Traffic management in St Albans

Hertfordshire County Council is the highway authority for St Albans: in two-tier Hertfordshire, roads are run by the county council, not St Albans. Trunk roads are managed by National Highways.

Almost every English highway authority now runs a permit scheme under the Traffic Management Act 2004, so works on the road need a permit, applied for through the government's Street Manager service. Minor works usually need 3 working days' notice, standard works 10 and major works 3 months.

In and around St Albans, the A405 and A414 carry most of the through traffic. The M1 is within a few miles. On roads like these, queue lengths decide the method: we set signal timings to keep traffic moving and suggest night or off-peak work where it helps.

With around 82,000 people living in the city, footways, bus routes and school runs all shape how works here are planned.