Catalogue description Records inherited and created by the Ministry of Transport, Roads and Highways Divisions and successors

Origins: The Road Board, 1910-1919

The Road Board was constituted in May 1910 under the Development and Road Improvement Funds Act 1909, which empowered the board to construct new roads and to make grants from the Road Improvement Fund to local authorities.

The board exercised its powers throughout the United Kingdom, but the Local Government Board for England and Wales and its counterparts in Scotland and Ireland remained the central highway authorities in each country. The board, which was responsible to the Treasury, had five members and, in addition to its own secretary, manager, and engineer, was advised by a consulting engineer and an Advisory Committee of Engineers.

With the outbreak of the First World War the normal work of the board was curtailed and its share of the duties on petrol and carriages, formerly credited to the Road Improvement Fund, was paid into the Exchequer after 1915.

The board undertook the laying of roads for military and other essential purposes notably for the War Office and also for the Admiralty, Air Ministry, Ministry of Munitions, Office of Works, and the Timber Supply Department of the Board of Trade. In November 1918 these functions passed to a Joint Roads Committee of the War Office and in 1920, to a Road Construction section of the newly created Roads Department of the Ministry of Transport.

The board also acted as agents of the Explosives and Priority Departments of the Ministry of Munitions in the administration of restrictions on the use of tar on roads and the issue of priority certificates for road plant; it also dealt with applications for petrol licences from highway authorities on behalf of the Petrol Control Department of the Board of Trade.

In 1919, the board was dissolved and its functions and staff transferred to the Roads Department of the newly-created Ministry of Transport.

Ministry of Transport, Roads Department, 1919-1937

In 1919, a Roads Department was established within the Ministry of Transport and a director general of roads was appointed with right of direct access to the minister.

The department consisted of administrative and engineering divisions, including an engineering inspectorate with responsibilities in connection with the design and construction of road vehicles and the licensing of mechanical vehicles, and divisions responsible for road classification, inspection of works and costs, and supervision of road development plans and grants from the Road Fund. In 1920, the Road Fund replaced the Road Improvement Fund.

The Roads Act of 1920 introduced a new system of vehicle regulation and licensing, which provided revenue and made possible grants for the maintenance of classified roads, improvement or construction of bridges, purchase of road plant, land acquisition and traffic census work and for unemployment relief work on roads.

During the 1920s, the work of examination and approval of estimates, and the inspection of engineering works, was carried out by divisional offices established in various regions under the direction of divisional road engineers.

In 1930, the Road Traffic Act appointed licensing authorities to control public service vehicles, road passenger services and the employees engaged in the industry. In 1933, the Road and Rail Traffic Act extended the licensing system to goods vehicles.

The London Passenger Transport Act of 1933 gave the minister special powers to control traffic in the metropolitan area. These functions were carried out by a London Traffic Branch, which became the responsibility of the Highways branch in 1937. In 1939 it was transferred to the Road Traffic and Road Safety Division.

In 1936 the Trunk Roads Act transferred responsibility for a national network of routes for principal roads from local authorities to the minister, though county and county borough councils carried out detailed management on an agency basis.

By 1937, these increasing additional responsibilities led to the formation of separate Highways and Roads divisions.

Ministry of Transport and successors, Highways Divisions, 1937-1976; and Department of Transport, Highways Divisions, 1976-1994

Distinct Highway Divisions were first formed in l937 on the reorganisation of the Roads Department. Divisions were formed to deal with: highway law consolidation; ribbon development and London traffic; trunk roads and land acquisition; and traffic and licensing.

By 1940 these divisions had been reorganised to meet wartime demands into a Road Transport Division and two Highways Divisions dealing with administration and engineering respectively. Later in the same year, they were consolidated with sections of Traffic and Safety Division to form a single administrative division with advice on technical matters from a separate Highway Engineering Division formed from the road engineering staff.

In 1939, the Emergency Road Transport Organisation was brought into being to meet the wartime needs of road transport on a regional basis. During the war, the Road Haulage Organisation was set up within the Ministry of War Transport. Voluntary agreements were made with haulage operators to secure economy in the use of fuel and rubber, to maintain a fleet of long distance vehicles and to ensure the most effective use of road transport resources.

In 1946, three separate administrative divisions were formed dealing with trunk roads, classified roads, and traffic safety. In 1955 the last division was again separated from the Highways Divisions to form the Road Traffic and Road Safety Divisions.

In 1952, a Development and General Division was set up; in 1956, a General Planning Division, a Management and Services Division and a Land and Closures Division followed; and a special Roads Division for motorways was established in 1957.

In 1956 a new Bridges Branch assumed the responsibilities for bridges previously taken by the Highways Engineering Division. These in turn passed to the Bridges Engineering Division in 1964.

In l960 the Highways administrative divisions were reorganised into regional groups for London, the South and the North. In December 1961, the mechanical engineering branch of the Highway Engineering Division was transferred to the Road Transport and Vehicle Regulation Division. In 1964, a London Highways Division was created,

In October 1965, following a reorganisation of the highways divisions a London Policy Division was set up. It was responsible for all aspects of transport planning for London, including public passenger transport pricing policies, and for policy and strategic planning for highways in the London area.

In 1964, the administrative and engineering divisions were merged and reorganised in functional groups and divisions. Between 1967 and 1968 regional road construction units were set up to take responsibility for the design, preparation and supervision of construction of motorways and larger trunk road schemes in England.

After 1970, the Highways divisions were successively the responsibility of the Department of the Environment and then, after 1976, of the newly constituted Department of Transport. In 1990, The Highways divisions became a Highways command of the Department of Transport.

In 1994, the Highways Division gained executive agency status.