Easter Sunday, 20 April, marked the fifth anniversary of the first ever Highways News daily email.

Over the five years, an idea from early 2020 that came to fruition during the first Covid lockdown has become an important part of the highways and transport technology industry, informing professionals about new contracts, staff appointments, innovations and government decisions across the UK and beyond.

“I never thought that when we started, we’d become so popular,” commented co-owner Adrian Tatum. “I am so proud of how Paul [Hutton, also co-owner] and I have built up the service and delivered dozens of stories a week and nearly 200 podcasts.”

In fact, in the next day or two, Highways News will reach 12,000 stories published on the site highlighting how the site really is “the only place you need to go for everything you need to know”. Meanwhile, on the 30 April, the 200th Highways Voices podcast will be published.

“I remember the day that I realised we’d made it,” Paul Hutton reminisces. “I was at a congress in France and I was with a dozen or so British industry professionals having lunch. I was asked a question and began to answer it when everyone started reading their phones, so I commented how chuffed I was that nobody was taking in a word I was saying. They all said it was my fault, because the Highways News daily email had just arrived and it was their habit to scroll through our stories straight away, so could I shut up a couple of minutes, please!”

Adrian and Paul thank the commercial partners for making the site possible, Ed Miller, Kevin Borras, Sam Wibrew and Jack Hutton for their help delivering the service and their friend Neil Levett for his advice and unstinting support. They are currently working on new ideas to make the site even better to support the industry.

(Picture Paul, left, and Adrian at the recent RSTA Gala Dinner at Celtic Manor)