The original body, formed in 2006, was to represent and promote the interests of organisations that own and manage road tunnels in the UK and Ireland.

A by-product of the open twice yearly (spring and autumn) two-day Road Tunnel Operators Forums, held all around the country and even in Europe, the Association allowed owners and operators of road tunnels in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, to share experiences and disseminate important information with aim of benefitting tunnel safety. Since inception it has enjoyed support from National Highways.

The RTA is a centre for life safety engineering system design and operating excellence of tunnels via its membership of representative Tunnel Managers, Police, Tunnel Safety Officers, Maintainers, Fire Engineers, Technical Specifiers and Industry Professionals.

The RTA sits alongside other organisations, for example the British Tunnelling Society (BTS), whose membership is primarily geotechnical mining engineers, tunnel builders and specialist suppliers.

The Association has an elected Chairperson, deputy Chair, Honorary Secretary, Treasurer and an Association Management Committee (AMC). Among the duties of the AMC is to oversee the constitution, outline the requirements for honorary membership (by invitation / recommendation).

The level 3 ‘Diploma in Road Tunnel Operations‘ was created by the RTA and our qualification partners, Pro-Qual, back in 2012. This enables tunnel Operators to validate the competency of their staff and controllers - the first such qualification in the world - to further enhance tunnel safety in the UK and Ireland, where we already have an exemplary record.