The worst roadwork delays for almost a decade could cause travel misery for millions of motorists making their bank holiday getaways on Friday.
Official data analysed by The Telegraph shows that motorway roadworks across England are currently at their most disruptive for nine years.
A third of roadwork projects in 2024 were described by National Highways as having a “moderate” or “severe” impact on traffic, meaning they cause delays of 10 minutes or more to motorists.
National Highways breaks the impact of roadworks down into three categories. “Slight” delays last fewer than 10 minutes, while “moderate” is between 10 and 30 minutes. “Severe” delays are those longer than half an hour.
The same proportion, 32 per cent, was recorded in 2023, the latest full year for which data is available – the highest since current records began in 2015.
Even as the total number of works on motorways and major A roads per week has declined, averaging 484 so far this year, the number of moderate and severely disruptive works causing tailbacks of more than 10 minutes has increased to its second highest since the pandemic.
This year there have been an average of 156 sets of roadworks every week causing “moderate” or “severe” delays.
Highest amount of trips expected since 2016
Inrix, the transport analytics company, warned that the worst time for traffic jams this weekend is likely to be between 10am and 6pm on Friday, and between 10am and 1pm on Saturday.
The RAC estimated that 19.2 million leisure trips by car will be made across the UK between Friday and Monday.
The figure, based on a survey of 2,128 UK adults, is the highest since 2016, when 20.6 million trips were made.
Friday is likely to be the busiest day on the roads, the AA said, owing to the combination of getaway journeys and regular commutes.
National Highways, which manages motorways and major A roads in England, said it hoped to lift about 80 miles of roadworks this week and to have another 420 miles’ worth completed by 6am on Friday to “keep people moving”.
Ending the roadworks will help with short-term congestion but will not lessen the impact of other road upgrade projects that are still in progress.
Four motorway hot spots are likely to cause delays of more than half an hour this weekend. They include the M5 north of Tewkesbury, where the M50 branches off the Birmingham-Exeter motorway at junction 8 and the M6 between junctions 7 and 10 in Birmingham where some lanes are closed so National Highways can resurface the carriageway.
