Roadworks on motorways and trunk roads to be lifted for the festive getaway
Motorists are being urged to plan long journeys as National Highways prepares to lift motorway roadworks over the festive period.
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Nearly all projects on motorways and trunks roads will be lifted between 6am on December 20 and 12.01am on January 2 to ensure major routes are clear for drivers over Christmas and New Year. This covers 165 miles of road in the Midlands region.
This includes a 45-mile stretch along the M1 where work was being carried out to build new places to stop in an emergency to increase the number of refuges on the M1 to 28.
National Highways said that together with the phased opening of safety enhancement work on the M1 near Luton, 63 miles of roadworks along the motorway will be lifted before Christmas Day to assist traffic moving between London and Yorkshire.
The agency's customer service director Andrew Butterfield said: "With more people expected to travel during the festive period and recent storms causing widespread disruption, it’s crucial for drivers to plan ahead and exercise extra caution on the roads.
“To help make journeys smoother, we’re removing roadworks on 95 per cent of the roads we manage and to reduce the risk of breakdowns, we are also urging motorists to check their vehicles using the handy acronym TRIP - especially tyres, coolant, and oil levels before setting off."
