Top keynote guest lectures have become the norm for our next generation degree apprenticeship managers. The candidates were treated to a privileged, top level masterclass in the last week of July by Director of Major Projects at National Highways, Nicola Bell.

Nicola joined next generation express logistics managers to deliver a keynote lecture to the University West London Express Manager students. It was highly involved, closing with an exceptional case study discussion on the M25 weekend closure decisions. Case studies delivered thick and fast as ‘a tear in the eyes' as the Stonehenge Tunnel cancellation was announced.

Roads our key to our sector, at the heart of keynote Nicola delivered a broad understanding of why things happen. My story of transport, arriving from a backwater in Scotland where deliveries took a two-day minimum, where there is only one route to her original home, a single road, a road prone to landslides, ‘I became focused on that road’ the focus became a journey that delivered me to Civil Engineering, then a master’s degree in transport planning, A journey from local strategy to strategic roads network and my role today at National Highways.

Nicola focused on cones, miles and miles of cones, ‘you may not like them’ but they are the end point of a great deal of planning.

A top quote, ‘You would always plan a train journey, but when jumping in a car, it’s unlikely you would have planned that trip, unlikely you check the national network, congestion and road works!’

Nicola’s keynote comment ‘The country depends on its strategic network, trunk roads.’ movement of people and freight, connecting regions and cities, a key national asset. An asset with continued investment of approx five billion pounds a year. The strategic network, ten thousand miles, a hundred thousand streetlights, thirty thousand hectares of soft estate, 95 billion miles travelled each year. 34% of all traffic travels on the strategic network. Since 2000 traffic levels have increased by twenty per cent. The strategic road network is more than fifty years old and is coming up for enhancement. Surprisingly strategic network is only two per cent of the whole road network, whereas local roads and motorways account for the rest.

Six billion pounds of congestion cost - A key item is congestion, hot spots, a need for resources, cost of congestion is considered to exceed six billion pounds. Traffic officers have become famous on the TV Motorway programme. The traffic officers are the local eyes on the road, they delivery front line knowledge back to National Highways, ‘Our eyes and ears.’

Climate resilience. An example of this week is from cold to hot on our UK roads. Thirty plus degrees on Wed. National Highways is tackling carbon as a major challenge. Decarbonisation is not just in producing roads but getting materials to the road. We want to be net zero by 2040. We are moving to EV vehicles for fleet, creating sustainable resources.

Nicola spoke about a case study project. Project on A417, fitting the road to the landscape, today matching the road to its environment has become a headline. Speaking on environment, Nicola asked with passion, ‘Please do not pour waste into road drains, it can get into the water course, it impacts the environment badly.

Route strategies. The local plan and transport impact. Nicola explained that a huge part of the planning process is mitigation for the roads. Building houses, considering the impact of roads around the new build. Route strategies need to dove-tail together for a view of transport. We work closely with local authority all the way to strategic network. Third party works, the developer may have been involved in the first step getting road junctions correct for a new group of houses. Larger roads issues fall into National Highways decision process.

Roadworks – ‘You can’t go onto the road and work without booking space.’ There is a mechanism for teams working on the roads, impact is considered and workers are aligned, we ask, ‘has a previous works finished? Has a future works been requested?’ Road speed limit is considered through the works, and how it keeps the flow.’

While most road works are planned, some are not, Nicola spoke about a case study, overnight in Newcastle, two sink holes appeared and needed emergency action. Another case study, damage is often caused by diesel, diesel eats tarmac’ Nicola spoke about a recent diesel spillage across twenty miles of road that was not a maintenance problem, but needed emergency action. Bridge impact and damage is common, Nicola explained that the replacement cost when identified is chased down; awareness campaigns continue.

Q&A - Students focused on issues impacting express and trunk networks, Bedford and the Black Cat was used as a case study ‘How do we engage as operators to review the impact of these large schemes?’ Nicola explained how stringent the process is for each project, the Black Cat project is one of the largest in action with a million pounds a day being spent. Impact on route is considered at every level. Traffic Officer input is an excellent on-going impact assessment as they are our eyes on the road, they have a wealth of knowledge on their patch, this knowledge is invaluable to assess impacts that were not identified in the original planning.

In a masterclass conclusion, the five weekend closure of M25 decisions.

Nicola spoke about the five weekend M25 closures, explaining the decisions, blitzing the works with full closure rather than months and months of single lane closures. A focus on getting heavy cranes to works areas sometimes cannot be done with single lane closure or a speed limit. Nicola privileged the students to an explanation of the decision process, the KPIs, the actions that led to the five weekend decision as the best result for everyone.

Nicola closed the keynote guest lecture with the links to information about National Highways and welcomed feedback.