Updating Highways England's structures standards – an overview

This paper provides background and an overview to the review of Highways England's Design Manual for Roads and Bridges and highlights key changes to the structures documents, identifying the benefits from the updates to the documents and the challenges faced during the review process. Technical changes to a number of structures documents are also briefly covered in the paper, including aesthetics, safety fences and parapets and cathodic protection. Some further information is provided on technical approval procedures which help clients assure that the design of structures is being appropriately managed and that possible risks to highway users and others are minimised. The paper also looks at the next steps that Highways England will undertake in modernising its suite of contract documents. Related papers in the special issue will explain the background to other key standards, and identify significant technical changes.