Call for Evidence

Call for evidence:

The strategic road network in England comprises more than 4,300 miles of motorways and major A-roads. The Department for Transport plans improvements to these roads through five-year road investment strategies, and sets priorities for the strategic road network. This inquiry will look into how well the current Road Investment Strategy (RIS2) is being managed, and what the Government’s priorities should be for future investment.

In November 2022 the National Audit Office (NAO) published a report on progress in delivery and management of the Road Investment Strategy 2 (RIS2), which runs from 2020 to 2025. The NAO’s report said that the Department for Transport and National Highways could have done more to manage the potential risks to the portfolio of enhancement works in RIS2 which has led to less work being completed, at a higher cost than planned. Planning is underway for Road Investment Strategy 3, which will run from 2025 to 2030. The NAO report also says that difficult decisions will need to be made when prioritising future road enhancement projects as a result of inflationary cost pressures.

The Transport Committee would like to receive written evidence that addresses the following points:

• How effectively the RIS2 enhancements portfolio has been managed to date;

• Whether risks to the enhancements portfolio for the remainder of the RIS2 period are being well managed;

• What the impacts of delays and cost overruns are on the overall programme, and whether the revised programme can be delivered to schedule and on budget;

• What progress is being made on planning for the next Road Investment Strategy;

• What lessons from RIS2 need to be incorporated into RIS3 to ensure it is achievable and delivers on policy objectives;

• Whether the Government’s current and forthcoming roads investment programme is meeting the current and future needs of consumers and business;

• Whether the Government’s roads investment programme aligns with other policy priorities, such as decarbonisation, levelling up, productivity and growth;

• How RIS3 should take account of technological developments, and evidence on ways of increasing capacity on the Strategic Road Network (such as smart motorways and potential alternatives to them).