Catalogue description Records created by the Road Research Laboratory and successors

The Road Research Laboratory, established in 1930 as the Road Experimental Station, came under the aegis of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research in 1933 when the Department assumed responsibility for the direction and supervision of road research, previously a function of the Ministry of Transport.

A Road Research Board was appointed for the purpose of advising generally on the conduct of road research by the department, in particular to prepare and submit an initial programme of research and thereafter annually a programme of work.

In 1936 the board's title was changed to the Road (Materials and Construction) Research Board, and its terms of reference were amended. Its function was now to advise generally on the conduct of research on road materials and methods of construction undertaken by the department, and in particular to submit annually a programme of work and a report. In 1945 the terms of reference of the board were further amended to include road and vehicle safety.

The laboratory was divided into a Materials and Construction Division and a Traffic and Safety Division. A third branch developed to deal with road and road transport problems in overseas territories, originating in the appointment of a colonial liaison officer in 1950. This post was later abolished following the establishment of a Colonial Road Research Section in 1955; this was subsequently renamed the Tropical Section, and its work was guided by a committee of the Colonial Research Council called the Committee on Colonial Road Research established in 1955 and renamed the Committee on Overseas Road Research in 1960. A Scottish Branch of the Laboratory was set up at Thornton Hall, Glasgow, in 1949.

In 1965 responsibility for road research was returned to the Ministry of Transport and the laboratory was brought under the ministry's control. The board and its committees were dissolved and replaced by an advisory Road Research Council. In 1970 the laboratory was transferred to the Department of the Environment

The scope of the laboratory's work was broadened to cover transport systems and transport generally, and it was renamed the Transport and Road Research Laboratory in 1972. When a separate Department of Transport was again created in 1976, the laboratory became a common service of the two departments until 1984 when it became solely part of the Department of Transport.

The laboratory provided technical and scientific advice and information to help in formulating, developing and implementing government policies relating to roads and transport including urban and regional planning. These aims were achieved mainly by carrying out research and related activities in highway engineering and safety and more general transport subjects.

The work of the laboratory in highway engineering dealt with planning, designing, construction and maintenance of roads and highways structures particularly bridges and tunnels. Work in traffic engineering and safety was concerned with the safe, efficient and convenient movement of people and goods including the layout of roads and transport networks, the control of traffic flow, the study of road accidents and methods of reducing their frequency and severity.

The laboratory's broader transport interests included research related to transport planning and land use strategies, the assessment and efficient use of existing and projected passenger and freight transport systems, the investigation of new transport technology and the environmental effects of road vehicles and traffic.

On 1 April 1994, the Road Research Laboratory of the Department of Transport became an executive agency of the department, responsible to the Secretary of State for Transport, and was re-named the Transport Research Laboratory (TRL). TRL carries out research into the civil engineering of transport systems, transport safety and traffic operations. In March 1996 the laboratory was sold to the Transport Research Foundation led by the existing managers of the laboratory.