United Kingdom – The Highways Agency has confirmed a three-year extension for contract maintenance of trunk roads and motorways in the north-east up to July 2010.

Contract holder A-one, which began maintenance of the network in July 2003, is a joint venture between Halcrow and Colas.

The contract includes traffic management systems including a 24-hour control centre based in Darlington, and incident support units patrolling the network throughout the day providing a rapid response to incidents.

The contract covers the maintenance and improvement of the A1/A1(M) from Dishforth in north Yorkshire to the Scottish Border north of Berwick, the A66/A66(M) from Darlington to the Cumbrian Border, and the A696, A194(M), A184 and A195(M) on Tyneside.

Peter Moffatt, area manager for the Highways Agency said: "A-one’s performance in the first three years of this contract has given us the confidence to extend it for three years beyond the initial expiry date of July 2007.

"We are happy to build on the good work done so far and to strengthen our partnership with A-one to improve road safety and journey reliability."

Andy Jamieson, general manager for A-one, said: "A-one are delighted to be awarded a contract extension and believe it is a reflection of the investment and commitment shown over the past 3 years in delivering a high level of service to the Highways Agency.

"A-one have demonstrated continuous improvement in service delivery throughout the contract and believe this extension provides the opportunity for further added value over the remaining four years of the contract."

The extension is worth approximately GBP20 million a year.