast in West Sussex, providing communities with improved flood protection along its key 7km stretch.

Wigan BC has responded to the first signs of winter weather this year, sending out ten gritting vehicles to carry our precautionary treatments as temperatures fell below freezing in the borough for the first time this winter.

The UK’s first new deep-water port for more than two decades opens for business this week when the MOL Caledon, a 58,000-tonne container ship from South Africa, docks at the London Gateway.

Cash for essential council services such as pothole repair and highways maintenance should not be squeezed any further in the Government’s Autumn Statement next month, council chiefs have warned.

Surrey CC has completed 40 miles of major road repairs over the last six months, equivalent to £14.7m of maintenance work.

Four people have been injured in a crash on the M25 that saw a long lorry overturned across the road.

Transport for London (TfL) recorded a 2% reduction in road collisions and casualties last year, with fatalities falling by 16% (159 to 134), to the second lowest level since recent records began.

Powers to shift the country’s motorway and trunk road network away from central government control have been put out to public consultation by the Department for Transport (DfT).

The UK has suffered at least five deaths, widespread transport disruption and major power outages, after the worst storms seen since 1987 battered parts of the south of England.

Road surfacing contractors have renewed pressure on chancellor George Osborne to announce immediate investment in road maintenance in his upcoming Autumn Statement.

An investigation by Corporate Watch and The Independent newspaper has claimed major transport companies are using a legal tax avoidance scheme to escape millions of pounds of taxes.

The Met Office has warned the most powerful storms seen in years could descend on Britain next week, hitting parts of England with gales of up to 80mph just in time for half-term.

The expansion of Telford town centre has lead to £11.8m planned improvements to surrounding transport infrastructure to facilitate the increased capacity at key entry points.

It was meant as a joke between friends on Facebook but has rapidly escalated into a nationwide story. A picture of one worker fixing a traffic light and six other Highways Agency workers doing...very little.

Drivers are seven times more likely to have a collision on an A-road than on a motorway, according to new figures.

Scores of traffic wardens in the London borough of Ealing are set to create ‘motoring heaven’ by going on strike as the chances of receiving a parking ticket are heavily reduced, trade union Unite has warned.

The Government has announced more than £24m of funding to support major highways works in Leeds and on the A452 Chester Road in Birmingham.

The Government wants a lot more roads built across the country but as the first schemes reach the planning stage, they are meeting stern opposition.

Motorists could see driving costs slashed under a package of measures announced by the Government today, including action on high insurance premiums.

Liverpool City Council has launched a controversial nine-month experiment to suspend the operation of all bus lanes in the city.

Transport campaigners have called on ministers to take drastic action to tackle the dangers of heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) after new research suggests lorries are involved in an increasing percentage of fatal road accidents in the UK.

More than 70% of motorists don’t want the clocks to go back this Sunday and 60% believe there would be fewer deaths on British roads if the system were abolished, according to a new survey.

All of Hartlepool’s street lights are to be replaced with new LED lights at a cost of £5m.

The Labour Party together with leading transport experts have called on the Government to scrap its trial of longer freight lorries on safety and sustainability grounds.

Transportation plans across the East Lancashire region have been outlined by the county council in the area.

The Government has launched seven river maintenance pilots in a bid to slash red tape and improve flood management techniques that could protect the UK's road network.

Roadworks information provider ELGIN has called on the new transport minister Baroness Kramer to lift the compulsory requirement for local authorities to publish traffic orders in local newspapers.

Ministers are considering tough new measures to reduce road accidents among novice drivers including banning them from using all mobile phones, including hands-free sets, or driving between 10pm and 5am unless accompanied by someone over 30.

The UK’s potholes crisis is costing councils £2.5m a year in compensation claims and the problem looks set to get worse as the number is shooting up.

The Highways Agency had awarded infrastructure firm Amey a £200m five-year contract to manage and maintain the strategic road network in Area 8 in the East of England.

Key infrastructure projects in Wales have been given a £617.5m boost, under the draft budget announced this week.

While pollsters will tell you no one votes on the basis of transport policy, transport related issues are at the centre of much which will decide the outcome of the next General Election.

Scotland’s transport heavyweights will be in attendance at this year’s Road Expo exhibition on the 6 - 7 November in Edinburgh, including Keith Brown, minister for transport and veterans.

Councils across the country are on alert for potential gritting runs at the end of this week as the first cold snap of the winter season is expected to hit the UK.

New legislation has granted parking enforcement officers powers formerly only available to the police over blue badge violations, including the power to retain and destroy badges.

A new trial of out-of-hours deliveries has been unveiled by Transport for London (TfL), as part of the ongoing development of a London-wide strategy to reduce freight congestion.

The Government and Lancashire CC have won a High Court battle with a local campaigning group over a £124m planned link road between the M6 and the port of Heysham on Morecambe Bay.

The Department for Transport (DfT) has upgraded its technical specification for the Electronic Transfer of Notices (EToN) on street works, in a move estimated to save around 2000 work hours a week for councils and utility firms.

A new code of practice has been released by the Department for Transport to ensure the correct safety procedures during highways works.

Placing a compulsory toll on upcoming A14 improvements would single out the east of England for unfair business transport costs, according to the New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP).

Transport secretary Patrick McLoughlin has released £80m of further ‘pinch point’ funding to remove bottlenecks on the UK’s road network, with £25m of the cash dedicated to local schemes.

English motorways see more than 15,000 'tyre-related' breakdowns every year the Highways Agency has revealed as part of its support for Tyre Safety Month in October.

Latest figures have shown an increase in the number of cyclists being killed on roads in the UK year-on-year, according to data from the Department for Transport.

The Transport Committee has announced a review of winter resilience – the third major study in four years - for the next session of parliament.

New amendments to the Active Travel Bill in Wales have been welcomed by sustainable transport charity, Sustrans.

Plans for a new collaborative development framework have been put forward by the Highways Agency for investing £5bn-worth of projects across the country’s motorway and trunk road network.

The UK's largest transport authority Birmingham City Council has announced plans to invest £7m in converting '90% of its roads to a 20mph speed limit'.

Public concern about the state of our roads and the cleanliness of our streets leapfrogged schools, health services and even crime in this year’s Ipsos MORI research, as Victoria Harkness - head of local government research at independent research agency - explains.

Thousands of residents living close to the Dartford-Thurrock Crossing are set to recieve unlimited trips across the Thames for £20 a year, it has been announced.

Plans to deliver £8bn in infrastructure spending over the next two years were outlined by the Scottish Government in its budget this week, with commitments to transport schemes despite swingeing cuts.

Resurfacing works on the A46 are due to be carried out over the next month in order to improve the general state of the carriageway.

Prime minister David Cameron has welcomed Jaguar Land Rover's plans to create 1,700 new jobs with a £1.5bn injection into its Solihull production line.

Engineering consultant Mott MacDonald has been appointed to design the Highways Agency’s £24m 4km widening scheme on the A14 near Kettering.

Hounslow Highways has embarked on a collaborative working agreement with utility companies to share road space and carry out works at the same time to try and minimise disruption to residents and businesses.

The Highways Agency has published £1.5bn plans to upgrade the A14 between Cambridge and Huntingdon, including the possibility of local toll roads to ease congestion on the major route.

Plans to develop an extension to the Reading cycle network in Wokingham have been put forward by officers at the borough council.

Tens of thousands of school children are being put at risk by road pollution in London as more than 1,000 schools are found to be within 150 metres of roads with such bad traffic emissions it could affect their health.

Concern has been raised about a £500m blackhole in the cost of five major transport projects in Scotland.

Government plans for a time-based road user charging system for foreign heavy goods vehicles (HGVS) took a step closer today with the appointment of Northgate Public Services to develop and operate the system.

Mayor of London Boris Johnson has revealed the eight shortlisted boroughs hoping to win a share of a £100m ‘mini-Holland’ cash pot to help revolutionise the capital’s cycling infrastructure.

A leading highways sector body has released a new best practice guide for road maintenance and pothole repair patching systems.

Leading highways contractor Ringway has pledged to create 21 local job opportunities in road worker positions for its client Cheshire West and Chester Council.

The majority of local authorities in the UK have adopted progressive pothole repair strategies in the wake of last year’s Pothole Review document, according to a recent survey.

Infrastructure services company FM Conway has received planning consent for a £10m state of the art asphalt plant in Heathrow.

A groundbreaking new type of highway noise barrier that can produce renewable energy looks set to be trialled along parts of the M40 after the successful completion of a feasibility study.

Kent CC has begun preparations for winter with the storage of 19,000 tonnes of salt in depots across the county - and more deliveries coming.

Britain’s roads are going to go through changes as radical as those when the motorway network was first built.

Drivers could be caught out by a range of new motoring offences and increased fines from midnight tonight as part of changes announced by Department for Transport (DfT).

Research assessed 30 cities and found that while all of them recognised climate change was a serious threat, most were failing to implement policies that could reduce problems like transport-linked surface emissions.

A new joint venture company is to supply building materials on the Isle of Wight while servicing the region’s £750m highways Private Finance Initiative (PFI).

Drivers in the Midlands are being asked to stop misusing the hard shoulder, after it was found hundreds illegally enter the lanes every day.

Freight drivers and cyclist groups are at loggerheads over a decision by roads minister Stephen Hammond to abolish compulsory training for people driving Heavy Goods Vehicles (HGVs) for repair or testing.

The Liberal Democrats have launched radical plans to decarbonise transport including proposals to ban all but the lowest carbon-emitting vehicles from the roads by 2040.

Peterborough City Council has named Atkins as its preferred bidder to deliver a ten-year highways contract worth up to £150m covering road maintenance, street lighting and gully cleansing.

London’s air quality is set to worsen under mayor Boris Johnson’s Ultra Low Emission Zone, according to a member of the London Assembly.

Cumbria CC is to receive a further £7m boost from the Government to help repair local roads damaged by flooding in 2009, transport secretary Patrick McLoughlin announced today.

Congestion on locally managed ‘A’ roads increased during peak hours this spring, with all motor vehicle traffic on all road types increasing and light vehicle miles reaching their highest since records began.

The Department for Transport (DfT) has sent a clear warning to colleagues at the Department for International Development (DFID) that ‘roads are not enough to improve mobility’ based on international data sets.

Brighton and Hove City Council has announced plans to extend its 20mph speed limit across most of the city following a consultation due to begin this month.

Councils have been warned to not prevent households renting out their drives and unused off-street parking spaces by communities secretary Eric Pickles.

Campaigners have called for construction of the Bexhill-Hastings link road (BHLR) to be cancelled, after calculations suggested the scheme has ‘low’ value for money.

The National Joint Utilities Group (NJUG) – the UK’s only Trade Association representing utilities and their contractors on road works matters - has announced its new chief executive officer will be Bob Gallienne.

The Concrete Pipeline Systems Association (CPSA) has a new, independently certified CPD (Continuing Professional Development) presentation on the issue of surface water management.

The Highways Maintenance Efficiency Programme (HMEP) has launched a new leaflet aimed at local politicians, explaining how asset management in highway maintenance can ensure the ‘best use of available funds’.

UK councils have spent £7.2m on electric car charging points in the past three years but many have not been used, with take up of the low emission vehicles still sluggish.

Provisional estimates from the Department for Transport show the number of deaths in road accidents has fallen by 10% in the year ending March 2013, with reported child casualties (ages 0-15) falling by 14%.

Drivers in remote areas will be offered a cut in fuel duty by the Treasury under plans announced today.

Motor insurers must ‘end practices which encourage fraud and exaggeration’ and introduce stricter requirements for whiplash claims in efforts to stamp out insurance fraud a cross-party group of MPs has warned.

The world’s first ultra-low emissions zone (ULEZ) must be introduced to the capital sooner than 2020 as thousands of deaths each year are linked to air pollution, London Assembly members have warned.

Government and manufacturers are joining together to push for purchasing of ultra-low emission vehicles (ULEVs), transport secretary Patrick McLoughlin has said.

New government figures have revealed the total number of UK transport trips across all modes has fallen by 12% since the mid-1990s - with car travel still the dominant mode.

The hottest July in seven years gave way to torrential rain and flooding across parts of the UK this weekend, closing roads in city centres in the Midlands and the North East.

The Highways Maintenance Efficiency Programme (HMEP) is set to launch a new product on client-provider collaboration this summer, using UK case studies to help establish current good practice.

Transport secretary Patrick McLoughlin has approved a joint roadworks permit scheme between Surrey and East Sussex county councils, which will ‘save millions by cutting traffic jams’ the authorities said.

Ministers must develop a comprehensive transport strategy to ‘reverse the trend of declining accessibility to key services in rural areas’ a cross-party group of MPs has warned.

Ministers plan to create 'noise hotspots' with similar protections as local green spaces under plans to drive down transport noise pollution.

Councils in the South East led by Buckinghamshire CC have called on the Government to bring forward cash earmarked for future road repairs, stating they are ‘shovel-ready now’.

With parts of Britain expecting the hottest temperatures of the year this week, councils’ highways teams have been spreading rock dust to stop roads from melting.

Our sister publication Bridge magazine on Sunderland City Council ditching plans to build the 'iconic' New Wear Crossing.

Rural roads in some of the most affluent parts of the country saw the highest number of hit-and-run crimes last year, with figures almost three times the national average.

A new road safety initiative supported by an alliance of emergency service officers could prevent nearly half of all road traffic fatalities - saving almost 1000 lives a year - according to experts.

Winter resilience has been the central focus of pothole concern for the last few years. But with roads suffering degradation due to extreme heat this month, should we begin to look at summer resilience? James Evison reports.

The Government's new command paper on roads has been welcomed and criticised in equal measure by the transport industry following the announcement of £28bn of highways investment.

Upgrades to two road projects in the Midlands have been given the go-ahead by roads minister Stephen Hammond.

Driver training should be reformed in order to bring down the alarming number of accidents and fatalities in the 17-24 age group, the RAC Foundation has reported.

Traffic will grow by fifth over the next decade as England comes out of recession and greater fuel efficiencies reduce the cost of road travel.

An update on the Highways Maintenance Efficiency Programme’s (HMEP) Pothole Review has been released by the Department for Transport (DfT), as best practice from the project begins to be embedded across the sector.

The Government’s Spending Round commitment to boost flood protection funding will not be enough to defend the nation against the rising risks - with threats to roads and food production of particular concern - MPs have warned.

Cameras on buses could be involved in Cardiff CC’s plan to become the first council outside London to enforce moving-traffic rules.

A traffic-calming measure that cost more than £130,000 and caused multiple accidents in Islington has been ripped out after the town hall admitted it was wrong to install it.

Halton BC has announced Merseylink as preferred bidder for the Mersey Gateway Project, which will deliver a new £600m toll bridge to the region.

The Government’s £100bn investment in infrastructure must be complimented by a long-term funding strategy to ensure success, transport professionals have said.

The Chartered Institution of Highways & Transportation (CIHT) - which represents more than 12,000 highways and transportation professionals - has appointed its first woman president since the organisation formed in 1930.

The Highways Agency made savings of nearly £300m over the last year under the Government’s infrastructure efficiency drive, Ministers claimed today.

Highways and transportation professionals celebrated the best of this year’s outstanding achievements last night at the annual Chartered Institution of Highways and Transportation (CIHT) awards.

The boss of Atkins in the UK and Europe has told Transport Network he remains ‘cautiously optimistic on roads’ despite selling the company's highways business to Skanska.

Cardiff CC plans cheaper disabled parking bays in residential areas by omitting Traffic Regulation Orders (TRO) and signs on poles.

The Institution of Civil Engineers is urging England to copy Wales’ Local Government Borrowing Initiative (LGBI), which is providing £170m over three years for highway repairs.

Transport looks set to be the big winner in this month’s Spending Review with ministers expected to announce a multi-billion pound long-term commitment to major projects.

The Highways Agency has awarded EnterpriseMouchel a £140m contract for maintenance and improvement work on central southern English roads.

Concern has been raised about current parking enforcement laws following the first oral evidence session to the transport committee on the issue.

A £60m repair deal to strengthen the Hammersmith Flyover has been given to contractor Costain by Transport for London (TfL).

The Department for Transport (DfT) has left the door open to providing further local pinch point cash after exhausting the current £190m fund on some 72 congestion-busting projects.

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation Development (OECD) has claimed the UK should invest more in infrastructure for growth.

Reform of the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) should focus on economic growth and introduce financial certainty to the sector if it is to be successful, according to the British Property Federation (BPF).

The Highways Agency has announced further complications with its new Asset Support Contracts (ASC), as the £150m-£200m Area 8 contract is forced into a negotiated tender process due to ‘irregularities’ in company bids.

Somerset CC has launched a £200,000 grant fund to support residents and local councils boost flood defences.

Campaigners have called on the Government to withhold funding for the controversial £100m Bexhill-Hastings Link Road after East Sussex CC cuts back on walking, cycling and public transport measures originally included in the project.

The first section of managed motorway in the North of England is now fully operational along a stretch of the M62 in West Yorkshire.

The Highways Agency has today published three route-based transport strategies as the first step in a major shake-up of service delivery on the nation's strategic highways network.

One of the more subtle powers held by the Highways Agency is responsibility for motorway tourism signage, as the case of the small community of Masham proved this week.

Minor traffic offences are to be dealt with in special courts to speed up the justice system and free up more time for investigating serious cases.

A £30bn investment in infrastructure would be the most effective way to boost economic growth, according to a report.

A joint venture has been appointed to develop proposals for the £160m upgrade of A63 Castle Street in Hull.

UKIP councillors at East Sussex CC have called on officers to use miles not kilometres in documentation and signage in a bid ‘to continue being English’.

Concern has been raised by the Freight Transport Association (FTA) and Road Haulage Association (RHA) about recent Department for Transport (DfT) advice on annual statutory tests for garage technicians and mechanics driving HGVs.

Wirral MBC is re-tendering its highways service contracts this summer, valued at £30-40m.

Efforts to boost cycle safety in London during last summer’s Olympics could be bring wider environmental benefits and protect vulnerable road users if adopted permanently, according to a new report.

This beautiful colour film of London in 1927 takes the viewer through the traffic and streets of a bygone era. Shared space before there was a name for it.

A new cross-sector taskforce has been set up to tackle the problem of ‘shoddy roadworks’, which have cost the taxpayer half a billion pounds over the past two years.

With the second annual UN road safety week (6-12 May) underway, James Evison takes a look at how 20mph road safety policies are progressing in the UK.

Increased congestion on the M6 and an inability to deal with a projected 25% rise in traffic means the adjacent toll road should be nationalised, Centro chief executive, Geoff Inskip, has claimed.

Plans for a cycle superhighway linking Bradford with Leeds and Continental-style segregated bike lanes across Manchester featured in bids made to the Government’s cycle city ambition fund.

A groundbreaking overhaul of how major local transport schemes are funded in Yorkshire is set to be finalised next week as six councils join forces to boost connectivity throughout the region.

The Government’s 'Infrastructure Plan' is nothing more than ‘a list of projects’ with no ‘strategic vision [or] clear priorities’, according to an influential group of MPs.

London cycling commissioner Andrew Gilligan has claimed a new roundabout layout currently being tested in laboratory conditions could be applied to the capital’s roads within a year, despite not conforming to government regulations.

Real-time incident and accident alerts from four national agencies has been implemented into the roadworks.org platform for the first time.

The top road safety priority for local government is improving road surfaces and reducing potholes, according to a new survey.

House of Commons transport questions this week tackled bus and rail fares, south coast rail capacity and pinch-point and highways maintenance funding.

Leading infrastructure and highways maintenance firm May Gurney is the subject of a bidding war, with Kier Group launching a ‘knockout’ bid to end the plans of its smaller rival Costain.

Leading motorist group, the RAC Foundation, has backed calls for the European Commission (EC) to consider tough CO2 emissions targets for 2025 when the issue is put out to consultation this year.

Councils in the south west of England are set to lobby government to end the ‘scandalous’ state of the region’s transport links.

A series of changes to London's congestion charge were announced today, as mayor Boris Johnson aims to make the scheme greener.

The Northern Ireland executive will devolve responsibility for roads and off-street parking to councils as part of a package of reforms announced by ministers this week.

More than £500,000 is owed to just three councils in the south of England in unpaid parking fines issued to foreign-registered vehicles since 2009.

The Highways Agency has defended its controversial policy to allow traffic to use the hard shoulder on busy stretches of motorway, as it pushes ahead with efforts to reduce congestion on the strategic road network.

Local authorities could lose the power to fund highways projects through both the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) and Section 278 Highways Act agreements, under proposals unveiled by ministers this week.

County council officers in south Wales have trialled a traffic diversion around a rural town with poor air quality to prove the case for a by-pass.

Leading road contractor Lafarge Tarmac has won a major highways contract with Halton and Warrington BC worth up to £70m over a potential 10 years.

Parking is intrinsic to a successful town centre and digital technology can revolutionise how it is paid for, according to Guy Douglas of the Association of Town Centre Management (ATCM).

The Department for Transport (DfT) has announced plans to radically overhaul the central legislation governing traffic sign design and use, with a revised version of the law planned for March 2015.

All the news from day one of Traffex,the 26th international traffic engineering, Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS), road safety, parking and highway maintenance exhibition.

Additional cash is not required to declutter streets, the former head of design at Transport for London (TfL) has stated.

Yorkshire is set for a £1bn plus overhaul of its transport network as six of its councils prepare to vote for a ground-breaking package of new roads, railways and other key infrastructure.

James Evison takes a look at how far the responsibility for pothole damage to cars should rest with the manufacturers.

Norfolk CC has rejected May Gurney’s appeal against being dropped from a £350m highways contract the firm has been working on for the last nine years.

The reliability of journeys on the Highways Agency's strategic road network - motorways and ‘A’ roads - has fallen to its lowest level since the annual measure was introduced in 2010/11.

The Department for Transport’s sector-led Highways Maintenance Efficiency Programme (HMEP) has announced it will be holding a complimentary seminar on guidance for the management of highway drainage assets.

The Highways Agency has promised it is ‘on track’ to meet the tough targets set by the Department for Transport (DfT) for this parliament, despite being unable to release progress figures.

The first of a new range of national traffic signs will be launched at this year’s Traffex event at Birmingham NEC on 16 to 18 April.

Margaret Thatcher left her mark on all aspects of British political life and transport was no exception, James Evison writes.

The Highways Agency has unveiled 58 schemes it will deliver as part of the third and final stage of its £317m pinch-point programme – 26 of which have been developed with local authorities.

Cities in the developing world need to future-proof infrastructure, including the usage of transport systems, in order to ensure long-term prosperity according to a new report.

An elderly woman has been arrested during two days of protests against the Bexhill-Hastings Link Road outside the Department for Transport (DfT) headquarters in Westminster.

Funding for individual transport modes should be more reflective of the amount the public use them, leading cycling experts have claimed.

Councils are struggling with the transport aspect of local plans according to the author of a new report revealing councils have been pushed into extra house building under the new system.

Two new reports have been released by TRL which should be of significant interest to Transport Network readers.

Cash for improving congestion at 10 sites across the UK has been announced by the Department for Transport (DfT) as part of its Local Pinch Point Fund.

Whitehall management of major infrastructure projects, including transport schemes, has been described as ‘worryingly poor’ by a senior government adviser, following the release of a new report focusing on the issue.

Scottish local politicians have called on Holyrood to cap the amount councils have to spend on the £653m Aberdeen bypass scheme, for fear it may lead to unfair additional cost burdens.

Ministers have set the Highways Agency a range of challenging performance targets, including making 20% savings on major schemes and carbon emissions by 2015.

The Department for Transport (DfT) is facing national protests after transport secretary Patrick McLoughlin today approved £57m of government funding for the controversial £90m Bexhill–Hastings Link Road.

Chancellor George Osborne is set for conflict with the Welsh Government over plans for the construction of Britain’s second toll motorway to relieve the M4.

Devon’s unitary authorities have estimated it will take at least £800m to repair the county’s battered road network, following freezing weather and flooding this winter.

Highways work under Transport for London’s (TfL’s) groundbreaking London Highways Alliance Contracts (LoHAC) framework will start this week, potentially delivering schemes worth more than £2bn over the next eight years.

Manufacturing chiefs have called on ministers to prioritise roads spending over rail, as they warn transport infrastructure has become a critical issue for the sector.

Leeds City Council will take a lead role in delivering local transport infrastructure to pave the way for major development projects, councillors have revealed.

Up to 17 million people are expected to take to the roads this Easter weekend, creating congestion on trunk roads and main routes including the M25, M1 and M4.

Severe weather over the last year has worsened the UK’s pothole backlog by £338m, according to the annual ALARM report.

Campaigners fighting against the Bexhill-Hastings Link Road are set to stage a direct action protest in Westminster.

Chief executive of the North East LEP has claimed transport links in the area are ‘just fine’, and it is right the South East gets 80% of infrastructure spending.

Record gritting levels have been reported by several county councils in the last week, as a late severe weather spell grips the UK.

Heavy snow and rain forecasts for the next few days have local authority winter service teams on full alert, council chiefs have announced.

An extra £3bn infrastructure spending is due to be released for 2015/16, the chancellor George Osborne has announced.

Immediate reaction to the Budget announced today (March 20) centred on the need for economic growth and criticism of the lack of cash for small-scale roads and transport projects.

Nine out of ten of the nation’s most congested roads are in London, according to new research.

The Government has rejected claims that flood-defence funding has been slashed in half - a move that could leave roads and transport links vulnerable to serious damage following extreme weather.

The Government has given the green light to two nuclear reactors at Hinkley Point in Somerset, paving the way for millions of pounds worth of local roads investment.

The Treasury has unveiled a new concessionary lending rate for up to £2.5bn of local infrastructure projects nominated by Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs).

Winter service engineers have been given the chance to learn how to deliver a strategy that is more effective and efficient at a series of roadshows organised by Surveyor.

London risks losing its ‘world class’ transport system without sustained funding and restrictions on car journeys, a major report has warned.

Transport secretary Patrick McLoughlin has unveiled a new award to celebrate councils’ action on reducing traffic signs, in partnership with the Chartered Institution of Highways and Transportation (CIHT).

Traffic wardens should be more lenient to motorists in a bid to boost local trade, according to communities secretary Eric Pickles.

The Government will not change or amend current street work qualifications following consultation on the issue as part of its Red Tape Challenge.

Local transport minister Norman Baker has approved nearly £15m of government funding for congestion relief work in Loughborough town centre that will move traffic onto a new inner relief road.

Creating ‘joint communication’ on winter services between various agencies is crucial if local authorities are to learn from issues raised this season, according to a local highways chief.

Highways inspectors in Rochdale BC are achieving ‘significant gains’ in efficiency following upgrades to their mobile working software.

Council gritting teams have hit back at criticism over the state of local highways after a cold snap plunged the south of England under heavy snow from 9 to 11 March.

Business leaders are united on the need for more road and wider infrastructure investment in advance of chancellor George Osborne’s next Budget on 20 March.

Northamptonshire County Council has called on ministers to support a 10-point growth strategy for the region.

Councils have been given the freedom to double the share of pension fund assets they can invest in local infrastructure projects from 15% to 30%.

Communities secretary Eric Pickles has called for Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) to operate as councils see best, when implementing local transport strategies.

The Government has set out its vision for how infrastructure in the UK can be delivered more efficiently.

The Department for Transport has attributed an increase in congestion on local authority ‘A’ roads last year to the heavy rainfall across the country.

All 20 areas bidding for the second wave of City Deals have been invited to negotiate new powers with the Government.

Essex CC has announced a fresh £35m cash injection for highways maintenance and improvements to its local road network over the next two years.

The Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) has called on the Government to use its next Budget on 20 March to speed up delivery of the National Infrastructure Plan.