EB/042 Road Investment Strategy: for the 2015/16 – 2019/20 Road Period March 2015 Road Investment Strategy: for the 2015/16 – 2019/20 Road Period Presented to Parliament pursuant to section 3 of the Infrastructure Act 2015 © Crown copyright 2015 This publication is licensed under the terms of the Open Government Licence v3.0 except where otherwise stated. To view this licence, visit nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/ open-government-licence/version/3 or write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: [email protected]. Where we have identified any third party copyright information you will need to obtain permission from the copyright holders concerned. This publication is available at www.gov.uk/government/publications. Any enquiries regarding this publication should be sent to us at [email protected] Print ISBN 9781474115773 Web ISBN 9781474115780 ID P2709590 03/15 Printed on paper containing 75% recycled fibre content minimum. Printed in the UK by the Williams Lea Group on behalf of the Controller of Her Majesty’s Stationery Office. Photographic acknowledgements Part 1 – Alamy: Cover, 4, 6, 20-21, 37, 44, 51, 58. Part 2 – Alamy: 1, 4, 15, 53, 64. Part 3 – Alamy: 1, 4, 13, 31. Contents Part 1: Strategic Vision Part 2: Investment Plan Part 3: Performance Specification Part 1: Strategic Vision Contents 3 Contents 1. Foreword 5 2. Executive summary 7 3. The Strategic Road Network 12 4. Planning for the long term: trends and forecasting 22 5. Planning for the long term: pressures and challenges 38 6. The network of the future: our vision 45 7. Taking steps to realise our vision for the network 52 8. Transforming our roads 59 Foreword 5 1. Foreword Roads are fundamental to modern living. This Road Investment Strategy outlines how They make it possible for people to travel for we can grasp the opportunity to transform work and leisure, and for businesses to move both our roads and the experience of driving goods and materials. As the backbone of our on them, whilst also addressing strategic transport system, carrying 90% of passenger imperatives such as economic growth and journeys and almost 70% of freight1, roads climate change. It sets out our vision for keep the population connected and the smooth, safe and reliable motoring, more economy flowing. sustainable roads, and how we should foster cutting-edge technologies. The government is directly responsible for the busiest of English roads: the Strategic Combined with the reform of the Highways Road Network. These motorways and Agency, this is a genuinely transformational all-purpose trunk roads were planned and moment. We will ensure that the Strategic developed between the 1930s and the Road Network exemplifies – and drives – the 1960s. In the decades that followed, traffic country we want to live in and the thriving volumes have grown to a point where the nation we want to be. network now transports over four million vehicles a day2. Investment has, however, not increased with such demand. As a result, the quality of the network has declined and the likes of congestion, noise and poor air quality are problems at numerous hotspots across the network. Continued underinvestment is no longer a realistic option – as our roads age further, they will increasingly fail to meet the social, economic and environmental aspirations we have as a nation. In simple terms: a modern country needs modern roads. This means we need a better network with smarter roads – ones that harness developments in technology and road building to address today’s challenges and maximise tomorrow’s opportunities. 1 DfT Statistics 2 DfT Statistics Executive summary 7 2. Executive summary The Strategic Road Network (SRN, or the the way we use our roads. More Smart network) is entering a time of transformation. Motorways will increase the capacity of The management of the SRN is being motorways by a third while only slightly reformed, with the Highways Agency increasing their physical footprint. Better becoming Highways England, a government access to data will enable drivers to make owned strategic highways company (the smarter, informed travel choices. Ultra Low Company). Long term strategic planning and Emission Vehicles (ULEVs)3 will reduce the funding of the network is also being carbon and other harmful emissions introduced through the first Road Investment generated through SRN use. And, in the Strategy (RIS), a suite of documents of which longer term, assisted driving technologies this Strategic Vision is part. These changes and autonomous vehicles will increase safety are underpinned by a step-change in and reduce the stress of driving. investment in our strategic roads, worth over £15 billion to 2021. Taken together, this scale Setting our aspirations for of reform and investment has allowed us to dramatically increase our ambitions for the future the SRN. Our ambition for the next 25 years is to This is critical because the SRN requires revolutionise our roads and create a modern upgrading and improving to ensure it can SRN that supports a modern Britain, making deliver the performance needed to support a real difference to people’s lives and the nation throughout the 21st century. businesses’ prospects. Inconsistent and insufficient investment in roads has left our network paying the price, The reform of the Highways Agency and the with capacity being close to breaking point step-change in investment gives us the at certain points, poor connectivity at others, confidence to aim high, and develop and increasingly common environmental challenging, yet achievable, aspirations for black spots. Certainty of funding, the ability the network. With that in mind, we want to to plan for the long term and the opportunity have transformed the SRN by 2040, to drive increased efficiency – the products of Roads Reform – will give us the tools to bring 3 The Department for Transport uses ULEVs to lasting improvements to the network of the refer to vehicles with significantly lower levels of future. tail-pipe emissions than conventional vehicles. In practice, the term currently refers to electric, And that future appears to be an exciting plug-in hybrid and hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles. place for the network. The greater uptake of In this document, vehicles with fully electric powertrains and cars with tail-pipe emissions existing technologies and the likely below 75 g/km of CO2 have been included at emergence of new innovations will transform this stage 8 Road Investment Strategy: Strategic Vision delivering the safer, more stress-free journeys future must also be more socially and that everyday users need, as well as the environmentally sensitive, working more enhanced reliability and predictability that is harmoniously with its surroundings. so important to business. The SRN of the By 2040, we aspire to a network that will be: ●● The number of people killed or seriously injured on the SRN approaching zero ●● More users, more happy with more journeys, leading SMOOTHER to road user satisfaction levels of 95% ●● A free-flow core network, with mile a minute speeds increasingly typical ●● A network that enhances the UK’s global competitiveness, and is recognised as one of the SMARTER top 10 global road networks by business ●● A step change in efficiency, with roads projects and maintenance delivered 30% – 50% cheaper than today ●● A better neighbour to communities, with over 90% fewer people impacted by noise from the SRN SUSTAINABLE ●● Zero breaches of air quality regulations and major reductions in carbon emissions across the network ●● Improved environmental outcomes, including a net gain in biodiversity from the Company’s activities The reform of the Highways Agency and the step-change in investment gives us the confidence to aim high, and develop challenging, yet achievable, aspirations for the network. Executive summary 9 Targeting areas for improvement Looking to the future Achieving these stretching aspirations will These plans will deliver benefits quickly and require considered and strategic action. begin to reverse the consequences of This means targeting improved levels of decades of inaction. In the next five years, performance in the short term that will put us our network will directly contribute to on course to deliver the network the country economic growth through, amongst other wants and needs in the long term. things, improved connectivity and better access to our international gateways. Users To this end, we have identified eight areas will benefit from safety improvements and of focus which form the Performance reduced congestion, while the actions of Specification for the Company and the SRN Company will deliver better environmental 4 over the next five years . We expect the outcomes. Company to make the network safer and improve user satisfaction, while smoothing Our plans for the first Road Period are just traffic flow and encouraging economic the start. As we look to the longer term, and growth. We want to see the company to achieving our 2040 goals, we want an delivering better environmental outcomes upgraded network, enabled by technology, and helping cyclists, walkers, and other and ultimately a transformed SRN. Smart vulnerable users of the network at the same Motorways will become the standard for the as time as achieving real efficiency and busiest sections of the network, bringing keeping the network in good condition. smoother traffic flow, increased capacity and improved safety. Our busiest A-Roads will Taking the first steps become Expressways, providing improved standards of performance, with technology to manage traffic and mile a minute speeds. In total, we have committed over £15 billion Improved design standards will give greater of capital investment. We will also undertake consideration to the needs of walkers, 127 major schemes over the course of the cyclists and local communities along with the first Road Period.