Catalogue description Ministry of Transport, Highways Engineering: Registered Files

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Details of MT 95
Reference: MT 95
Title: Ministry of Transport, Highways Engineering: Registered Files
Description:

This series consists of files from the Highways Engineering Division concerning roads and highways in England and Wales. They include files concerning the routeing of motorways and trunk roads, the design and layout of roads, motorways, bridges and tunnels; experimental road works; planning proposals; routes for abnormal loads; traffic censuses; pedestrian crossings; the authorization and design of traffic signs; installation and maintenance of traffic signals; accident statistics; road classification and parking requirements. The series includes plans and photographs.

The HE file series was instituted in 1949 to accommodate the papers of the Highways Engineering Staff formerly registered in various file series (including RA, RC, RG, RPW, RTS, TRA, TRK, TRR, TRW and Z7) of the Roads Department. Many files in this series have therefore been re-registered or have earlier files attached to them. They cover in the main, the period 1943-1969, though later papers have been added to some files in the series.

This series also contains some files from the GPH series (otherwise in MT 120) which have been re-registered to the HE file series.

Date: 1929-1981
Related material:

Records of the Ministry of Transport's Welsh Roads Division are in BD 30

Records of the Welsh Divisional Road Engineer are in BD 31

Other records of the Welsh Office's Roads Division are in BD 43

Separated material:

Some files in this series have been re-registered in the BE series in MT 118

Some files from this series have been re-registered into the WM series in MT 133

Held by: The National Archives, Kew
Former reference in its original department: HE Series
Legal status: Public Record(s)
Language: English
Creator:

Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation, Highways Engineering Division, 1953-1959

Ministry of Transport, Highways (Engineering) Division, 1959-1964

Ministry of Transport, Highways Engineering Division, 1946-1953

Physical description: 1041 file(s)
Access conditions: Open
Immediate source of acquisition:

From 1998 Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions

Accruals: Series is accruing
Administrative / biographical background:

The Highways Engineering Division was formed from the Road Engineering Staff in 1940 when the Roads Department was reorganised into Highways (Administrative) and Highways (Engineering).

In 1956 various branches were developed within the division to deal with such subjects as trunk roads, bridges, traffic engineering, motorways, classified roads, civil and mechanical engineering, and planning.

The Highways Engineering Division was dissolved in 1964 when the administration and engineering divisions merged and were reorganised in functional groups.

The Highways Engineering Division, was responsible for technical matters relating to trunk roads and bridges for which the Minister was the highway authority, and for classified roads and brides which were grant-aided by the Minister. It advised the Highways Administrative Division and was involved with road planning, safety, traffic signs and signals, road works on behalf of other government departments, as well as classification of roads, street lighting and the movement of abnormal loads.

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