Campaigners have called for a ‘green retrofit' of the strategic road network (SRN) to make it ‘safer, greener and more in keeping with its surroundings'.

Roads and the Environment: Putting an innovative approach at the heart of RIS2, produced by the Campaign for Better Transport (CfBT) with support from the Rees Jeffreys Roads Fund, highlights examples of good practice from around the world to develop a greener approach to the strategic road network and improve the way it is designed and maintained.

The report cites a number of existing Highways England initiatives such as designated funds, the Design Panel and the review of the Design Manual for Roads and Bridges (DMRB).

CfBT said sets out a positive vision of how the government-owned company's resources can be used to make the current road network safer, greener and more in keeping with its surroundings.

Chief executive Stephen Joseph said: ‘We are calling for a green retrofit of the strategic road network. From green bridges over roads to green roofs for service stations, there is great potential to change roads for the better.

‘As the Government prepares the second Road Investment Strategy, we hope this report will help deliver the vision of a road network more in harmony with the people and places it serves.'

David Hutchinson, the Rees Jeffreys Road Fund's chair of trustees, said: ‘We hope that this report will help to inspire a new generation of highway engineers to think beyond the engineering basics and through high quality design make our main roads better for all.'

The picture below, from the report, includes suggested improvements on a section of the A27 at Stanmer Park.

 

1. Enhance bridges with planting or camouflaging paint

2. Enhance verge with wildflower planting

3. Locally native planting closer to road side to cut noise and warm against icing

4. Paint crash barrier to blend with foliage

5. Resurface road with noise absorbent material.

The report says that current interventions such as designated funds are beginning to bear fruit and have been invaluable in stimulating cultural change but that ‘much more can and should be done to streamline the bureaucracy and build greater awareness within and beyond Highways England'.

It suggest that funds that are currently operated vertically (from strategy to frontline via regions) could also work horizontally (strategic projects, regional projects, community fund level).

The report argues that Highways England's Design Panel is at a critical moment where it can move from developing principles to driving their application on the ground, ‘but this needs proper resourcing, including better join up with the HE environment fund, particularly the landscape and legacy strands'.

It adds that the forthcoming review of the DMRB and the development of the expressway model are opportunities to embed green infrastructure and good design.

At an area level the report says there are excellent examples of good practice, particularly around biodiversity, that could be shared in scalable ways for both new schemes, third party schemes and retrofit. It argues that to deliver new ideas in practice, Highways England ‘needs to show leadership, review contracts and specifications to embed these approaches in business as usual: contractors and supply chain will then respond to the specification'.

Examples of good practice from around the world include:

  • Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust's sustainable motorway verge management, supporting biodiversity and producing feedstock for biomass
  • Los Angeles' use of bioswales as an alternative to concrete drains
  • New South Wales' design guidance for noise barriers
  • Green roof and low impact design of Gloucester M5 services.

Highways has approached Highways England for comment.