A highway authority is a

government organization State ownership, also called public ownership or government ownership, is the ownership of an industry, asset, property, or enterprise by the national government of a country or state, or a public body representing a community, as opposed to ...

responsible for

public road A highway is any public or private road or other public way on land. It includes not just major roads, but also other public roads and rights of way. In the United States, it is also used as an equivalent term to controlled-access highway, or ...

India

The

National Highways Authority of India The National Highways Authority of India or NHAI () is an autonomous agency of the Government of India, set up in 1995 (Act 1988) and is responsible for management of a road network of over 50,000 km of National highways out of 1,32,499 ...

is the national authority for the management of a network of over 60,000 km of national highways in India. The Authority is a part of the Ministry of Shipping, Road Transport and Highways.

Malaysia

Lembaga Lebuhraya Malaysia (LLM) or

Malaysian Highway Authority The Malaysian Highway Authority (, LLM) is a statutory body under the Malaysian Ministry of Works (MOW). The agency was founded on 24 October 1980 by the Highway Authority of Malaysia (Incorporation) Act 1980 to monitor the works and administra ...

is a government agency under the Malaysian Ministry of Works. The agency was founded in 1980 to build the North-South Expressway, but now the main function of Malaysian Highway Authority is to monitor the works and administration of expressways in Malaysia as subject to Federal Roads Act (Private Managements) 1984.

Pakistan

The National Highway Authority is responsible for building and maintaining highways and motorways in Pakistan.

Puntland

The Puntland Highway Authority is a government body, established by law no. 18, in the year 2000, in charge of road transportation and infrastructure and responsible for maintaining and developing the road network throughout in the autonomous state of Puntland.

United Kingdom

In the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

a highway authority is an organisation that is responsible for the maintenance of public roads. The current role of a highway authority is defined in the

Highways Act 1980 The Highways Act 1980 (c. 66) is an act of Parliament (UK), act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom dealing with the management and operation of the road network in England and Wales. It consolidated with amendments several earlier pieces ...

and the role is held by a large number of different groups.

Highway authorities in sub-national divisions

In England, Scotland, and Wales the highway authorities for

trunk road A trunk road is a major highway with a specific legal classification in some jurisdictions, notably the United Kingdom, Sweden and formerly Ireland. Trunk roads are planned and managed at the national-level, distinguishing them from non-trunk ro ...

s (which include most

motorway A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway, and expressway. Other similar terms ...

s) are, respectively, '

National Highways National Highways (NH), formerly Highways England and before that the Highways Agency, is a State-owned enterprise, government-owned company charged with operating, maintaining and improving Roads in England, motorways and major A roads in Eng ...

', '

Transport Scotland Transport Scotland () is the national transport agency of Scotland. It was established by the Transport (Scotland) Act 2005, and began operating on 1 January 2006 as an executive agency of the Scottish Government. Transport Scotland, an execut ...

', and the

Welsh Government The Welsh Government ( ) is the Executive (government), executive arm of the Welsh devolution, devolved government of Wales. The government consists of Cabinet secretary, cabinet secretaries and Minister of State, ministers. It is led by the F ...

. For all other roads and public rights of way, the highway authority is usually the

county council A county council is the elected administrative body governing an area known as a county. This term has slightly different meanings in different countries. Australia In the Australian state of New South Wales, county councils are special purpose ...

unitary authority A unitary authority is a type of local government, local authority in New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Unitary authorities are responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are ...

for a particular area. District councils may carry out some of the functions of a highway authority, but only when these have been delegated to them by their county council. Transport for London is the highway authority for all Greater London Authority roads (under the Highways Act 1980).

Duties

Duties of the highway authorities can include: * Maintaining all highways classed as being "maintainable at public expense" that fall within their area of control. * Maintaining records of all "highways maintainable at public expense" within their area of control. * Regulating the activities of developers in relation to their highways.

United States

In the U.S., a highway authority is now usually called a department of transportation, owing to the expanded responsibility for mass transport like

passenger rail A passenger train is a train used to transport people along a railroad line, as opposed to a freight train that carries goods. These trains may consist of unpowered passenger railroad cars (also known as coaches or carriages) push-pull train, ...

and even

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial Aviation, air transport. They usually consist of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surf ...

s and

ferry A ferry is a boat or ship that transports passengers, and occasionally vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A small passenger ferry with multiple stops, like those in Venice, Italy, is sometimes referred to as a water taxi or water bus ...

service. Some

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

s also have separate highway authorities for

toll road A toll road, also known as a turnpike or tollway, is a public or private road for which a fee (or ''Toll (fee), toll'') is assessed for passage. It is a form of road pricing typically implemented to help recoup the costs of road construction and ...

s, sometimes the responsibility of a

regional government Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of governance or public administration within a particular sovereign state. Local governments typically constitute a subdivision of a higher-level political or administrative unit, such a ...

metropolitan government Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of governance or public administration within a particular sovereign state. Local governments typically constitute a subdivision of a higher-level political or administrative unit, such a ...

rather than a

state government A state government is the government that controls a subdivision of a country in a federal form of government, which shares political power with the federal or national government. A state government may have some level of political autonom ...

. For example, the

Illinois State Toll Highway Authority The Illinois State Toll Highway Authority (ISTHA) is an administrative agency of the U.S. state of Illinois charged with building, operating, and maintaining toll roads in the state. The roads, as well as the authority itself, are sometimes refer ...

is an instrumentality and administrative agency of the State of

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

. The Authority has the power to collect and raise tolls, and is responsible for the maintenance and construction of tollway roads and related

sign A sign is an object, quality, event, or entity whose presence or occurrence indicates the probable presence or occurrence of something else. A natural sign bears a causal relation to its object—for instance, thunder is a sign of storm, or me ...

age (including electronic message boards, used for driving-time notices, Amber Alerts, and other notifications). The Authority also supervises and manages the seven Illinois Tollway oases (

rest area A rest area is a public facility located next to a large thoroughfare such as a motorway, Limited-access road, expressway, or highway, at which drivers and passengers can rest, eat, or refuel without exiting onto secondary roads. Other names ...

s). The Illinois DOT manages other state roads.

Greece

The National Road Construction Treasury (gr: Ταμείο Εθνικής Οδοποιίας) was in charge of the maintenance and operation of the national road network and the highway network until their gradual privatization by highway with the concession contract method at the end of the 2000s. Then it had under its responsibilities the undersea tunnel of Preveza-Aktio and the Malgara toll station. In 2013 it merged with state-owned company Egnatia Odos SA.

References

Road authorities A road is a thoroughfare used primarily for movement of traffic. Roads differ from streets, whose primary use is local access. They also differ from stroads, which combine the features of streets and roads. Most modern roads are paved. The w ...

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