1.2 In the past, the Agency's business focus was on building and maintaining roads rather than managing the operation of the network. In 1998, the Government announced that the role of the Agency was to change to that of a network operator with a new strategic aim: "to contribute to sustainable development by maintaining, operating and improving the trunk road network".1 The Government also announced that it had asked the Agency to develop a new system of regional control centres to improve the reliability of the road network and to tackle the effects of traffic congestion through better traffic monitoring and by providing road users with traffic and travel information.
____________________________________________________________________________________
1 White Paper, A New Deal for Transport: Better for Everyone and the associated Roads Review, A New Deal for Trunk Roads in England