Drivers could save up to £500 each year

Drivers are set to benefit from up to £500 of savings per year, as well as have 1,127 miles of roadworks are lifted.

RAC data has shown that hitting a pothole can cost drivers up to £460 in repairs, leading the government to funnel £1.6 billion into local councils to fix the roads. This is enough money to fix seven million potholes. 

Additionally, the government froze fuel duty at current levels for another year, which will save the average car driver £59.

Together, this means that drivers could save up to £500 each year, as well as benefitting from the 97.5 per cent of major roads across England that will be free from roadworks. This is especially beneficial as 19.1 million drivers are estimated by the AA to make car trips on Good Friday.

Transport secretary, Heidi Alexander, said: “Cutting journey times and saving drivers money every year is all part of our Plan for Change to raise living standards and put more money in people’s pockets.

“We are tackling the read problems that drivers face by lifting 1,127 miles of roadworks over Easter and cracking down on disruptive street works to make journeys to see loved ones as smooth as possible.

“This government is also saving drivers up to £500 a year, with councils soon to receive their record £1.6 billion pothole funding and the continued freeze on fuel duty.”

Significant routes to benefit from roadworks being lifted or completed in time for the Easter getaway include: over 130 miles of roadworks on the M25, more than 100 miles on the M1 between London and Chesterfield, and more than 70 miles on the A27 between Polegate, East Sussex and Havant, Hampshire.

The government is clamping down on utility companies with disruptive streetworks, with doubled fines and charges of up to £10,000 per day for utility works that overrun at weekends and bank holidays, ensuring road works finish on time

The most congested roads will see the biggest charges, under lane rental schemes, meaning that utility companies are charged more on the busiest roads and at the busiest times. At leat half of the revenue raised from these will go into mending more potholes, so that even more roads can be improved.

Moreover, the government is also introducing measures to implement a new digital service that will speed up roadworks, slash traffic delays and reduce accidental strikes on pipes which currently amount to 60,000 per year, costing the UK economy £2.4 billion.

A new hole in the UK is dug every seven seconds, and so the National Underground Asset Register, part of the Data (Use and Access) Bill, will create a map of the country’s underground pipes and cables, allowing construction workers to instantly see their exact location, a process which currently takes six days. 

This comes part of the government’s wider initiative to transform Britain’s roads, with seven major road schemes backed by £580 million, including the A47 Thickthorn Junction and £290 million for M3 Junction 9.