Transport User Voice – August 2020 – M11 ranked England’s best motorway

28 July 2020

Our latest Strategic Roads User Survey

What do you think of the roads you travel on and how would you rate them? This is the second year of our Strategic Roads User Survey which looks at just that for motorways and major ‘A’ roads in England.

Over 8000 road users were asked for their views. The M11 was ranked the best motorway, with an overall satisfaction rating of 92 per cent. 95 per cent of users also said they felt safe while driving on it.

The best ‘A’ road was on the other side of the country, the A66, which goes through Middlesbrough and North Yorkshire.

On the other end of the spectrum, users were least satisfied with the M20 (which links ports at Dover and the M25) for the second year in a row. One user commented:

“Get the roadworks done – it’s been 50mph for too long – must be two years possibly…”

The survey looks at factors including feeling safe, management of roadworks and feeling safe.

Other key findings:

• 81 per cent of road users are satisfied overall with their last journey using a motorway or major ‘A’ road managed by Highways England
• 79 per cent were satisfied with the journey time
• overall satisfaction with road surface quality went up slightly to 83 per cent
• the management of roadworks is lower – only 68 per cent of those surveyed were satisfied
• 92 per cent of drivers feel safe using Highways England’s roads.

The least happy road users were commuters with only 76 per cent satisfied, followed closely by those travelling on business at 77 per cent. Vans, lorries and professional drivers all indicated around 78 per cent satisfaction with the roads.

The survey became the formal measure of satisfaction among users of Highways England’s roads in April 2020 for the Government’s second Road Investment Strategy from 2020-25.

You can see the full report here.

 

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