Research finds exactly where road to hell lies

The M60 has been ranked as the country’s most challenging motorway, with the highest levels of congestion, thousands of road incidents and no motorway services along its route.

The 36-mile long route encircling Greater Manchester beat the M25 into second place, despite the London orbital having more than 200 collisions in the past year, 31,000 road incidents and thousands more vehicles on the route.

The research found average delays of 15.58 minutes on the M60, compared to the M25’s 15.36 minutes.

In third place was the M11, connecting London and Cambridge. Despite carrying significantly less traffic than the M25 or M60, the motorway has just one service station, Welcome Break’s Birchanger, leaving motorists with a 51-mile gap between places to stop, the longest distance of any motorway in the top 10.

At the other end of the list, the M48 connecting Gloucestershire with Monmouthshire in Sout Wales via the Severn Bridge, ranked as the UK’s top motorway for drivers, thanks to its low collision risk and limited disruption.

MoneySuperMarket, which carried out the research, said it used two indexes: one ranking UK motorways based on overall journey quality and another assessing motorway service stations based on their facilities, choice and convenience.