Project overview 

Effective management of road runoff is essential for protecting water quality, reducing flood risk, and improving the resilience of the highways network. Poorly managed runoff can harm aquatic ecosystems, contaminate water sources, damage infrastructure, and impose significant costs on communities, local authorities, and the wider economy. As climate change brings more intense and frequent rainfall, addressing road runoff has become an increasingly urgent priority.

However, much of the existing highways network was designed at a time when water quality and climate resilience were not key considerations. Ageing drainage systems, constrained budgets, fragmented responsibilities, and challenges associated with maintenance and coordination mean that runoff is often discharged untreated into the environment. As a result, opportunities to deliver wider environmental, social, and placemaking benefits through highways works are frequently missed.

This CIHT project explores how highways maintenance can be repositioned as an opportunity rather than a barrier to effective road runoff management, focusing particularly on:

• The challenges preventing the successful implementation and long-term maintenance of road runoff management measures.
• Practical recommendations to help local authorities integrate runoff management into routine highways maintenance, urban regeneration, active travel schemes, and wider infrastructure projects.

We are currently summarising our work on this topic into a policy brief, to be shared in September 2026.