Fears of bank holiday travel chaos for millions of drivers

Motorists could be plagued with tailbacks this weekend following worst roadwork delays for almost a decade

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.
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. 
Inrix, the transport analytics company, warned 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.
National Highways issued an alert for the M56 and M6 in north-west England as up to 70,000 dance music fans headed to the four-day Creamfields festival in Cheshire.
Thousands of drivers were stuck for several hours in queues during the event last year.
Extra police and traffic officers will be deployed around junction 11 of the M56 at Daresbury to deter festival-goers from walking on the motorway, which has happened during previous years, particularly following the end of the event.
Elsewhere on the roads, the port of Dover expects to be used by more than 20,000 cars over the bank holiday period.
Abta, the travel trade organisation, estimated that more than two million people will be heading overseas between Friday and Monday, with Friday expected to be the busiest day for departures.
Popular destinations include beach resorts in Spain, Portugal, Greece and Turkey, with many people heading on city breaks to Dublin, Amsterdam, Paris, Barcelona and Milan.
CAA data shows 160,000 flights were delayed and 8,000 were cancelled across UK airports in July and August last year.
National Highways did not respond to a request for comment.