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The Trunk Network Today
All in all, there is approximately 8,500 miles of trunk road across the British mainland, of which about 2,160 miles are in the form of motorways. There has been a fall in the length of trunk road across the UK, particularly in England. In Scotland and Wales, the reductions are much smaller, as generally all primary routes are also trunk roads - these networks have remained pretty much consistent, with the only major changes resulting from the construction of bypasses and motorway upgrades. A PDF map showing the trunk road network is available to download, by clicking here.
England The Highways Agency is responsible for the 5,130 miles of road that forms the Strategic Road Network, consisting of England's trunk roads. Despite being a small percentage of the road network, the trunk road network carries over 30% of all traffic and over 60% of all freight traffic. The trunk road network is split into 10 Areas, with each region having its own Agency office located within it. The network is further broken down into a 14 Managing Areas, details of which can be found here. Prior to the New Deal for Transport being introduced in 1998, there was around 6,500 miles of trunk road in England.
Scotland There are 35,572 miles of public roads in Scotland (as of 1 April 2006). Of that total, 2,271 miles are trunked, forming 6% of the total network. Over a quarter of the trunk road network is located in the Highlands region, 10% is in Aberdeenshire, and 8% is to be found in Dumfries and Galloway. The managing authority of the Scottish trunk road network is Transport Scotland, Scotland's equivalent of the Highways Agency and Network Rail (all rolled into one). The table below show how the trunk road network has changed between 1996 and 2006. Figures quoted are the lengths of each type of road, and are shown in miles:
A change to a Geographical Information System by Transport Scotland over the past few years has resulted in some minor differences in totals, for example the way the length of road around a roundabout is calculated.
Wales Of the 1,047 miles of trunk roads in Wales, 75 miles are made up of motorway. The rest of the network is a mixture of dual and single carriageway A-Roads. All trunk roads fall under the responsibility of the Welsh Assmebly. The trunk network is split into core and secondary trunk routes. Traffic Wales, the Welsh Assembly's traffic management service, monitors the core network, gathering real-time information on traffic flows and incidents. The core network consists of the M4, M48, A48, A48(M), A470, A494, A4042, A4232, A449, A465, A55 and A550. The Trunk Road network is split into three areas, North, Mid and South, with each area being managed by its own Trunk Road Agency.
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The
United Kingdom still retains a dense and comprehensive network of trunk
roads, covering the length and breadth of the country. These vary from
six lane super motorways to small twisty single carriageway routes
through mountainous regions.