Roads: Safety Barriers

(asked on 21st November 2025) - View Source

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many kilometres of life-expired steel barrier have been replaced with concrete barrier on the Strategic Road Network in each of the last four years excluding upgrades delivered through the Smart Motorways Programme and the Smart Motorways Alliance; and what her projection is for steel-to-concrete barrier replacement outside the smart motorway programme in 2025–26.


Answered by
Simon Lightwood Portrait
Simon Lightwood
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
This question was answered on 1st December 2025

Through its renewals programme, National Highways has delivered 52.6 kilometres of concrete barrier over the last four years and are projecting to deliver a further 14 kilometres of concrete barrier in 2025-26. This is excluding upgrades delivered through the Smart Motorways Programme and Smart Motorways Alliance.

A breakdown of National Highways’ delivery over the four-year period:

2021-22

2022-23

2023-24

2024-25

RIS2 Total

Concrete Barrier (KM)

3.1

9.8

13.6

26.1

52.6

Reticulating Splines