Managing director (MD) of Ringway Highways Services, Mitesh Solanki, has been elected president of the Chartered Institution of Highways and Transportation (CIHT) for 2025/26.
Mr Solanki is a popular and senior figure in the highways industry, having worked in the sector for 30 years.
As part of his presidential agenda, Mr Solanki called for the institution to continue its focus on 'resilience, professionalism and equity'.
Other areas of focus under Mr Solanki will be:
- The Institution’s commitment to Equality Diversity and Inclusion – including a desire to increase the ‘diversity of thought’ and widen the access opportunities for all people to join CIHT and the wider sector
- An enhanced offering on CIHT Learn – including new courses that will build on the CLIMATES project
- A chance to support professionalism through increased mentoring and mentee opportunities – including an imminent launch of the new CIHT Mentoring Platform.
The CIHT also said that across the year it would 'further embed its activities and initiatives on Climate Action'.
Mr Solanki said: ‘Climate change is presenting society and our sector with challenges that we must do more on. The question we as professionals must ask ourselves is how we are adapting to the changing world.
'We need to take the opportunity to think about new ways of increasing our climate resilience and long-term solutions for the highways, transport and infrastructure sector. We have an opportunity for adaptation to be at the forefront of improving the resilience of our transport networks.
'This week we saw the UK Government announce their new ‘Structure’s Fund’ that will provide up to £1bn in funding for renewal and maintenance of bridges, roads and tunnels.
'CIHT has consistently called for this support as it shows that incrementally adapting infrastructure and proactively maintaining it is crucial for extreme weather resilience and meeting decarbonisation goals.’
CIHT's AGM also saw the election of Kate Carpenter, director of operational safety at Jacobs, as CIHT vice president.
