Highways looks back at a year that saw political chaos, chronic inflation and debates about road safety, user charging and traffic management rumble on. However, positive agendas around wellbeing and sustainability moved forward and bode well for the future.
The year started with headlines about all lane running (ALR) ‘smart motorways’ – an issue that has brought National Highways all the wrong type of attention. The (then) transport secretary, Grant Shapps, agreed to pause ALR schemes while the government collects five years of data from existing routes.
This was one of a raft of recommendations on smart motorway improvements from the Transport Select Committee, which Mr Shapps ostensibly agreed to. Although, as Highways has reported, issues have arisen over pledges to reduce the distance between emergency areas and the accuracy of stopped vehicle detection technology.
Setting the tone for the year’s focus on decarbonisation, the Scottish government in January published plans to reduce car kilometres travelled by 20% by 2030.
In February, National Highways signed three new weather forecasting contracts, reflecting the importance of responding not just to winter weather but to other extreme events driven by climate change.
Also that month, Putin launched his unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, providing a tragic backdrop to a troubled year, and acting as a major accelerant to the inflation that would come to dominate the economics of 2022.
March saw more negative headlines from the ALARM survey, which revealed that the cost of the local repairs backlog across England and Wales had jumped from £10.24bn to £12.64bn – a major warning sign of the impact of inflation on the sector. On the same theme, a survey published in April revealed that the traffic signals maintenance backlog in England could total more than £80m.
The Queen’s speech in May, delivered by the then Prince Charles, outlined plans to reform procurement law and establish the UK Infrastructure Bank with its objectives of supporting economic growth and the delivery of net zero.
In June, local authorities in England finally gained powers to enforce moving traffic offences, albeit they needed to apply to the transport secretary for an order designating themselves as the enforcement authority.
That month also saw major players Tarmac and Aggregate Industries announce moves away from hot rolled asphalt towards warm mix, part of the growing momentum across the sector to reduce carbon emissions.
In July, the Office of Rail and Road published its annual assessment of National Highways. The report highlighted that National Highways had met its road investment strategy targets in 2021-22, but raised concerns about three ‘critical’ areas of delivery, including traffic officer response times on smart motorways.
Also in July, the Welsh Senedd approved legislation to lower the default national speed limit on residential roads and busy pedestrian streets in the country from 30mph to 20mph.
Over the water in Northern Ireland, political stalemate meant little progress could be made throughout the year.
August saw Mr Shapps approve plans to build a £200m 5.5-mile dual carriageway on the A47 in Norfolk – one of many development consent orders granted during a year that had started with a significant backlog of ministerial decisions.
In the same month, Amey took responsibility for maintaining the trunk road network in the north east of Scotland, taking over from Bear Scotland, which retained responsibility for the north west.
September saw Liz Truss replace disgraced prime minister Boris Johnson, with Kwasi Kwarteng as chancellor and Anne Marie Trevelyan replacing Mr Shapps as transport secretary.
Just days after appointing Ms Truss, Queen Elizabeth’s 70-year reign ended, with Charles ascending to the throne. Her funeral arrangements and cortege heavily involved the highways sector, notably through Operation Unicorn in Scotland.
Later that month a ‘mini-budget’ – which included £45bn of unfunded tax cuts – triggered market turmoil, a falling pound and increases in government borrowing costs and mortgage rates. The event also included a Growth Plan that featured a long list of transport and infrastructure schemes to be ‘accelerated’, albeit with no guarantee of funding or planning approval.
The following month, Ms Truss sacked Mr Kwarteng and installed Jeremy Hunt as chancellor, who reversed almost all of Mr Kwarteng’s tax measures. Ms Truss then headed for the exit herself.
Rishi Sunak took over as PM, retaining Mr Hunt, although Mark Harper replaced Ms Trevelyan, becoming the year’s third transport secretary. In the Autumn Statement last month, the chancellor stated that the Government would accelerate infrastructure projects across its existing portfolio rather than his predecessor’s list of schemes. He also kept the freeze in funding for council road repairs in place, despite the soaring inflation.
Ending the year and going into the New Year on a less than cheery note, National Highways workers are set for 12 days of Christmas strikes in a walkout over pay, redundancy terms, pensions and job security.
