National Highways Supply Chain Development

We are the government company charged with operating, maintaining and improving England’s motorways and major A roads. Our strategic road network totals around 4,300 miles – carrying a third of all traffic by mileage and two thirds of all heavy goods traffic.

We work to provide free-flowing, safe, serviceable, accessible, and integrated roads. Our network helps drive economic growth across the country, creating jobs, supporting businesses, and opening areas for development. We are committed to cutting our carbon footprint, and fully support government’s drive to achieve net-zero carbon by 2050.

NEW National Highways Learning Pathway – PAS 2080 – a series of learning resources for highways suppliers – click here to enrol & access the pathway via enrolled pathways on your School dashboard

National Highways has a strategic objective to deliver low-carbon infrastructure and achieve net zero for maintenance and construction by 2040, and from 2025 we require our contractors and their sub-contractors to implement their own PAS 2080 accredited carbon management systems. This Pathway aims to provide our supply chain with a sound understanding of the PAS2080 Certification, what it means, and how to become certified.

The pathway includes a number of useful resources including a specific module for SME’s  plus a recent recording from a PAS2080 webinar delivered in Autumn 2025 as part of the Scheme Delivery Framework Learning Programme, this provides real case studies and examples from some of our supply chain members – each sharing their own PAS2080 journey, lessons learnt and the benefits they are realising.

Supplier Development System – measure your capability and unlock your national highways action plan

In November 2024 we launched our refreshed  Supplier Development System which has been accessed now by hundreds of suppliers completing the learning to build their capability.  This prepares our supply chain for effective delivery of the third Road Investment Strategy (RIS3). It consists of a capability assessment for organisations to benchmark and build competencies across a range of priority issues. We invite all suppliers and sub-contractors in the wider highways supply chain to use this important tool to develop their business.

• In October 2025, National Highways introduced our modernised Manual of Contracts for Highway Work Click here for more information. View the Video by Mike Wilson, Executive Director,  Safety, Engineering and Standards introducing the Manual here
• Improving the quality of design and construction – Pause for Quality Campaign  View and Share the Pause for Quality Toolbox Talk.  National Highways is leading a campaign with our supply chain to renew our focus on improving the quality of what we design and its construction. View more under the Stakeholder Engagement menu below.
• In June 2025, National Highways launched the Network Occupancy web page and Controlling our Network Hub find out more here