Map shows England’s worst motorway plagued by ‘roadworks, potholes and delays’

If you drive or travel on the National Highways road network, you’re likely to have your favourite motorway – and nemesis.

Motorists didn’t mince their words when it came to revealing which motorways in England bug them the most.

Roadworks, potholes and delays on motorways mean drivers were likely to have an axe to grind, with recent examples including carnage on the M25, where 58 cars fell victim to a massive pothole.

Frustrated drivers hit out at one carriageway in particular – the M42 – connecting Birmingham, Nottingham, Solihull, Tamworth and Redditch.

It was ranked last in a survey of more than 9,000 road users conducted by the travel watchdog Transport Focus.

One motorist criticised the M42 for ‘roadworks, potholes and delays,’ saying the motorway is a ‘terrible road to drive on.’

Another one claimed that the changing speed limits didn’t always ‘reflect the traffic conditions’ and forced drivers to reduce speed ‘for no apparent reason.’

The news comes as pothole-related breakdowns are on track to hit a six-year-high after a spike in callouts last month, in a damning reflection of the state of Britain’s motorways.

Here is how England’s motorways fared in the ranking.

England’s worst and best motorways

The bottom five motorways were M42, M62, M25, M11 and M1, according to motorists.

M42 had a satisfaction score of 56%, compared with a score of 79% given to M40, the nation’s favourite motorway.

The M25, also known as the London Orbital Motorway around the capital, also didn’t get much love, ranking on the third lowest spot.

It is worth noting that the poll was carried out in the year to the end of March which coincided with major roadworks on the M42 near Birmingham Airport.

The M40 was named as England’s most popular motorway connecting London and Birmingham with a 79% overall satisfaction score.

Alex Robertson, the chief executive of Transport Focus, said drivers have said that the maintenance of motorways and roads ‘is more important to them than building new roads.’

He continued: ‘With road user perceptions of road surface quality deteriorating since 2022 – and declining satisfaction with journey times – National Highways must continue to focus on delivering safe, smooth journeys.

‘We’re committed to working with the Government and National Highways to help them to deliver on road users’ top priorities: improved journey times and satisfaction with surface quality.’

While some motorways scored well, the overall satisfaction with respondents’ latest journeys on a motorway or major A-road dropped slightly from 73% in 2022/23 to 71% in the last financial year.

A National Highways spokesperson told Metro: ‘Maintaining and investing in our roads is a priority and our most recent assessment shows that over 96% of them are in good condition.

‘We have a robust programme of improvements which will provide long term benefits for motorists, including shorter and more reliable journeys.’

Record hold-up times on motorways

The survey found that satisfaction with journey times has also fallen from 71% in 2022/23 to 68% in the last financial year.

Delays across England’s motorway networks have reached record levels, official figures from the Department for Transport show.

Drivers faced average hold-ups of 11.0 seconds per vehicle per mile (spvpm) in the year to the end of June – the longest time since records began in March 2016 when the figure was 8.6spvpm.

At the same time, traffic levels on motorways and major A-roads grew by 2.3% from 2022 to 2023, but remained 1% below pre-coronavirus levels, Transport Focus said.

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