THE M56 has been named as one of the best motorways in England – but other main routes in the area did not feature as highly.

Drivers rated the M42 as the worst motorway in the country, in a new survey from the independent watchdog Transport Focus, with a 56 per cent overall satisfaction rate among road users.

The Strategic Roads User Survey asked more than 9,000 road users about their last journey on a motorway or major A-road managed by National Highways. 

The M40 motorway had the highest overall satisfaction at 79 per cent, although this has dropped from 82 per cent last year.

It has taken top spot as last year’s top motorway, the M5, fell from 82 per cent to 77 per cent.

The M56 was the fourth best motorway in the study, and eighth overall when including A-roads, with a satisfaction rate of 73 per cent.

The M6 was not far behind with a rating of 71, but the M62 was the second worst motorway with a score of 60 – only above the M42 on 56 and A12 on 55.

The A19 was rated the best A-road in England with the highest overall satisfaction at 85 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 are 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.” 

Overall, 71 per cent of road users were satisfied with their journey, showing 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.  

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 most improved region is the north west – the only region to have seen an increase in overall satisfaction, which has moved from joint bottom in 2022/2023 on 70 per cent to second on 73 per cent.