Highways Agency invests £24m in IT programmes

Spending falls by 13 per cent year on year but technology remains central to improving UK's motorways

IT is helping reduce traffic congestion

The Highways Agency spent £24.3m on IT programmes during the 2008-09 financial year, a drop of nearly 13 per cent from the £27.9m spent in the previous 12 months.

According to the agency’s annual report, an IT services contract awarded in December 2007 contributed £1m of costs savings during the year and is expected to deliver further value for money improvements in future.

The use of technology has become increasingly important to the organisation that manages the UK’s motorways and major roads. Major initiatives over the past year included:

• Improvements to the Highways Agency (HA) web site providing better traffic information;
• Extension of electronic variable messaging signs to display more details on traffic conditions and expected travel times;
• Streaming images from CCTV cameras to the web to show driving conditions;
• Installing information points in motorway service centres.

And in a further sign of the importance of technology to the agency, the HA report also revealed that director of information Denise Plumpton is the best-paid member of the organisation’s board. In each of 2008-09 and 2007-08 she earned between £150,000 and £155,000 – more than chief executive Graham Dalton, who was paid between £105,000 and £110,000 last year.