Highway asset management

The Royal Borough's highway assets include:

Roads (658 km).
Footways (800 km).
Bridges / structures (300).
Street lights etc (17,000+).
Traffic signals (57 sites).
Road drains (26,000+).
Public rights of way (300+ km).
Highway trees (40,000+).

There are three documents that form the Highway Asset Management Plan:

Highway Asset Management Strategy (HAMS) - A high level strategy for Highway Assets, initially focused on carriageways and footways.
Highway Maintenance Management Plan (HMMP) - Sets out policies, standards and methods for maintaining all highway assets.
Highway Safety Inspection Manual (HSIM) - Determines where inspections are needed and where interventions are required for all highway assets.

Additional funding awarded

Following the awarding of additional funding awarded by DfT in June 2024, RBWM allocated the Road Resurfacing Fund as follows.

Table listing areas /roads where work is planned

Areas where work is planned	Type of works being undertaken on asset group (eg: road resurfacing, streetlighting etc)	Cost spent	Benefits from it (eg: improved journey times etc)
Borough Wide	Streetlighting street furniture replacement x 233 units	£300,000	Provides improvements for residents and road users
Borough wide	Refreshing of white lining, traffic bollard replacement & sign replacement	£43,000	Road safety improvements for all road users

Resilience

Snow and winter gritting

Every year before the winter maintenance season begins, the highway teams produces an annual winter maintenance which can be found on the RBWM Winter services webpage.

Any issues encountered during the winter season are discussed among the term contractor and RBWM staff at a close down meeting at the end of the season, and any changes are considered for incorporation into the maintenance plan for the next year.

The council provides a winter service which, as far as reasonably practicable will:

minimise the risk of loss of life and injury to highway users, including pedestrians and preventing damage to vehicles and other property.
keep the highway free from obstruction and thereby avoiding unnecessary delay to passage.

The council aims to provide a winter service enabling as far as is reasonably practical the safe movement of traffic on all A and B roads, and other well trafficked C roads throughout the borough.

The total length of the Primary Salting network is 149 miles (240 km). These routes are noted within the Winter Service Plan.

The total length of the Secondary Salting network is 36 miles (58 km), which represents approximately 9% of the total highway network. These routes are noted within the Winter Service Plan.

Our policy is not to treat any of the footway network or car parks unless in extreme conditions and then only when resources are available.

See our plans on the salting routes on the Winter service pages.

Flood and heavy rainfall

The following sections of the highway network are more prone to flooding than other areas in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead.

Three access roads to Cookham:
- The Pound/Moor Road (B4447).
- Ferry Lane (A4094 to Bourne End).
- Sutton Road (A4094 to Maidenhead).
Spring Lane, Cookham.
Norden Road, Maidenhead (under the railway bridge).

The below plans have been put in place to re-route traffic or manage disruption during times of heavy rainfall or flooding:

Access to Cookham – Access is maintained during times of flooding (usually fluvial flooding from the River Thames) through use of the Cookham Causeway Plan. This plan is put on standby following two routes being closed and comes into effect when all three access routes into Cookham are closed with the Causeway, normally a pedestrian bridge, is opened to traffic.
Spring Lane – Spring Lane is prone to flooding from emerging groundwater in the nearby vicinity. This is monitored and where necessary closed and traffic is diverted through a different part of Spring Lane and Choke Lane.
Norden Road, Maidenhead – The road dips as it passes under the railway bridge at Norden Road meaning that it is prone to flooding at times of heavy rainfall. Once rainfall subsides water flows away over time so traffic is re-routed through:
Wootton Way, A4 Bath Road, A4 Castle Hill, A308 Frascati Way, A308 Grenfell Place, A308 King Street, A308 Braywick Road, Shoppenhangers Road, Norreys Drive and Norden Road.

With regards to mitigating the impact of increased rainfall in areas known to be prone to flooding, the Council will:

Where possible undertake cleans of blocked gullies that are known to cause issues locally.
Where possible, inspect and clean trash screens and culverts under the ownership of the Council, particularly when the Council is made aware of obstructions.

If a flood event does occur, we will be in contact with the relevant risk management authorities and emergency services as required.

The Council also undertakes enforcement to require landowners to maintain watercourses adjacent to the highway where highway flooding is occurring. More information can be found on our Watercourse responsibilities webpage.

Other strategic actions the Council are investigating are:

Promotion of Sustainable Drainage features in the urban environments of the borough to capture and store more surface water, making highway drainage more resilient to heavy rainfall.
Creation of education material for residents to increase awareness on the impact of water flowing from private land onto the highway.
Incorporation of management of the highway drainage network within future updates to the Local Flood Risk Management Strategy.