In April 1949, 29 members of the Institution of Highway Engineers met in the Civic Hall, Leeds. The members present decided to form a new branch to cover their area, Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and the Northeast. This was thus the beginning for what was to become in due course, the ‘Yorkshire and Humberside’ branch of our Institution.

The branch covers an area of great geographical diversity; the major cities of Leeds, Sheffield, Bradford and Hull contrast sharply with the picturesque villages of the North York Moors and Yorkshire Dales National Parks, and the Yorkshire Wolds.

These geographical circumstances present the branch's transport planners and engineers with a huge variety of challenges, and at the start of the 21st century the branch is still at the cutting edge of our discipline. Our  members are responding to the challenge of sustainability and global warming, and more recent events have included debates on carbon footprints and personal carbon trading, as well as a technical meeting on the viability of making Leeds into a ‘Walkable City’.