Four million people use Highways England’s Strategic Road Network (SRN) each day. This is forecast to grow by a further 40% by 2040 with the cost of congestion expected to increase by 63% by 2030.

Over the coming decades, both the SRN and local assets will require constant upgrades, maintenance and expansion to handle the increased reliance on our road networks. This traditionally means an increase in roadworks and delays as a result of further closures, reduced speed limits and increased congestion.

Today, Balfour Beatty has launched the latest of its policy papers, “Customer Driven: Delivering roads for the future”, presenting an alternative way of delivering highways works to dramatically improve customer satisfaction, by evolving the way in which contractors deliver works.

While Highways England introduced a stronger focus on the customer, the road users, following its establishment in 2015, more is required; contractors must also broaden their customer-focused culture and play their part in responding to the evolving needs of the customer.

With eight key points and recommendations outlined within the paper, Balfour Beatty presents a number of ideas to address the issues, based around two key themes:

• Improving the customer experience through better communications
• Reducing the amount of time roadworks take, utilising new technology with the ultimate goal of roadworks rarely being necessary

Phil Clifton, Managing Director of Balfour Beatty’s Highways business, said, “In today’s digital age, we must provide a digital solution. With technology infiltrating all aspects of life, customers expect the same level of technological advancement in their journeys on the road; industry must adapt to respond to this expectation.

“We must embrace technology, both in our construction practices and communication with customers, if we are to become a truly future-focussed highways industry”.