Transport analysts have warned that a section of the M1 in Leicestershire will be the second worst affected road in the country to be hit by the Christmas road rush.
INRIX, a provider of transportation information, analytics and driver services, have said the M1 northbound section from junction 21 at Leicester to the M18 turn off at junction 32 will see delays of up to one hour and 25 minutes due to the festive snarl up.
Their experts say the normal travel time to cover that section is an hour but will take two hours and 25 minutes and the average speed of the traffic will be 25mph.
The survery says that the 60-mile stretch of road will be hit by those delays on Friday December 19, Tuesday December 23 and Saturday December 27.
Apparently the peak traffic times on those roads are about 4pm on the Friday, 12pm on the Tuesday and a little later on the Saturday.
The one hour 25 minute delay on the M1 in Leicestershire is only beaten by a section of the M25.
The 41.5 mile section of the M25 between junction 23 and junction 10 will face a delay of one hour and 40 minutes. It means the journey that should take 40 minutes will take two hours and 20 minutes.
The survey says that 35 million vehicles are expected to take to the country's roads ahead of the festive season. Friday December 19 will see the worst of the delays, which will peak at around 4pm as Christmas traffic combines with the usual Friday evening peak period.
There could be up to 20 million cars on the road throughout Friday afternoon as drivers leave work early or set off to spend the festive season away from home.
Traffic on Tuesday December 23 will peak at around 12pm, and after the normal quieter period of Christmas Day and Boxing Day, traffic will pick up again on Saturday December 27 as drivers head home after spending Christmas away, return to work or go shopping.
The worst affected roads will be major motorways, including the M1, M25 and M6, it joins the M6 (Halesowen and Birmingham).
Greg Hallsworth, lead scientist and traffic analyst at INRIX, said: "Drivers would be well advised to steer clear of driving in the afternoon of Friday
December 19 as this will be the busiest period on the roads this Christmas.
"There will be significant delays between 12pm and 6pm caused by a combination of the usual Friday evening post-work peak, the start of English school holidays and people driving home for Christmas."
