Written evidence submitted by Highways England (MTP0079) Introduction Highways England is the government-owned company responsible for operating, maintaining and improving England’s 4,300 miles of motorways and major A-roads, the Strategic Road Network. The government sets the objectives and funding for Highways England through a periodic Road Investment Strategy (RIS), which covers a five-year Road Period. In response, Highways England publishes a Strategic Business Plan and Delivery Plan setting out how it will deliver the RIS. The government committed to a five-year funding settlement to allow Highways England and its supply chain to plan their work efficiently and ensure the confidence needed for them both to invest in people, equipment and technology; growing the skills and capability necessary to deliver the scale of improvements planned to the network. The first RIS was published in 2014 and applied to the first Road Period, 2015 to 2020. RIS2 was published in March 2020 and applied to the second Road Period, 2020 to 2025. We are now gathering evidence to inform RIS3, which will apply to the Road Period starting in 2025. Created in 2015, Highways England delivered £15.2 billion of investment between 2015 and 2020. During this first Road Period we: Started work on 67 major road schemes, opening 36, with 21 of these schemes opening ahead of schedule; Stayed within our funding agreement; Delivered £1.4 billion of efficiencies; Provided £2.50 of public benefit for every £1 we spent on our major schemes; Made the SRN safer and reduced casualties in line with our ambitious targets to cut the number of people killed or seriously injured on our network by 40%; Invested over £650 million in projects which have reduced noise, alleviated flooding, protected biodiversity, reduced air pollution and provided alternative routes for walkers and cyclists. This includes 113 safety schemes, 160 cycling schemes, 124 biodiversity schemes and 1174 noise mitigation schemes; and Improved how we work with our supply chain, creating new commercial models, driving efficiency savings, investment and innovations. In April 2020, we entered the second Road Period and we started to deliver RIS2. We are investing £27.4 billion into England’s Strategic Road Network over the next five years. The Strategic Road Network The Strategic Road Network (the ‘SRN’) is an important part of our national infrastructure. Our motorways and major A-roads provide essential connectivity across the country and help to connect the Union. Our roads provide direct access to every part of the country. They connect our economic regions, people with employment, businesses with international gateways vital for trade, and they boost the construction and maintenance supply chain. Our network also plays an important social role, bringing people together and connecting communities and regions. The United Kingdom has some of the safest roads in the world. The number of road deaths per million inhabitants is lower in the UK than in almost every country within Europe. The SRN – key points: Over four million journeys are made every day on the SRN, with 95 billion miles travelled on our roads each year; More people use our network than any other form of transport. The SRN carries three times more people than the UK rail network, and accounts for 34% of all road traffic and 68% of all heavy goods vehicle journeys by distance; Sectors heavily reliant on the SRN employ 7.4 million people and contribute £314 billion to the UK economy; The SRN valuation in the 2019/2020 Annual Report was £81 billion for roads, £31 billion for structures, £13 billion for land and £1 billion for technology; and The SRN includes 4,300 miles of motorways and major A-roads o 10,000 miles of carriageways o 20,000 bridges and other structures o 100,000 street lights o 150,000 signs o 3,500 electronic messaging signs o 70,000 sensors, including traffic sensors. Overview Highways England welcomes the publication of the National Infrastructure Strategy (NIS) and the Construction Playbook, and we fully support the important role that infrastructure will play in the post-COVID 19 economic recovery. As a key infrastructure delivery partner of the government, our plans for this second Road Period (2020-2025) and beyond will see us play an important role in realising the priority outcomes set out in the NIS. Our operation, maintenance and improvement of the SRN over the next five years and beyond will support: Post-COVID 19 recovery and rebuilding the economy; The government’s ‘levelling-up’ agenda by connecting all parts of the country, the Union, and provision of better access to international gateways in support of trade; Decarbonisation and adapting to climate change; Delivering better infrastructure more efficiently; and Protecting and enhancing the environment. In its second Road Investment Strategy (RIS2) published in March 2020, the government set out its vision for a safer, more reliable and greener SRN that uses new technology, supports the country’s economy, and is an integrated part of the national transport network. The recent publication of the NIS reaffirms these concepts. In the second Road Period, Highways England are focused on delivering these outcomes with key considerations for road infrastructure including: Outcomes for people: Our operation, maintenance and improvement of the SRN is focussed on the outcomes we deliver for everyone that travels, works on, or lives alongside our roads. Our approach to infrastructure has our customers at the centre, recognising the positive outcomes that our roads enable; goods, food and medicines reach people efficiently, people travel to work efficiently, people meet their friends and families, and people get home safe and well. Operations and maintenance: Infrastructure enhancement projects are often higher-profile and more visible than operations and maintenance. We recognise the importance of maintaining our roads and associated structures to keep them in good condition, so that they can operate safely and efficiently. This is good for journeys, good for the economy, and good for safety. Environment and sustainability: High quality road infrastructure can support good environmental outcomes, particularly as vehicles become cleaner and more efficient. Highways England is committed to ensuring no net loss of biodiversity across all our work, ensuring that our roads are sensitive to place, supporting the commitment to deliver net zero by 2050, as well as addressing air quality challenges on our network. Efficiency: Driving greater efficiencies is a central tenet for establishing five-year road investment strategies. Our plans for the second Road Period include delivering £2.23 billion of efficiencies. We will make improvements to how we procure and manage our suppliers, as well as to how we plan our own maintenance, operations and renewals. All money saved through efficiencies will be reinvested into the SRN. Skills and jobs: The government has set out an ambitious approach to infrastructure and Highways England is playing its part in its delivery. A key element of our approach to infrastructure delivery is through the development of our own in-house skills as well building the confidence in the supply chain that enables our delivery partners to invest in apprenticeships and skills. Five-year funding cycles help to build that confidence through surety of work. During the first Road Period we worked with the supply chain to build capacity. Our modern approach to procurement means that we are working with our supply chain with a greater sense of partnership, whilst also incentivising good performance. Our work in this second Road Period will sustain up to 64,000 jobs in the construction sector. Innovation and technology: This is a key theme for this Road Period and beyond. We see real opportunities to innovate and deploy technology in all aspects of our work. We have a long-term plan to: prepare our roads for connected and autonomous vehicles; support the roll out of electric vehicles; bring digital design technology to our infrastructure projects; use innovative, modular and offsite construction methods; and digital communication with road users. Long-term planning: Five-year funding cycles enable us to plan for the long term. In preparation for the third Road Period (2025-2030) we are already starting to investigate and develop potential future schemes. Looking further ahead, we expect, and are planning for, advances over the next 30 years that will revolutionise transportation, road travel and personal and commercial mobility. Our roads, our infrastructure and even our ways of working will need to change to embrace and enable new ways of travelling. This will also include adapting to the challenge of climate change, supporting low carbon transport, increasing automation and digital technologies, and responding to changing travel preferences. In this written submission we set out more detail around our infrastructure priorities for the second Road Period (2020-2025) and beyond, and include several case studies reflecting our approach to infrastructure delivery (Annex A). We have not sought to answer all the questions set out in the inquiry’s terms of reference, instead we have focused on transport infrastructure priorities, factors influencing the costs of transport infrastructure, and capacity and skills in the sector. Transport infrastructure strategy and priorities Last year, Highways England published its Strategic Business Plan1 and Delivery Plan2. The plans set out our strategic priorities and delivery intent for the second Road Period (2020- 2025). Over the next five years we will: Deliver £14.2 billion of road enhancement schemes on our motorways and major A- roads; Invest £10.8 billion in keeping our roads, structures and assets safe, well-maintained and operating efficiently; Drive nearly £1 billion of improvements through our designated funds33 on projects that will have wider benefits for customer, communities, the environment and the economy; Prepare for the third road period (2025-2030) and plan for a network that meets the needs of the country, our customers and neighbouring communities.