Hello National Highways

The study of British and Irish roads - their construction, numbering, history, mapping, past and future official roads proposals and general roads musings.

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Bomag
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Hello National Highways

Post by Bomag »

What's that Skippy, another rebrand?
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Bryn666
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Re: Hello National Highways

Post by Bryn666 »

Oh, is this finally going ahead then? Truly proof, if proof were still needed, that this organisation is entirely driven by PR.
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Conekicker
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Re: Hello National Highways

Post by Conekicker »

I suppose it makes a change from reorganising every few years.

The burning question - how naff (and eye-wateringly expensive) will the new logo be?
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Bryn666
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Re: Hello National Highways

Post by Bryn666 »

Conekicker wrote: Thu Aug 19, 2021 14:34 I suppose it makes a change from reorganising every few years.

The burning question - how naff (and eye-wateringly expensive) will the new logo be?
You mean it's possible to do worse than the zig-zag of inconsistency?
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orudge
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Re: Hello National Highways

Post by orudge »

"Highways England" was at least accurate in geographic terms (ex-BRB (Residuary) assets excluded). "National (except for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland) Highways" is just not quite as snappy, I guess...
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Bryn666
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Re: Hello National Highways

Post by Bryn666 »

orudge wrote: Thu Aug 19, 2021 14:55 "Highways England" was at least accurate in geographic terms (ex-BRB (Residuary) assets excluded). "National (except for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland) Highways" is just not quite as snappy, I guess...
Suits the government's English nationalism to a tee though...
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exiled
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Re: Hello National Highways

Post by exiled »

Bryn666 wrote: Thu Aug 19, 2021 14:47
Conekicker wrote: Thu Aug 19, 2021 14:34 I suppose it makes a change from reorganising every few years.

The burning question - how naff (and eye-wateringly expensive) will the new logo be?
You mean it's possible to do worse than the zig-zag of inconsistency?
Isn't the zig zag meant to highly stylised map of England?
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Conekicker
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Re: Hello National Highways

Post by Conekicker »

Patience is not a virtue - it's a concept invented by the dozy beggars who are unable to think quickly enough.
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Bryn666
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Re: Hello National Highways

Post by Bryn666 »

exiled wrote: Thu Aug 19, 2021 15:58
Bryn666 wrote: Thu Aug 19, 2021 14:47
Conekicker wrote: Thu Aug 19, 2021 14:34 I suppose it makes a change from reorganising every few years.

The burning question - how naff (and eye-wateringly expensive) will the new logo be?
You mean it's possible to do worse than the zig-zag of inconsistency?
Isn't the zig zag meant to highly stylised map of England?
Allegedly, it better fits the inability to stick to a basic concept though!
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exiled
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Re: Hello National Highways

Post by exiled »

Bryn666 wrote: Thu Aug 19, 2021 16:17
Allegedly, it better fits the inability to stick to a basic concept though!
Not helped in that it leans back so the south is larger in comparison to the north, like the BBC weather map that gives the impression you are looking down on these islands from a geostationary orbit somewhere above the Loire Valley.
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wrinkly
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Re: Hello National Highways

Post by wrinkly »

I first heard of this proposal several months ago when it was reported that the Scottish government was objecting to it. It seems DfT (or the prime minister) have decided to go ahead anyway.
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Re: Hello National Highways

Post by DB617 »

Excellent, so all the self-aggrandising Highways England signs everywhere are going the way of the self-aggrandising and even more out of date Highways Agency ones.
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Re: Hello National Highways

Post by Truvelo »

Why do government departments here keep changing their name so often, often at large expense? Going back in time these are the various guises the current HE has seen over the last 50+ years.

Ministry of Transport
Department of the Environment
Department of Transport
Highways Agency
Highways England

In America the various DOT's have remain unchanged for 50+ years.
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Nathan_A_RF
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Re: Hello National Highways

Post by Nathan_A_RF »

Am I the only one that thinks the Highways England logo is a very good design?
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Conekicker
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Re: Hello National Highways

Post by Conekicker »

Nathan_A_RF wrote: Thu Aug 19, 2021 18:53 Am I the only one that thinks the Highways England logo is a very good design?
Logos come and logos go. Assuming the one in the linked article is pukka, it will doubtless be binned at some point in the future.

If it is the new logo, I'd hazard a guess that the simple text change is an attempt to deflect the criticism that a totally new one, (doubtless developed at great expense), would generate.
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exiled
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Re: Hello National Highways

Post by exiled »

Truvelo wrote: Thu Aug 19, 2021 18:06 Why do government departments here keep changing their name so often, often at large expense? Going back in time these are the various guises the current HE has seen over the last 50+ years.

Ministry of Transport
Department of the Environment
Department of Transport
Highways Agency
Highways England

In America the various DOT's have remain unchanged for 50+ years.
Because the competences of the various departments change, in ways they do not in the US. Prime Ministers and in the devolved governments the First Ministers can create, merge, split, abolish departments with a stroke of a pen where as legislative agreement is often needed in the US.
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exiled
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Re: Hello National Highways

Post by exiled »

Nathan_A_RF wrote: Thu Aug 19, 2021 18:53 Am I the only one that thinks the Highways England logo is a very good design?
It is not that bad, its problem is is it easily recognisable as what it is and who it is for.
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Re: Hello National Highways

Post by Steven »

What on earth are HETOs (ne HATOs) known as now? NHTOs really doesn't scan well.
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Re: Hello National Highways

Post by Bryn666 »

Steven wrote: Thu Aug 19, 2021 19:56 What on earth are HETOs (ne HATOs) known as now? NHTOs really doesn't scan well.
Customer Service Representatives? Wombles?
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fras
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Re: Hello National Highways

Post by fras »

It's all done to give the illusion of progress. Transport is the biggest failure of government in the last 40 years. Everywhere you look there is work crying out to be done. Near me the Middlewich Bypass has been on the go since before we moved to Crewe in 1995 !
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