National Highways has published proposals for the future of England’s motorways and major A-roads, including plans to support a major rollout of rapid charge points.

National Highways will provide road users with more real-time and personalised information covering congestion, incidents, planned roadworks and charge point availability

Its new Strategic Road Network Initial Report for 2025-2030 outlines aims for the next road period and sets out the steps required to meet what customers and the country will need from roads into the second half of this century.

Work is likely to increasingly focus on making the most of the existing network through proactive maintenance and improvement works, according to the report. This includes increased investment in small-scale local improvements proposed to tackle known congestion hotspots and grow the economy.

But the report also supports the installation of around 2,500 open-access charge points for electric vehicles on the network by 2030, helping to deliver the UK’s climate change commitments while improving air quality for communities close to the network.

The government-owned company also said it would provide road users with more real-time and personalised information covering congestion, on-going incidents, planned roadworks, events and the availability of electric vehicle charging points, giving them alternative routes if necessary.

National Highways also wants continued investment in infrastructure for other road users such as walkers, cyclists and riders, including possibly acquiring more land to create physically segregated ‘link’ paths and cycle lanes alongside and away from the highway.

Crucially, National Highways will propose continuing to take sustained action to cut carbon emissions at every opportunity; this includes minimising new works, using lean construction practices and carbon management approaches, which will cut maintenance and construction emissions by up to 50% by 2030.

Nick Harris, National Highways’ chief executive, said: “While we strive to maintain safe and reliable journeys for the vehicles that rely on our network each day, we know that ever higher levels of social and environmental responsibility will, quite rightly, be required of us. This means we will need to find new and innovative ways to continue connecting the country by facilitating active travel and public transport, and also using digital technology to help customers make more informed decisions and managing our network more efficiently.”

National Highways will also continue to work on delivering a number of schemes included within RIS2 during the third road period from 2025 to 2030. This includes projects such as improving the A303 near Stonehenge, the Lower Thames Crossing and the A66 Northern Trans-Pennine dualling scheme, all of which are designed to improve traffic flow, boost connectivity and reduce congestion.

The initial report will be subject to an eight-week consultation by the Department for Transport, informing the development of its draft Road Investment Strategy (RIS) for the third road period, from 2025 to 2030.

It’s published alongside National Highways’ long-term strategic plan, Connecting the Country. This sets out the company’s priorities for the network up to 2050, highlighting that “demand for roads from zero-emission vehicles [is] expected to remain strong as part of a seamlessly integrated transport system”.