Roadworks will be lifted in time for Christmas getaway

Highways England has announced its workers will down tools between 6am on December 22 and 12.01am on January 2 in a bid to make drivers' journeys hassle-free.

By suspending or completing roadworks, officials say more lanes will be open and many speed restrictions will be lifted meaning people travelling to meet up with families and friends can more easily reach their destinations.

Meanwhile repairs teams will be working around the clock to complete hundreds of miles of road improvements in time for Christmas and New Year.

In total, Highways England is preparing to lift and complete almost 400 miles of roadworks across the country following a £15 billion investment.

Almost 99 per cent of motorways and major A-roads will be roadworks-free in time for Christmas, it has also announced.

Schemes finished in time for Christmas and New Year include those on the A446 in Warwickshire, the M1 near Leicester, A38 in Derby.

While roadworks being lifted include projects on the M1 in Yorkshire, M23 in Surrey and M20 in Kent.

Customer service director, Melanie Clarke, said: “We’re doing everything we can to make journeys as smooth as possible this Christmas and that’s why we’re keeping 99 per cent of the road network we manage free from roadworks.

“Over the past two years we’ve already added 190 lane miles of much needed capacity and that will make life easier for those travelling around this month, as the Christmas countdown begins.”

The news has been welcomed by UK next day parcel delivery firm, DPD, which depots in the Black Country, as it prepares to deliver 16 million parcels over the next three weeks.

Its 9,000-strong army of drivers will notch up more than 15 million miles of driving.

UK operations director Justin Pegg said: “Time is always of the essence in our business, so the work Highways England does throughout the year and especially in December is hugely appreciated. We’re out there every single day in December – quite literally delivering Christmas – and if the roads are clear, it makes a huge difference to the service our drivers can provide.

“DPD will be moving a record number of parcels the length and breadth of the country this December and the vast majority will need to be delivered the next day. We started planning for Christmas in January and every aspect of that plan is painstakingly put together, but there are still elements that remain outside of our control, such as traffic and the weather.”

This Christmas, more than 5,000 Highways England staff including traffic officers and control room operatives will be working around the clock, helping to clear incidents and manage congestion.

During 2016/17 Highways England traffic officers attended more than 49,000 incidents, clearing just over 85 per cent of them within an hour.