Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether the average length of motorway (a) maintenance and (b) improvement contracts in terms of (i) duration and (ii) distance covered has changed in the last 10 years.

For maintenance activities, National Highways operates long-term Maintenance & Response (M&R) contracts, typically spanning 8–15 years. These contracts handle tens of thousands of interventions across the Strategic Road Network annually. Currently, there are 10 M&R contracts, each covering approximately the same road network length as 10 years ago. However, on average, the contract durations have slightly increased compared to their previous iterations. To minimise the impact on customers, National Highways ensures that individual maintenance activities are carefully planned, with most works conducted overnight and designed to have minimal disruption.