Drivers have ranked the best and worst roads on the English strategic network in the latest national satisfaction survey from Transport Focus.
After the transport user watchdog interviewed close to 1,000 people, in what proved to be a frustrating year for drivers, the 2024-2025 Strategic Roads User Survey (SRUS) results are in.
Satisfaction rankings for the individual English regions declined across the board. The final tally was:
- South West: 75% satisfaction (last year's result 76%)
- North West: 71% (73%)
- East: 69% (71%)
- Yorkshire and North East: 66% (71%)
- Midlands: 66% (70%)
- South East: 66% (70)
- M25: 63% (68%)
In terms of individual routes, the A30 in the South West achieved the highest level of overall satisfaction with 85%, followed by last year’s table topper, the A19, in Yorkshire and the North East at 81%.
The M40, between London and Birmingham, retained its crown as the highest rated motorway with 75% satisfied.
The bottom slot in the table is now held by the A47, in the East, scoring just 56% for overall satisfaction. It scored poorly on journey time too, but was weakest on road surface.
The poorest performing motorway this year was the M1, linking London and Leeds, scoring 57% overall satisfaction, down from 69% last year.
The M1 had multiple long stretches of roadworks, related to retrofitting emergency rest areas on smart motorways in the wake of public safety concerns, which impacted satisfaction.
