It's official: A458 between Shrewsbury and Welshpool is the road worst hit by summer holiday traffic
A busy stretch of the A458 between Shrewsbury and the Welsh border has been named as the worst-hit by summer traffic.
Figures released by government reveal the top 20 A roads with the biggest percentage rises in traffic volumes during the summer holiday period.
Transport minister Jesse Norman said a 12-mile stretch of the A458 between Shrewsbury and Welshpool, heading towards Snowdonia, sees 23 per cent more vehicles between July and September - more than any other A road.
Steve Gooding, director of motoring research charity the RAC Foundation, said: "These routes will be known to millions of drivers who use them annually to get to the seaside or the countryside.
"But we sometimes forget that they are also key roads for local motorists who are going about their daily business rather than setting off on holiday. For visitors and residents alike, there is nothing worse than being stuck in traffic when they'd rather be anywhere but.
"We hope that many of these routes will feature in the Government's future investment programme so that whatever the purpose of people's journey, the answer to the backseat question 'Are we there yet?' will be 'Very nearly'."
The figures were published by Mr Norman in a written response to a parliamentary question.
Drivers have been warned to expect delays this weekend as almost nine million vehicles embark on the start of the summer getaway.
The RAC predicted that a total of 37 million leisure trips will be made over the first two weeks of the school holidays.
The worst times to travel are anticipated to be Friday between 1pm and 8pm, Saturday between 11am and 4pm and Sunday between 11am and 4pm.
