TheHighways Agency, which manages the UK's motorways, says that it will introduce more overtaking restrictions for trucks in its latest business plan. The restrictions follow what the agency describes as a successful trial on the M42, where it says the overtaking ban has "helped to keep traffic moving and reduced accidents". It plans to introduce similar bans "on appropriate stretches of the network" over the next three years.
The agency, in conjunction with Vosa, is also planning a crackdown on overweight trucks, with extra weighing devices being introduced at 13 different sites on the motorway network. Road improvements highlighted in the 2008/09 business plan include the continued widening of the M1 between junctions 6a and 10, and awarding the 30-year private finance contract to design, build, finance and operate 63 miles on the M25.
The Highways 
Agency's latest business plan comes in the 50th anniversary year of the completion of the UK's first stretch of motorway. Although more motorway is being built, much of the focus for the agency is on improving the use of roads that already exist. The plan highlights the previously announced measures to extend hard-shoulder running on motorways, as well as introducing CCTV, queue detection systems and variable message signs on other parts of the network.
Highways Agency chief executive Archie Robertson says: "As we look forward to 2011 it is clear our aims are to provide the information and infrastructure necessary to help drivers use our roads in a safe and reliable way." Geoff Dossetter, external affairs director for the Freight Transport Association (FTA), says that while measures to make traffic run more smoothly are welcome, new roads need to be built as well.