M42 named England’s worst motorway – while the M40 ranks top

“Road works, potholes and delays,” a motorist complains. “Terrible road to drive on.”

The unnamed driver is describing the M42 motorway, which loops around to the south and east of Birmingham.

The unloved thoroughfare has been rated England’s worst motorway in the Strategic Roads User Survey – with 44 per cent of motorists finding it unsatisfactory.

National Highways, which operates the strategic route network, is to close part of the M42 at night next week from Monday to Friday for work on overhead gantries

Diversions will be signposted from the despised dual carriageway between junctions 5 and 6 from 9pm to 5am from Monday 14 to Friday 18 October.

Second-worst motorway in the survey by Transport Focus was the M62 across the Pennines, with 40 per cent of users unsatisfied. The London orbital motorway, the M25, was rated third-worst motorway, with a dissatisfaction rating of 33 per cent.

In contrast, the M40 from London via Oxford to Birmingham is the nation’s favourite, with just 21 per cent of users unhappy with the motorway. The M4 was rated almost as highly, while last year’s top motorway, the M5, saw dissatisfaction rise from 18 to 23 per cent.

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Overall, the proportion of cheesed-off commuters has risen by one-sixth since last year – during which average motorway speeds have also fallen to the lowest since records began, to 57mph.

Transport Focus, the independent watchdog, asked more than 9,000 motorists how satisfied they were with the road surface, journey times, the management of road works – and how safe they felt.

The chief executive, Alex Robertson, told The Independent that renovation work was largely to blame for the M42’s poor show.

He said: “We had a lot of road works around Birmingham airport.

“People are less happy with journeys that take a bit longer, with the road surface quality and when management of road works isn’t what it should be.”

Some of the disruption to the M42 has involved work for the HS2 rail project.

In January, a bridge over the M42 was hit twice in one week by lorries. It was later demolished.

Mr Robertson said National Highways had made improvements in parts of the country – such as deploying traffic officers on key A roads in southwest England to help clear breakdowns more quickly.

He called for clear communication well ahead of planned road works to allow drivers to adjust their journeys.

Among major roads that are not motorway status, the worst performer is the A12 between London, Colchester and Ipswich, with 45 per cent of users dissatisfied. The most highly rated A road in England is the A19 from Yorkshire to north of the Tyne, paralleling the A1.

Only 15 per cent of users are dissatisfied, with one driver summing it up as: “Clear road, decent surface, good markings.”

The survey comes exactly 100 years after the world’s first motorway opened in Italy, between Milan and the northern city of Varese.

A National Highways spokesperson said: “Maintaining and investing in our roads is a priority and our most recent assessment shows that over 96 per cent of them are in good condition.

“We have a robust programme of improvements which will provide long-term benefits for motorists, including shorter and more reliable journeys.”