This year’s top motorway was the M40, last year’s top motorway was the M5, which fell from 82 per cent to 77 per cent this year, putting it fourth.
One M5 driver said: “Traffic was not heavy, few lorries, other drivers were sensibly driving.”
Regionally from the seven National Highways regions it was the South West that was the highest rated with an overall user satisfaction score of 76 per cent. The M25 region is lowest at 68 per cent.
Drivers have rated the M42 as the worst motorway in England in a new survey from the independent watchdog, Transport Focus.
The Strategic Roads User Survey asked more than 9000 road users about their last journey on a motorway or major ‘A’ road managed by National Highways.
The M42’s place at the bottom of the league table comes after it scored 56 per cent for overall satisfaction from road users. This follows a significant period of roadworks around Birmingham airport. One of those dissatisfied said “Roadworks, potholes and delays. Terrible road to drive on.”
The A19 was rated the best ‘A’ road in England with the highest overall satisfaction at 85 per cent. The A12 received the lowest overall satisfaction rating from road users (55 per cent), followed by the A27 (63 per cent).
Alex Robertson, chief executive at the independent watchdog Transport Focus said: “Drivers tell us that the maintenance of motorways and major roads – how most of us get around the country – is more important to them than building new roads. With road user perceptions of road surface quality deteriorating since 2022 and declining satisfaction with journey times, National Highways must continue to focus on delivering safe, smooth journeys.
“We’re committed to working with the Government and National Highways to help them to deliver on road users’ top priorities – improved journey times and satisfaction with surface quality.”
Key findings show overall, 71 per cent of road users were satisfied with their journey, this is a decrease from 73 per cent last year.
Road user satisfaction with journey time has declined to 68 per cent, down from 71 per cent last year.
Satisfaction with road surface quality has also declined to 68 per cent compared with 73 per cent last year.
Management of roadworks continues to be one of the weaker performing areas with 49 per cent of drivers that passed through roadworks on their journey satisfied with their management, similar to last year.
Overall rank Road Overall satisfaction %
1 A19 85
2 M40 79
3 M4 78
4 M5 77
5 A1(M) 76
6 A38 75
7 A46 74
8 M56 73
9 A30 73
10 M3 73
11 M60 72
12 M6 71
13 A1 71
14 A2 71
15 A14 71
16 M27 70
17 M1 69
18 A47 69
19 A5 69
20 M11 68
21 M25 67
22 A34 64
23 A3 64
24 A27 63
25 M62 60
26 M42 56
27 A12 55