Road schemes added to Minecraft

National Highways – formerly Highways England – has teamed up with world’s best-selling video game Minecraft to ‘inspire the next generation of talented engineers and scientists’.

Students can now immerse themselves in three of National Highways’ proposed schemes within the game, following their launch on Monday, September 6.

The aim is for young people to get experience in everything road designers have to consider when planning schemes, like the proposed Lower Thames Crossing, A428 Black Cat to Caxton Gibbet improvements and the A303 past Stonehenge – which have been added to the game.

The virtual taster will give players an insight into the skills the agency responsible for motorways and major A roads in England uses in the real world when building mass road projects.

It covers elements of everything from archaeology, biology and ecology, to civil engineering, communications technology and coding.

Five games and a Creative Mode have been developed, as well as lesson plans teachers can use for students aged 7-11 (key stage 2) and 11-14 (key stage 3).

Natalie Jones, National Highways Talent Delivery Lead, said: “We want to inspire the next generation of talented engineers and scientists, on whom the country’s infrastructure and national economy will one day depend.

“Our ambition is to seek out the next James Dyson or Dame Sarah Gilbert and help put them on the path to a fascinating life and career.

“With the help of Minecraft and the in-game activities, students will get first-hand experience of what would go into building a huge bridge or digging a giant tunnel. In real life these are multi-million-pound structures that are carefully designed and then built by experts.”