The Northwest is the worst area for road delays, according to recent research.

The Office of Rail and Road’s (ORR) 2021-22 Benchmarking National Highways report, published yesterday (January 19), outlines the regional differences in performance across England’s motorways and major A-roads.

Traffic levels on England’s roads increased after Covid lockdown restrictions eased, affecting the level of delays experienced by road users.

The Northwest had the largest increase in average delays, rising from six seconds to 8.8 seconds per vehicle mile.

The Southwest experienced the smallest rise, with an increase from 6.2 seconds to 7.2.

The Northwest also had the highest level of delays due to roadworks in 2021-22, with the figure more than doubling from 1.1 minutes per hour travelled to 2.4 minutes.

Carlisle experienced many delays during that time, with the Charlotte Street/Junction Street resurfacing works particularly impactful, and more recently, the now-finished Warwick Road works and the existing roadworks on London Road.

The Southeast and Southwest both saw small decreases in roadworks-related delays, with 1.3 to 1.1 seconds and 0.9 to 0.7 seconds respectively.

However, the Northwest improved on the percentage of overnight road closures that are accurately notified.

It scored 66.7 per cent, up from 58.3 per cent last year, which was the fourth best of the regions.

Most of National Highways’ regions continued to perform at or above the national-level target of 95 per cent for the condition of road surfaces. known as ‘pavement condition’.

The Northwest region recorded a score of 96.4 per cent, the joint second-highest score for 2021-22.

Overall, the Northwest performed above the national level target in most performance areas in 2021-22.

The region recorded a user satisfaction score of 70.1 per cent - the third highest of the National Highways’ six regions.

Feras Alshaker, director of highways at ORR, said: "In 2021-22, National Highways’ regions were dealt the challenge of maintaining performance in the face of rising traffic levels following the Covid pandemic.

“As traffic levels recovered, delays also increased.

“Nevertheless, we have seen examples of where the regions have improved performance. 

“Our report is an important resource that we expect National Highways to use to explore and understand regional variations in performance and, where practicable, to act on lessons learned to improve performance across the strategic road network.

“This will, ultimately, lead to better outcomes for road users, the communities it serves, as well as for the environment and the taxpayer.”

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