Wigan road trips are getting slower, data reveals

For every mile travelled on Wigan's main roads, a motorist is at a standstill for a minute.
New data released shows the slow timing of Wigan journeysNew data released shows the slow timing of Wigan journeys
New data released shows the slow timing of Wigan journeys

That’s 13 seconds longer than the national average.

It might not sound a lot, but for people driving longer distances around the borough, it means they only progress 21 miles in an hour and need to leave several minutes more for a journey than folk around many other parts of the country do.

Wigan notoriously has a congested infrastructure due to traditionally narrow main routes and built-up areas which the council is currently trying to alleviate with construction of various parts of the M61 to M6 link road. One-off projects - such as the current cycle lane revamp of the Saddle junction at Newtown and gas pipe replacement on the East Lancs Road at Lowton - also lead to snarl-ups.

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Figures were released by the Department for Transport to show how many seconds drivers will spend motionless for every mile they travel on an A road. The latest statistics, covering 2017, show there has been a rise of three per cent on the previous year.

Speeds on A roads, where England’s average is 25mph despite speed limits ranging from 30mph to 70mph on small urban roads to dual

carriageways.

In 2017 motorists in Wigan drove along at 21mph on average: slower than the previous year by one per cent.

The DfT recently announced it was investing up to £10m in Street Manager, a programme which passes on up-to-date information about roadworks to sat-navs and navigation apps.