If the trend towards road user charging continues then that relationship and providing quality customer service will require a significant change in focus for these agencies.
Highway agencies have limited opportunities for a direct relationship with their customers, the road users.
Two of the major challenges facing highway agencies into the next decade will be dealing with increasing traffic congestion, and securing funding for infrastructure and services – hence the growing interest in congestion charging.
Is congestion getting worse? Congestion used to mean that it took longer to get to and from work in the ‘peak hour’. Now congestion affects more trips, extending to more hours of the day, creates even more extra travel time, extends across more of the road network and results in reduced reliability of travel.