Information on the condition of roads in England, as well as other aspects of highways maintenance in the years to March 2020 and March 2021.
The data comes from multiple sources including National Highways (formerly Highways England) and local authorities. Some data from local authorities form part of the Single Data List, making the provision of data a mandatory requirement.
In the period ending March 2021, local authorities in England reported that:
were categorised as red (should have been considered for maintenance).
Of the roads managed by National Highways:
should have been considered for maintenance in period ending March 2021.
Local authorities provided data on a voluntary basis for their amber and green roads for the financial years ending 2020 and 2021. This information was published for ‘A’ roads for the first time in the 2019 release. Where local authorities have provided this information for 2019 to 2020 and 2020 to 2021, this has been included for ‘A’ roads alongside experimental statistics for ‘B’ and ‘C’ roads.
The statistical release does not present maintenance expenditure statistics for 2020 to 2021. This is because the source data for local roads had not been published at the point of production of this release. We are planning to publish an update of maintenance expenditure information alongside ‘Transport Statistics Great Britain 2021’.
Alongside these official statistics, new experimental statistics have also been published in ‘Experimental Statistics: Local Road Condition SCANNER data report, April 2017 to March 2021’, April 2017 to March 2021. This uses the underlying SCANNER data from local authorities to provide more granular analysis of road condition.
An new https://maps.dft.gov.uk/road-condition-explorer/index.html" class="govuk-link">interactive map has been published alongside this release. It presents information at road level on the condition of local authority managed classified (‘A’ roads, ‘B’ and ‘C’ roads), by condition category. This covers 2 time periods with data shown on the map for specific LAs, where this was available, in 2017 to 2019 and 2019 to 2021 respectively.
Road condition statistics
Email mailto:roadmaintenance.stats@dft.gov.uk">roadmaintenance.stats@dft.gov.uk
Media enquiries 0300 7777 878
Explore the interactive maps showing the average delay and average speed on the Strategic Road Network and local ‘A’ roads in England, in 2022.
On the Strategic Road Network (SRN) for 2022, the average delay is estimated to be 9.3 seconds per vehicle per mile (spvpm), compared to free flow, a 9.4% increase on 2021 and a 2.1% decrease on 2019.
The average speed is estimated to be 58.1 mph, down 1.4% from 2021 and up 0.2% from 2019.
On local ‘A’ roads for 2022, the average delay was estimated to be 45.5 seconds per vehicle per mile compared to free flow, up 2.5% from 2021 and down 2.8% from 2019 (pre-coronavirus)
The average speed is estimated to be 23.7 mph, down 1.7% from 2021 and up 2.2% from 2019 (pre-coronavirus).
Average speeds in 2022 have stabilised towards similar trends observed before the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.
Please note that figures for the SRN and local ‘A’ roads are not directly comparable.
The Department for Transport went through an open procurement exercise and have changed GPS data providers. This led to a step change in the statistics and inability to compare the local ‘A’ roads data historically. These changes are discussed in the methodology notes.
The outbreak of coronavirus (COVID-19) has had a marked impact on everyday life, including on congestion on the road network. As some of these data are affected by the coronavirus pandemic in the UK, caution should be taken when interpreting these statistics and comparing them with other time periods. Additional http://bit.ly/COVID_Congestion_Analysis" class="govuk-link">analysis on the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on road journeys in 2020 is also available. This Storymap contains charts and interactive maps for road journeys in England in 2020.
Road congestion and travel times
Email mailto:congestion.stats@dft.gov.uk">congestion.stats@dft.gov.uk
Media enquiries 0300 7777 878
OS Open Roads is a connected road network for Great Britain. It contains all classified roads (such as motorways and A & B roads) as well as officially named unclassified roads. This update also displays motorway junctions. The product is part of the new OS Open products suite and is designed to be used with other OpenData sets. It’s mapping that can help you question, visualise and share results quickly and clearly.
With OS Open Roads you can:
Understand the road network at a ‘high level’ with generalised geometry and network connectivity.Identify locations and pin information, such as incident or accident hotspots.Display results in context using OS Open Map – Local mapping.Take an informed overview of a situation along the network to manage it strategically.
The currency of this data is October 2024. The coverage of the map service is GB.
The map projection is British National Grid.
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Roads in central southern England c.1675, constructed from John Ogilby's strip maps.The .kml file gives a crude preview; please download the shapefiles for discrimination between major routes, minor routes, and speculative spurs.
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DescriptionThe Highway key is a label from OpenStreetMap which aims to map and document any kind of road, street or path. More information on the tag here. LimitationsBear in mind that OpenStreetMap (OSM) is a digital map database of the world built through crowdsourced volunteered geographic information (VGI). Therefore, there is no systematic quality check performed on the data, and the detail, precision and accuracy varies across space. AttributesOBJECTID: Assigned by WWF. Unique identifierhighway: Type of road facility (motorway, trunk, primary, secondary, tertiary)name: Name of the road facilitysource: Source of the Feature (Landsat, Bing, GPS, Yahoo)surface: Type of surface (paved, unpaved, asphalt, ground) oneway: Direction of flow in only one direction (N: No, Y: Yes).maxspeed: Maximum speed allowed (km/h)lanes: Number of traffic lanes for general purpose traffic, also for buses and other specific classes of vehicleservice: Other type of facilities in the road (alley, driveway, parking_aisle)source: Source of the feature (Landsat, Bing)
Open Government Licence 3.0http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/
License information was derived automatically
This dataset contains centreline information regarding roads in Northern Ireland that are adopted and maintained by DfI Roads. Use the ADOPTION_STATUS_NAME column to filter the data and to show current adopted road sections. Note this is a 'live' link and is updated each evening to include any new road sections. A map displaying the adopted roads can be accessed via: https://dfi-ni.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=f8a42fc35a3d48788e651a1d47865ce1
Explore the interactive maps showing the average delay and average speed on the Strategic Road Network and Local ‘A’ Roads in England, in 2020.
Additional http://bit.ly/COVID_Congestion_Analysis" class="govuk-link">Analysis on the impact of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on the road journeys is also available. This story map contains charts and interactive maps for road journeys in England.
On the Strategic Road Network (SRN) for 2020, the average delay is estimated to be 6.7 seconds per vehicle per mile compared to speed limits travel times, a 29.5% decrease compared to 2019.
The average speed is estimated to be 61.8mph, 5.1% up on 2019.
In 2020, on average 42.1% of additional time was needed compared to speed limits travel times, on individual road sections of the SRN to ensure on time arrival. This is down 25.2 percentage points compared to 2019, so on average a lower proportion of additional time is required.
On local ‘A’ roads for 2020, the average delay is estimated to be 33.9 seconds per vehicle per mile compared to free flow travel times. This is a decrease of 22.8% on 2019.
The average speed is estimated to be 27.3 mph. This is an increase of 8.2% on 2019.
Please note a break in the statistical time series for local ‘A’ roads travel times has been highlighted beginning January 2019.
Please note that figures for the SRN and local ‘A’ roads are not directly comparable.
The outbreak of coronavirus (COVID-19) has had a marked impact on everyday life, including on congestion on the road network. As these data are affected by the coronavirus pandemic in the UK, caution should be taken when interpreting these statistics and comparing them with previous time periods. While values had previously been moving towards their pre-lockdown levels, this trend appears to have reversed in the months following September 2020.
Road congestion and travel times
Email mailto:congestion.stats@dft.gov.uk">congestion.stats@dft.gov.uk
Media enquiries 0300 7777 878
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An ARC GIS PRO shapefile mapping the turnpike roads in England and Wales for the 18th and early 19th century. The data includes details of the Turnpike Acts, years of operation, the quality of the road and the routes used by Mail coaches. The data forms the basis of the paper "Government, trusts, and the making of better roads in early nineteenth century England & Wales by Rosevear, Bogart & Shaw-Taylor.
These layers digitally represent diversion routes used to manage traffic in response to road closures required across England's Strategic Road Network unplanned events.As part of National Highways' commitment to sharing data, the diversion routes data provides information to help ensure road users are better informed, particularly freight customers, which is why we are communicating the suitability of diversion routes for different vehicles as per customer service standards GG 903 - Customer service standard for diversion routes for unplanned events and GG 907 - Customer service standard for diversion routes for planned works and activities.The dataset consists of the following:Diversion Route: Contains all the diversion routes, and their applicability for different vehicles and link to the closed stretch of the Strategic Road Network that would trigger the diversion route to be implementedSRN Closed Stretch: Contains information about sections of the Strategic Road Network that when closed will lead to a diversion being implementedDiversion Point: Contains all the restrictions along the diversion route, such as height and width restrictions due to low bridges or narrow lanesTo ensure this information remain accurate, the dataset pulls from layers linked to those maintained by National Highways Resilience Planners.For any issues/queries related to the data, please contact: digitallaboperations@nationalhighways.co.ukFor all other issues/queries please contact: GIS@nationalhighways.co.ukThe data is published under an Open Government Licence.
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Two map files in ARC GIS PRO showing the main roads in England and Wales mapped by John Cary ca 1825
Accessibility of tables
The department is currently working to make our tables accessible for our users. The data tables for these statistics are now accessible.
We would welcome any feedback on the accessibility of our tables, please email road maintenance statistics.
TSGB0723 (RDC0310): https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/676058f7365803b3ac5b5b68/rdc0310.ods" class="govuk-link">Maintenance expenditure by road class (ODS, 1.13 MB)
As of the 2022 release, TSGB now covers primarily cross-modal information. As a result, there are fewer tables in this chapter. Below are the tables that are no longer published with TSGB, but can still be found in the relevant routine DfT statistical collections. The https://maps.dft.gov.uk/transport-statistics-finder/index.html" class="govuk-link">Transport Statistics Finder can also be used to locate these tables, either by table name or code.
Topic | Table information | TSGB tables |
---|---|---|
Road traffic | Road traffic by vehicle type and road class, in Great Britain, by vehicle miles and kilometres. | TSGB0701 (TRA0101), TSGB0702 (TRA0201), TSGB0703 (TRA0102) , TSGB0704 (TRA0202), TSGB0705 (TRA0104), TSGB0706 (TRA0204) |
Vehicle speed compliance | Vehicle speed compliance by road and vehicle type in Great Britain. | TSGB0714 (SPE0111), TSGB0715 (SPE0112) |
Road lengths | Road length by road type, region, country and local authority in Great Britain. | TSGB0708 (RDL0203), TSGB0709 (RDL0103), TSGB0710 (RDL0201), TSGB0711 (RDL0101), TSGB0712 (RDL0202), TSGB0713 (RDL0102) |
Road congestion and travel time | Average delay on the Strategic Road Network, and local ‘A’ roads, in England, monthly and annual averages. | TSGB0716a (CGN0405), TSGB0716b (CGN0504) |
Road conditions | Principal and non-principal classified roads where maintenance should be considered, by region in England. | TSGB0722 (RDC0121) |
Road condition statistics
Email mailto:roadmaintenance.stats@dft.gov.uk">roadmaintenance.stats@dft.gov.uk
Media enquiries 0300 7777 878
Thanks to OS MasterMap Highways Network with Speed Data, you can also access road speed information through our product. It’s an additional dataset to help you plan logistics and monitor our roads more effectively.
Perhaps you're looking for more data about Great Britain's roads? Or maybe you're studying drive times or comparing vehicle types along routes or the impact of a new development? This could be the product for you.
We have enhanced our Highways Network family of products with these three speed data additions. Each product is supplied with an additional data file which will be either Average Speed, Speed Limits or a combination of both.
SpeedMap is a project with the aim of producing a national speed limit database for the UK and Republic of Ireland which can be used with any digital map. Ten years ago we recognised the need for an accurate map to support innovation in road safety – without being tied to a costly proprietary mapping solution. Our data is sourced from a multitude of datasets and boasts 100% coverage of the UK and RoI road network with industry-leading accuracy >99%. Since supplying the first version to a telematics startup in 2012, SpeedMap has become the number one choice for companies who need speed limit data. Our dataset is used by global mapping providers, delivery companies, utility providers, insurance companies, as well as those providing in-vehicle systems. We make our data accessible, reliable and exploitable for your commercial needs, as well as putting the data in the hands of those responsible for making our roads safer.
Important Note: This item is in mature support as of July 2021. A new version of this item is available for your use. Esri recommends updating your maps and apps to use the new version.This map is designed to be used as a general reference map for informational and educational purposes as well as a basemap by GIS professionals and other users for creating web maps and web mapping applications.The map was developed by National Geographic and Esri and reflects the distinctive National Geographic cartographic style in a multi-scale reference map of the world. The map was authored using data from a variety of leading data providers, including Garmin, HERE, UNEP-WCMC, NASA, ESA, USGS, and others.This reference map includes administrative boundaries, cities, protected areas, highways, roads, railways, water features, buildings and landmarks, overlaid on shaded relief and land cover imagery for added context. The map includes global coverage down to ~1:144k scale and more detailed coverage for North America down to ~1:9k scale.Map Note: Although small-scale boundaries, place names and map notes were provided and edited by National Geographic, boundaries and names shown do not necessarily reflect the map policy of the National Geographic Society, particularly at larger scales where content has not been thoroughly reviewed or edited by National Geographic.Data Notes: The credits below include a list of data providers used to develop the map. Below are a few additional notes:Reference Data: National Geographic, Esri, Garmin, HERE, iPC, NRCAN, METILand Cover Imagery: NASA Blue Marble, ESA GlobCover 2009 (Copyright notice: © ESA 2010 and UCLouvain)Protected Areas: IUCN and UNEP-WCMC (2011), The World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA) Annual Release. Cambridge, UK: UNEP-WCMC. Available at:www.protectedplanet.net.Ocean Data: GEBCO, NOAA
The Network Model digitally represents England’s Strategic Road Network. The model contains critical information about our road’s location, names, lanes and widths.The Network Model was derived from Ordnance Survey (OS) Highways data and enriched with internal datasets. It reflects National Highways roads that are open for traffic and have been validated against our Operational Highway Boundary (RedLine).To ensure the model remains accurate, we have implemented processes to track changes across the network. However, if you have noticed any inaccuracies in the data, please report it here. This form is to be used to report data issues only.In this initial release, speed limit and smart motorway information has been removed pending data validation.To download a file geodatabase containing all layers of the network model and their relationships please use this link.For more information about the Network Model please visit our landing page and technical hub.For maintenance issues on the network please report here. For non-emergency incidents please contact our Customer Contact Centre on 0300 123 5000.The data is published under an Open Government Licence.
The statistics refer to the volume of road traffic in Wales. Road traffic estimates for Wales are compiled by the Department for Transport on behalf of the Welsh Government. These estimates are based on annual roadside manual road traffic counts carried out across Wales during the year. These roadside counts are combined with automatic traffic count (ATC) data and road lengths to produce overall traffic estimates. Traffic estimates for major roads are based on a census of all such roads whereas traffic estimates for minor roads are estimated by calculating growth rates from a fixed sample of count points on the minor road network. Further details of the methodology are available from the DfT at the link below: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/road-traffic-speeds-and-congestion-statistics-guidance . All surfaced roads are included in the estimates. The categories are: Major roads: Motorways. Dual carriageways designed for fast traffic with access limited to motor vehicles, and with relatively few places for joining or leaving. The only motorway in Wales is the M4. A Trunk roads. Part of the strategic road network owned by and operated on behalf of Government A County roads. All other A roads. Estimates for A roads are also available with sub-categories for urban and rural roads on StatsWales. Urban roads are those within the boundaries of settlements with a population of 10,000 or more, and rural roads are all other non-motorway major roads. Minor roads: B roads. Roads intended to connect different areas, and to feed traffic between A roads and smaller roads on the network. Classified unnumbered. Smaller roads intended to connect together unclassified roads with A and B roads, and often linking a housing estate or a village to the rest of the network. Similar to ‘minor roads’ on an Ordnance Survey map and sometimes known unofficially as C roads. Unclassified. Local roads intended for local traffic. The vast majority of roads fall within this category. The analysis by vehicle type is based on roadside observation where vehicles are classified according to their general appearance. The vehicle types identified are: 1) Pedal cycles: Includes all non-motorised cycles, 2) Motorcycles: Two-wheeled motor vehicles, including mopeds, motor scooters and motorcycle combinations, 3) Cars and taxis: Includes estate cars, all light vans with windows to the rear of the driver's seat, passenger vehicles with 9 seats or fewer, three-wheeled cars, motorised-invalid carriages, Land Rovers, Range Rovers and Jeeps. Cars towing caravans or trailers are counted as one vehicle, 4) Buses and coaches: Includes all public service vehicles and works buses other than vehicles with less than 10 seats, 5) Light vans: All goods vehicles up to 3,500kg gross vehicle weight. This includes all car-based vans and those of the next larger carrying-capacity, such as transit vans. Also included are ambulances, pick-ups, milk floats and pedestrian-controlled motor vehicles. Most of this group are delivery vans of one type or another, 6) Goods vehicles: All goods vehicles over 3,500kg gross vehicle weight. Includes tractors (without trailers), road-rollers, box vans and similar large vans. A two-axle motor tractor unit without trailer is also included, 7) All motor vehicles: All vehicles except pedal cycles. Traffic volume is measured using Vehicle Kilometres (VKM), which are calculated by multiplying the annual average daily flow of traffic by the corresponding length of road. For example, 1 vehicle travelling 1 kilometre a day for a year would be 365 VKM over a year. In this release estimates are presented as billion vehicle kilometres (bvk).
Agreed Routes - Those which can be used for timber haulage without restriction as regulated by the Road Traffic Act 1988. A roads (eg. A9) are classified as Agreed Routes unless covered by one of the other TTG classifications (eg. Consultation Route) For further details please visit http://timbertransportforum.org.uk/Currency:31/08/17Highland TTG31/06/2017Argyll TTGArgyll TTG Management PlansArgyll TTG In Forest Haul RoadsAyrshire TTGAyrshire TTG Management PlansBorders TTGCumbria TTGDumfries Galloway TTGDumfries Galloway TTG Management PlansGrampian TTGNorth East Eng TTGNorth Yorks TTGStirling TTGStirling Tayside Management Plans
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This dataset represents the complete descriptive metadata for the G Taylor and A Skinner's Survey and maps of the roads of North Britain or Scotland, 1776, a digitised collection of George Taylor and Andrew Skinner's volume of maps depicting roads in Scotland.
Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0)https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
License information was derived automatically
Two map files in ARC GIS PRO showing the main roads in England and Wales mapped by John Cary ca 1825. All Post roads, turnpike roads and other main roads designated by Cary are mapped as polylines. A substantial umber of the "other roads", judged to be parish roads are mapped.
Compiled from forest road network data managed by Forestry Civil Engineering. The data relates to forest road classification.. Last updated from Forester Web on 13/12/2024Forest Roads are categorised on the basis of intended usage (as listed below) rather than the specification used in their construction or upgrading. This can mean that, at a particular point in time, a Class A main road or a Class B spur road may have specification features that could limit its use. Class A - Main Roads " Principal timber haulage route on a long-term basis." Constructed to high specification." Maintained to a high standard." Limiting features shown on road map." All year but not all weather.Class B - Spur Roads" Used by timber haulage lorries for specific operations." Full geometric and safety standards for stated use." Specification tailored to suit purpose." Possibility that surfacing not high quality or durable." Long term maintenance minimal." Each usage subject to individual engineering assessment." Limiting features noted for each particular contract.Class C - Other Roads " Roads other than Main or Spur roads." Maintenance dependent on usage." Not normally used by timber haulage lorries." Use by timber haulage lorries subject to the same individual engineering assessment as Class B roads.
Information on the condition of roads in England, as well as other aspects of highways maintenance in the years to March 2020 and March 2021.
The data comes from multiple sources including National Highways (formerly Highways England) and local authorities. Some data from local authorities form part of the Single Data List, making the provision of data a mandatory requirement.
In the period ending March 2021, local authorities in England reported that:
were categorised as red (should have been considered for maintenance).
Of the roads managed by National Highways:
should have been considered for maintenance in period ending March 2021.
Local authorities provided data on a voluntary basis for their amber and green roads for the financial years ending 2020 and 2021. This information was published for ‘A’ roads for the first time in the 2019 release. Where local authorities have provided this information for 2019 to 2020 and 2020 to 2021, this has been included for ‘A’ roads alongside experimental statistics for ‘B’ and ‘C’ roads.
The statistical release does not present maintenance expenditure statistics for 2020 to 2021. This is because the source data for local roads had not been published at the point of production of this release. We are planning to publish an update of maintenance expenditure information alongside ‘Transport Statistics Great Britain 2021’.
Alongside these official statistics, new experimental statistics have also been published in ‘Experimental Statistics: Local Road Condition SCANNER data report, April 2017 to March 2021’, April 2017 to March 2021. This uses the underlying SCANNER data from local authorities to provide more granular analysis of road condition.
An new https://maps.dft.gov.uk/road-condition-explorer/index.html" class="govuk-link">interactive map has been published alongside this release. It presents information at road level on the condition of local authority managed classified (‘A’ roads, ‘B’ and ‘C’ roads), by condition category. This covers 2 time periods with data shown on the map for specific LAs, where this was available, in 2017 to 2019 and 2019 to 2021 respectively.
Road condition statistics
Email mailto:roadmaintenance.stats@dft.gov.uk">roadmaintenance.stats@dft.gov.uk
Media enquiries 0300 7777 878