Highway Authority

A Highway Authority is a name given to an organisation in the United Kingdom that is responsible for the maintenance of the country's roads. The current role of a Highway Authority is defined in the Highways Act 1980 and it is held by a large number of different groups.

Who are the Highway Authorities?

In England, Scotland and Wales, the Highway Authorities for trunk roads and trunk motorways are the Highways Agency, Transport Scotland and Transport Wales respectively.

For all other roads, the Highway Authority is usually the County council or Unitary authority for a particular area. District councils may carry out some of the functions of a Highway Authority, but these are usually delegated to them by their County council.

See also

Local government in the United Kingdom for more information on Unitary authorities and County and District councils.

Duties of a Highway Authority

Provided below is an incomplete list of duties of the Highway Authorities.

• To maintain all highways classed as being "maintainable at public expense" that fall within their area of control.
• To maintain records of all "highways maintainable at public expense" within their area of control.
• To regulate the activities of developers in relation to their highways.

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