Car Insurance
Britain's busiest roads
Mon, 20 Feb 2006
A four-mile stretch of the A556 from Knutsford to Altrincham in Cheshire has been named Britain's busiest road in new government figures.
The Department of Transport named the road as Britain's busiest in a list of the country's most congested roads.
The Cheshire road has average rush hour delays of 24 minutes, but further delays cause gridlock when Manchester United's nearby Old Trafford stadium holds home games.
In total 50,000 cars head down the road each day.
Other roads on the list of the nation's slowest were A404 in Buckinghamshire, the M26 in Kent and the A453 in Nottinghamshire.
The government figures for all roads show that in 2005 car traffic was 0.4 per cent lower than the year before, light van traffic increased by five per cent and goods vehicle traffic was 0.8 per cent higher.
Traffic on motorways and minor roads rose by one per cent, while there was a two per cent fall on urban A roads.
Transport secretary Alistair Darling said: "Our answer is to continue to invest at record levels now - £1.9bn on our strategic road network to 2007-08 - and to manage the road system better."
It is hoped the increased investment will not only reduce congestion but also bring down accidents, so motorist's car insurance should not rise.
© Adfero Ltd
