Set the alarm earlier – the rush hour commute lasts up to eight minutes longer than five years ago

Heavy rush hour traffic is forcing Surrey drivers to set the alarm up to eight minutes earlier than five years ago just to get to work on time.

A 46-mile morning commute along A roads from Farnham to Redhill took an hour and 55 minutes on average in September 2010.

But by this September, motorists spent two hours and three minutes at the wheel to make those same weekday journeys.
Travelling the 42 miles along A roads from Lingfield to Guildford took an hour and 46 minutes in 2010 compared to an hour and 53 minutes five years later.

The slower commutes were estimated from data published by the Department for Transport (DfT) that reveals traffic takes two minutes and 41 seconds on average to travel a mile on Surrey’s A roads at peak times during the week compared to two minutes 31 seconds in 2010.

It follows the county council’s call for a share of the new roads fund from Vehicle Excise Duty after the small print of the last Budget indicated it will only be spent on motorways and major A roads managed by Highways England.

They cover just 100 miles in Surrey while the 3,300 miles of local roads overseen by the council will not see an extra penny despite the number of miles driven on them every year rising by 100 million since 2010.

John Furey, Surrey County Council’s Cabinet Member for Highways, said: “Sacrificing time in bed is something nobody likes doing, especially when it means staring glumly at a queue of traffic in front of us.

“But these figures are further proof of the huge impact rising traffic on Surrey’s already heavily used roads have on our lives and given that local drivers contribute £100m in Vehicle Excise Duty every year while only getting £20m back to invest in our network it only seems right that they get a fairer deal.”

A list of average speeds on almost 50 roads in Surrey – including the A3, A22 and A31 – from 2007 is also available on the DfT website.