On 16 July 2018 we published our annual assessment of Highways England’s performance in 2017-18. We’re now three years into the first five-year road period and it’s a good time to take stock of how Highways England is doing in delivering the government’s road investment strategy.
Traffic flow and road condition
Generally, Highways England’s performance has remained good in 2017-18. It has kept the network flowing despite increased traffic. During the year, it has taken a number of actions to reduce the impact of roadworks on road users, and increased the capability of its traffic officer service to respond to incidents – measures which help support the smooth flow of traffic.
Road condition improved during 2017-18 and is now at the target level, with at least 95% of the network in good condition. Highways England carries out annual condition surveys, and these will determine whether the severe weather earlier this year has had any lasting impact on road condition. Highways England has reported an increased number of potholes in some regions during the winter – and it’s identifying and managing these as part of its maintenance procedures.
Delivering projects and managing costs
Highways England has also improved its planning and management of major schemes, and is delivering the majority of these on time. However, its forecast costs are higher than its funding in this road period. This is partly because changes to schemes mean that Highways England is now delivering more work. Highways England is taking actions to address the gap between its forecast costs and funding – but there is a risk that some work may need to be deferred to the next road period. We will continue to monitor and report on its progress.
In 2017-18, ORR carried out a number of in-depth reviews to inform our monitoring of Highways England’s performance. For example, we reviewed its management of ring-fenced funds – these are dedicated funds to deliver improvements in areas like safety, environment, and air quality. Our review identified that the company is underspent against its original plans and now needs to increase investment. Highways England has responded positively to the findings and has already started to make changes to improve delivery.
Future focus
Looking ahead, maintaining performance is likely to be more challenging in the final years of the road period as investment increases. In our annual assessment, we’ve set out the areas that we think the company needs to focus on in 2018-19. As well as managing costs, we want to see Highways England continue to become more efficient and to improve its efficiency reporting.
In terms of our own work, we’ll pay particular attention to areas where performance needs improvement – like road user satisfaction, which was 88.7%, below its 90% target in 2017-18. We’ll also be providing evidence and advice to inform the development of the next road investment strategy (RIS2) which is due to begin in 2020.