Traffic Management Act 2004 (part 2)

Managing congestion is one of our main responsibilities under the Traffic Management Act 2004.

The Act aims to provide better conditions for all road users through the proactive management of the network. The key elements of the Act are Highways Agency Traffic Officers on motorways, a duty on local traffic authorities to keep traffic moving on their networks, permit schemes for works and other activities, greater control of street works, civil enforcement of parking and some moving traffic offences and the designation of strategic routes in London.

Network management by local traffic authorities

The Traffic Management Act has placed new responsibilities on the Council to manage our road network.

Under the Act, all local authorities have to appoint a Traffic Manager. In practice the role provides a focal point to ensure that we take account of the Act in all functions and decisions that could have an impact upon traffic movements. The core responsibility in this regard is compliance with our duty to keep traffic moving on our road network (referred to as our Network Management Duty).

In order to meet the requirements of this duty, we are actively seeking to:

• co-ordinate all works and events on the highway;
• manage our network monitoring systems; and
• make information available to the travelling public.

Our aim is to ensure as far as possible that there is minimum disruption to the free flow of traffic on our road network and that of our neighbouring authorities.