HE to remove 450 miles of roadworks for Easter getaway

Highways England is aiming to lift more than 450 miles of major roadworks ahead of the four-day Easter break.  

The government-owned company wants to complete or lift 208 sets of roadworks by 6am on Thursday 24 March – leaving more than 97% of its 9,534-mile network free of roadworks in time for the holidays.

Ninety-seven per cent of major A-roads and motorways will be roadwork free and major roadworks are to be removed from the M25, M6, M40, M62 and M20.

Roads Minister Andrew Jones said: “We want to deliver fast and reliable journey times for drivers over the bank holiday weekend so I am pleased hundreds of miles of cones are being lifted.

“This is good news for millions of families and hardworking people who will be travelling and taking advantage of the four-day break. We are delivering £15 billion of upgrades to our roads to make our highways fit for the future – but motorists should not needlessly be held up.”

Highways England director of customer operations, Mel Clarke, added: “This Easter, we’re helping drivers with their journeys by clearing roadworks across the majority of motorways and major A-roads in England.

“We’ve worked closely with other transport providers to ensure our network can cope with increased demand, and we’re pleased to say that 97.2 per cent of our roads will be free of work to help Easter road trips go smoothly.”