Ever been stuck in a traffic jam and wondered who was to blame? Archie Robertson is the man ultimately responsible for Britain's roads.

Alex Eckford talks to the Highways Agency chief executive and finds out why he thinks driving is largely unproductive.

"I'm a reformed petrolhead. But I didn’t actually drink or sniff the stuff."

I'm sitting in the Highways Agency's headquarters with Archie Robertson, the Highways Agency's affable and engaging boss, and the man in charge of the UK's motorways and major roads.

"I spent the first 20 years of my business career with BP," says Archie. "All of that experience was overseas, and I came back to the UK to settle my family through school. I've been with the Highways Agency for three and a half years."

As the company's Chief Executive, Archie is accountable for the general smooth running of the UK's roads.

Two days previously I was sitting in stationary traffic on the M25. I moved just under half a mile in just over an hour. I made a mental note to ask Archie what the organisation are doing to reduce and prevent hold-ups like this.

"We're investing heavily in active traffic management," says Archie. "It's a technology which allows us to use the roads better, to control the motorways and keep the traffic flowing. There's a sensor in the road which detects when traffic is slowing and beginning to back up. It automatically puts a signal up further up the road.

"It allows us to know what's working and what isn’t, and when to send out a traffic officer to deal with debris, and so on.

"There are three things we're doing to tackle the most congested hotspots. Firstly, we're widening the motorways where they're very busy. Secondly we're building bypasses on trade routes, giving traffic an easier run to the ports, for example. And thirdly, and most simply, we're working at improving junctions, de-bottlenecking those which have just become too busy, to put a bit more capacity in them."

Road widening is one possible solution.

"The M25 is currently operating at 130 per cent of its capacity, and that capacity is growing. We are currently well advanced in our plans to procure a contract to widen the northern part of the M25. We use technology and traffic officers to try to reduce the problem, but the basic fact is it's full. We have to do something."

In 2006 the Highways Agency became the network operator of the UK's motorways and trunk roads, rather than solely their builder and maintainer. This increased responsibility means the agency are responsible for implementing new schemes to help reduce congestion on the roads.

"There are a number of schemes we're implementing and rolling out throughout the country," says Archie. "Including high-occupancy lanes, where those travelling with more than one person in the car will be given a faster journey time."

"We're currently widening the M1 between the M25 and Luton, and we're going to put a high-occupancy lane in there from day one."

The agency is one whose performance is entirely based around the satisfaction of its customers. Feedback comes in thick and fast.

"Their first concern is journey reliability – 'when will we get there?'. Trying to make journeys more reliable is our objective," says Archie. "The second thing people tell us is they want more information, and to be confident of the information that's on the variable message signs. We're rolling out about 500 of those a year across the network.

"We had a journey time trial on the M5 and the M6 last summer. Lots of people told us they timed themselves over the sections we monitored – as it turned out what their watches told them was exactly what our information said their journey would take. It's good to know the technology works."

As far as his own transport goes, Archie, like thousands of other city workers favours public transport.

"I hardly drive at all these days," says Archie. "I find driving largely unproductive, because it needs lot of concentration and it means you can't do anything else. I prefer using the train because I can get some work done. Apart from the occasional leisure trip I don’t do very much driving."

Now some questions from Auto Trader readers.

Brian Greenford from Manchester asks "What is the future for road pricing?"

"I believe we're going to need it, to avoid very serious delays or even gridlock. It’s quite interesting to hear about the 1.8 million people who signed the Downing Street website petition against road pricing – the assumption I was therefore making was, they don’t want road pricing, they want gridlock. No alternative was presented. We need to think very seriously about some sort of economic measure about how we're going to travel, when we're going to travel, and so on.

"Although the Department for Transport is responsible for road pricing, but The Highways Agency will be playing a full part in it in that they will interface with the inter-urban network. In time they'll be expanded out to focus on the most congested parts of the network."

Simon from Ipswich asks "What action are you taking to protect the environment?"

"We're spending a lot of money protecting the environment," says Archie. "We pride ourselves in how we protect the habitat when we're building roads. The Highways Agency is the biggest planter of trees in the country – we often work with the Forestry Commission.

"We use recycled material wherever we can, and we try as often as possible not to take things off site when we building a road to reduce lorry movement – we’re using recycled clay waste in the building the A30 in Cornwall."

We've overrun. A staff member reminds Archie he has a meeting in another part of London in twenty minutes.

As I leave Archie hails a taxi and sets off on his cross-town journey. He's the one man in Britain who can't complain if he gets held up in a traffic jam.

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