When Highways England became National Highways in 2021, Victoria Higgin was promoted to chief digital and information officer (CDIO), joining technology service delivery to the organisation’s longer-term Digital Roads ambitions. The December 2021 account described her leading a 270-person digital services team—not just an IT function, but one responsible for information and operational technology, service operations and strategic change.
What changed when Victoria Higgin became CDIO?
Higgin joined Highways England in September 2019 after 22 years at National Grid. Her promotion came as the organisation transitioned to the National Highways name. CIO reported in December 2021 that her remit covered information technology and operational technology, roadside maintenance and delivery, service operations, and a new business partnership function. The 270-person team figure and role description refer to that 2021 report, not current headcount or a claim about her present position. CIO’s profile of Higgin described the team’s work as developing Digital Roads while modernising the IT infrastructure supporting England’s Strategic Road Network.
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The group had been renamed from IT to digital services and given a new operating model, including business partners intended to bring technology teams closer to operational and engineering needs. The shift was therefore as much about how the organisation worked with technology as about adopting new tools. Higgin described the balance between dependable services and strategic change: “Because if the basics don’t work, then nobody’s ever going to trust you around the strategic work.”
What does Digital Roads mean?
Digital Roads is a network-wide strategy, not a single technology project. National Highways says it uses data, technology and connectivity to improve how England’s Strategic Road Network is designed, built, operated and used. Its current Digital Roads overview groups the ambition into three themes.
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Design and construction
The strategy aims to use more automation, modular design and off-site activity to make construction safer, reduce disruption and improve productivity. The 2021 CIO profile offered examples such as repeatable digital design methods and digital twins that could let teams rehearse complex work, including bridge lifts, before carrying it out on the live network.
Digital operations
Here the goal is to use data to make maintenance and other interventions more pre-emptive, helping improve asset resilience, extend asset life and support network operations. The 2021 profile also discussed predictive asset management and sharing operational data with stakeholders and vehicle manufacturers.
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Digital information for customers
Digital Roads also aims to provide trusted journey information so people can make informed choices and feel in control. Higgin framed the practical question in the CIO interview this way: “How do we give them, for example, the right data in a more efficient way, so they can make choices about the journeys they take?” The article described sharing journey information with satellite-navigation providers through APIs.
What did the 2021 benefit figures actually claim?
A National Highways announcement published on 2 September 2021 presented several figures as expected or potential benefits, not measured outcomes. It said digital design and construction approaches could bring around 50% lower carbon emissions and reduce scheme delivery times by up to 50%. It also said connected and autonomous vehicles could potentially reduce incidents by up to 90% over the longer term. Those are forecasts and ambitions in the 2021 announcement; the announcement does not establish that the benefits have since been achieved.
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National Highways’ live Digital Roads page also reports that drone-survey data shared across project teams can reduce carbon emissions by 95% compared with traditional surveys. The page does not state a publication year for that figure, so it should be read as a claim currently presented by National Highways rather than a dated, independently verified result.
What evidence does National Highways give for digital design tools?
National Highways describes its Rapid Engineering Model (REM) as a tool intended to improve the speed, quality and safety of road design, and says it is forming the basis of a company-wide Digital Twin. Its current Digital Roads page says 11 schemes had used the REM workflow and that producing operational concepts had fallen from around nine months using traditional approaches to weeks. The live page does not state the figures’ publication year; they are National Highways’ reported figures, not an independent evaluation presented here.
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How did the strategy and oversight develop after 2021?
National Highways says its first Digital, Data and Technology (DDaT) Strategy was published in 2020, at the start of the second Road Investment Strategy period (RIS2). Its DDaT Strategy 2023–25 page says it was refreshed for the remainder of RIS2 and preparation for RIS3. An Office of Rail and Road (ORR)-commissioned AECOM review states that the update was made in November 2023, focused on the rest of RIS2 and established a baseline of ambitions for the next road period.
The review describes Digital Services as the strategy owner, with divisions including the Office of the CDIO, Chief Data Office, Cyber Security and Information Rights, Business Partnering, and Service Operations Operational Technology. It assesses alignment between the DDaT strategy, the road period and the Digital Roads Roadmap; it is oversight context, not proof that every ambition was delivered.
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The review records RIS2 as running from April 2020 to March 2025. It also gives the funding change as £27.4 billion initially allocated to support the RIS2 vision, revised to £24 billion in the Delivery Plan 2023–24. In that 2023 review, RIS3 (2025–30) was described as under development; that is a statement dated to the review, not a claim about its current status.
What does the strategy mean for suppliers?
National Highways’ operational technology strategy describes mapping its existing OT estate, preparing roadmaps and implementation plans, and improving technology procurement, testing and handover. It also refers to the Operational Technology Commercial Framework and supply-chain collaboration. These priorities point to areas where infrastructure technology, digital engineering, data and OT suppliers may be relevant, but they do not establish that a particular contract or tender is open. Suppliers should check current procurement materials for live opportunities.
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