REVEALED: our most congested road
VIRTUALLY nose to tail, traffic struggles along the North East’s most congested stretch of road where nightmare snarl ups and jams are commonplace.
The region’s official ‘road to hell’ has been identified as the A19, from its junction with the A189 around Annitsford down to the Holystone roundabout on the A191 in Northumberland.
Motorists using it spend an average of 33 hours a year in delays there, particularly in afternoon traffic. Outside London, this is the joint fifth highest figure in the UK.
Meanwhile, according to the research by traffic information supplier Inrix, motorists travelling around Newcastle get stuck in traffic an average of 24 hours per person a year. These delays add an extra £990.67 a year to driving costs.
The bill to Newcastle as a whole is £139m made up of direct costs like the value of fuel and time wasted and indirect costs like freighting and business fees from company vehicles idling in traffic that are passed on to the household bills through higher prices.
Across the UK, the picture is even worse. Drivers waste an average of 31 hours stuck in rush hour traffic last year making the country the world’s 10th most congested country, costing the typical motorist £1,168, according to Inrix.
The city or town with the worst jams was London, followed by Manchester, Birmingham, Luton and Edinburgh.
London is Europe’s second most congested location after Moscow, with drivers spending an average of 74 hours in gridlock last year, up one hour on 2016.
Inrix chief economist Dr Graham Cookson said: “The cost of congestion is astonishing.
“It takes billions out of the economy and impacts businesses and individuals.”
In its research, Newcastle was the eighth worst major city and came 27 out of 112 locations tested.
Elsewhere in the North East, analysis by Inrix put Durham in 71st place where motorists spent on average 15 hours a year stuck in traffic costing drivers an extra £684.11 a year.
Further afield, Middlesbrough came in at 82nd with an average 13 hours of time spent in traffic jams costing £583.84.
Darlington in County Durham was 92nd where figures showed motorists spent on average 100 hours per year stuck in traffic costing £524.61.
A Department for Transport spokeswoman said: “The Government is taking the big decisions for Britain’s future, underlined by our record £23 billion for road schemes - the biggest investment in a generation.
“This will help cut congestion, shorten journey times, and boost economic growth.
“We are also giving councils record amounts of capital funding - more than £7.1 billion up to 2021, which will help to upgrade and maintain local roads up and down the country.
“Alongside this, we’ve announced plans for a new major road network that will give councils access to a multibillion pound fund to improve or replace the most important A-roads in their area.”