A highway authority is a government organization responsible for public roads.
India
The
National Highways Authority of India
The National Highways Authority of India or NHAI (Hindi: भारतीय राष्ट्रीय राजमार्ग प्राधिकरण) is an autonomous agency of the Government of India, set up in 1995 (Act 1988) and i ...
is the national authority for the management of a network of over 60,000 km of national highways in India. The Authority is a part of the Ministry of Shipping, Road Transport and Highways.
Malaysia
Lembaga Lebuhraya Malaysia (LLM) or
Malaysian Highway Authority
The Malaysian Highway Authority ( ms, Lembaga Lebuhraya Malaysia, LLM) is a statutory body under the Malaysian Ministry of Works (MOW). The agency was founded on 24 October 1980 by the Highway Authority of Malaysia (Incorporation) Act 1980 to mo ...
is a government agency under the Malaysian Ministry of Works. The agency was founded in 1980 to build the North-South Expressway, but now the main function of Malaysian Highway Authority is to monitor the works and administration of expressways in Malaysia as subject to Federal Roads Act (Private Managements) 1984.
Pakistan
The
National Highway Authority
The National Highway Authority (NHA; ur, ) is a statutory body under the Ministry of Communications (Pakistan), Ministry of Communications (MoCom) of Pakistan.
History
In 1978, the Government of Pakistan federalised five important inter-prov ...
is responsible for building and maintaining highways and motorways in Pakistan.
United Kingdom
In the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
a highway authority is an organisation that is responsible for the maintenance of public roads. The current role of a highway authority is defined in the
Highways Act 1980
The Highways Act 1980 (1980 c.66) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom dealing with the management and operation of the road network in England and Wales. It consolidated with amendments several earlier pieces of legislation. Man ...
and the role 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 (which include most
motorway
A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway and expressway. Other similar terms i ...
s) are, respectively, '
National Highways
National Highways, formerly the Highways Agency and later Highways England, is a State-owned enterprise, government-owned company charged with operating, maintaining and improving Roads in England, motorways and major A roads in England. It al ...
', '
Transport Scotland
Transport Scotland ( gd, Còmhdhail Alba) is the national transport agency of Scotland. It was established by the Transport (Scotland) Act 2005, and began operating on 1 January 2006 as an Executive Agency of the Scottish Government.
Organisat ...
', and the
Welsh Government
The Welsh Government ( cy, Llywodraeth Cymru) is the Welsh devolution, devolved government of Wales. The government consists of ministers and Minister (government), deputy ministers, and also of a Counsel General for Wales, counsel general. Minist ...
.
For all other roads and public rights of way, the highway authority is usually the
county council
A county council is the elected administrative body governing an area known as a county. This term has slightly different meanings in different countries.
Ireland
The county councils created under British rule in 1899 continue to exist in Irela ...
or
unitary authority
A unitary authority is a local authority responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are usually performed by a higher level of sub-national government or the national governmen ...
for a particular area.
District councils may carry out some of the functions of a highway authority, but only when these have been delegated to them by their county council. Transport for London is the highway authority for all Greater London Authority roads (under the Highways Act 1980).
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.
United States
In the U.S., a highway authority is now usually called a
department of transportation, owing to the expanded responsibility for
mass transport
Public transport (also known as public transportation, public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) is a system of transport for passengers by group travel systems available for use by the general public unlike private transport, typica ...
like
passenger rail
Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a prep ...
and even
airport
An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surface ...
s and
ferry
A ferry is a ship, watercraft or amphibious vehicle used to carry passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A passenger ferry with many stops, such as in Venice, Italy, is sometimes called a water bus or water taxi ...
service. Some
U.S. state
In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...
s also have separate highway authorities for
toll road
A toll road, also known as a turnpike or tollway, is a public or private road (almost always a controlled-access highway in the present day) for which a fee (or ''toll'') is assessed for passage. It is a form of road pricing typically implemented ...
s, sometimes the responsibility of a
regional government or
metropolitan government
Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-loca ...
rather than a
state government
A state government is the government that controls a subdivision of a country in a federal form of government, which shares political power with the federal or national government. A state government may have some level of political autonomy, or ...
.
For example, the
Illinois State Toll Highway Authority
The Illinois State Toll Highway Authority (ISTHA) is an administrative agency of the U.S. state of Illinois charged with building, operating, and maintaining toll roads in the state. The roads, as well as the authority itself, are sometimes referr ...
is an instrumentality and administrative agency of the State of
Illinois
Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...
. The Authority has the power to collect and raise tolls, and is responsible for the maintenance and construction of tollway roads and related
sign
A sign is an object, quality, event, or entity whose presence or occurrence indicates the probable presence or occurrence of something else. A natural sign bears a causal relation to its object—for instance, thunder is a sign of storm, or me ...
age (including
electronic message boards, used for driving-time notices,
Amber Alert
An Amber Alert (alternatively styled AMBER alert) or a child abduction emergency alert ( SAME code: CAE) is a message distributed by a child abduction alert system to ask the public for help in finding abducted children. The system originated i ...
s, and other notifications). The Authority also supervises and manages the seven
Illinois Tollway
The Illinois State Toll Highway Authority (ISTHA) is an administrative agency of the U.S. state of Illinois charged with building, operating, and maintaining toll roads in the state. The roads, as well as the authority itself, are sometimes referr ...
oases (
rest area
A rest area is a public facility located next to a large thoroughfare such as a motorway, expressway, or highway, at which drivers and passengers can rest, eat, or refuel without exiting onto secondary roads. Other names include motorway servi ...
s). The
Illinois DOT manages other
state road
A state highway, state road, or state route (and the equivalent provincial highway, provincial road, or provincial route) is usually a road that is either ''numbered'' or ''maintained'' by a sub-national state or province. A road numbered by a ...
s.
Greece
The National Road Construction Treasury (gr: Ταμείο Εθνικής Οδοποιίας) was in charge of the maintenance and operation of the national road network and the highway network until their gradual privatization by highway with the concession contract method at the end of the 2000s. Then it had under its responsibilities the undersea tunnel of Preveza-Aktio and the Malgara toll station.In 2013 it merged with state-owned company Egnatia Odos SA.
Road authorities
A road is a linear way for the conveyance of traffic that mostly has an improved surface for use by vehicles (motorized and non-motorized) and pedestrians. Unlike streets, the main function of roads is transportation.
There are many types of ...
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