Highways England will complete or lift 448 miles of roadworks – leaving 98 per cent of its 9,534-mile network free of roadworks in time for the Christmas getaway.
Highways England is completing 407 and suspending 41miles of roadworks by 6am on Friday 23 December until Tuesday 3 January to help people get away this Christmas with as little disruption as possible.
Key schemes which are being completed in time for Christmas include:
- the £191 million improvement scheme at Catthorpe Junction 19 of the M1 – which will revolutionise the journeys made by more than 142,000 vehicles through the area every day
- work to upgrade 5.4 miles of the M1 between junction 34 for Meadowhall and Rotherham
- junction 35a for the A616 Stocksbridge bypass in Sheffield
- the Chain Bar junction where the M62 meets the M606 has been upgraded to include an additional lane
- the M25 £100 million junction upgrade where the motorway meets the A13 in Essex, near the Lakeside shopping centre and retail park, which has added vital extra capacity to the junction in time for the Christmas shop
Highways England operations director, Nick Harris said: “This Christmas bank holiday, we’re helping drivers with their journeys by clearing roadworks on most of our motorways and major A-roads.
“Our traffic officers will also be on patrol working to clear any incidents; the vast majority of which will be dealt with in under an hour.
“We’re asking people to be prepared before setting off. Make sure you have everything you need for your journey should there be any delays, check before and during your journey and also make sure you’re aware of the signs and signals on motorways.”
By suspending or completing roadworks, more lanes will be open and many speed restrictions will be lifted.
The authority is also reminding drivers planning to use the Dartford Crossing to pay the Dart Charge in advance or by midnight the day after crossing.
Simoncelli 58 - 12/12/2016 13:00
Suddenly 407 miles of roadworks are going to be completed? Not wishing to be a cynic but that sounds like many "works" have been kept on for too long already, so there can be a big announcement just before Christmas. The M3 shows no signs of being completed anytime soon, and it's been nearly 4 years so far!! By contrast roadworks in Europe actually involve people working! I rarely see anyone actually working on the roads in the UK, and when I do it's often a group of men watching an excavator driver move a handful of soil from one place to another. 100 times more expensive and time consuming that a man with a shovel!