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Trunk Decline
The first mass declassification of the trunk road network in England took place during the early 1990s, with a huge part of the network being detrunked. Many of the traditional roads were affected, including sections of the A2, A4, A5 and A6 - all being bypassed by motorways. One reason for this was to allow the trunk road network to be passed to a new agency, operating somewhat at arms length to the government. This new agency, aptly named the Highways Agency, was established on 30 March 1994. The reason for the Agency being set up was due to the belief of the then Transport Secretary, John MacGregor, that a separate managing agency could provide faster improvements and better management of the trunk network. By shrinking the trunk network, and passing the remaining roads into the control of the local authorities, the Highways Agency would be able to better manage its time and resources onto the most important roads, to be known as the Strategic Road Network. A further look at the trunk network during the mid 1990s, and published in the 1998 white paper, "A New Deal for Transport" would see more trunk roads lose their status. In fact, some sections of motorway - the M65 (J8-J10) and M32 - were to be included; however, they were removed from this programme and would remain under the control of the Highways Agency. Within the white paper, the government concluded: The trunk road network varies greatly from place to place, although most trunk roads are of clear national significance. We have identified a core network in England of nationally important routes. In defining this network we have taken the following factors into account:
There are a number of trunk roads which mainly serve local and regional traffic. Such roads would be more appropriately managed by the local highway authority, to enable decisions to be taken locally and to be better integrated with local transport and land use planning issues. Our consultation on the strategy for trunk roads in England showed significant support for the 'de-trunking' of these roads. We will consult the Local Government Association and individual local highway authorities in taking forward these proposals for devolving powers. This led to a large portion of the remaining trunk road network being detrunked. The general consensus was that the trunk network would be a more compact network of the most important roads - generally, these would be the motorway network, the major dual carriageway routes, and those lower quality trunk routes that provided very important links. Most of the roads to be detrunked would be single carriageway rural routes, some "corner-cutting" routes, and some of the remaining parallel routes - this would include the A580, the UK's first purpose-built intercity highway. These routes would be the roads deemed to be less strategically important as better roads provide an alternative route, particularly the faster, wider motorways. This has seen responsibility of the lesser important roads transferred to the local authorities, allowing the Highways Agency to concentrate on the more important core trunk routes.
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The
mass expansion of the motorway network during the 1960s saw these roads
join the trunk road system. The result was a large number of parallel
routes, such as the M6 alongside the A6, A49, A50 and A34. This
eventually led to a review of the trunk system, with a large number of
roads losing their trunk road status.