Road lengths in Great Britain: 2021
Published 10 March 2022
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About this release
This annual release presents estimates for road lengths in Great Britain maintained at public expense.
These estimates are based on information from a range of sources, including Ordnance Survey and local authorities. The data relates to the length of roads as of April 2021. Detailed statistical tables can be accessed online via the road length statistical series.
To note, some of the figures in this release may not sum due to rounding.
Headline figures
In 2021, the total length of roads in Great Britain was estimated to be 247,800 miles.
There were 31,900 miles of major road in Great Britain in 2021, consisting of:
- 2,300 miles of motorway (99% trunk, 1% principal)
- 29,500 miles of ‘A’ road (18% trunk, 82% principal)
There were 216,000 miles of minor road in Great Britain in 2021, consisting of:
- 18,900 miles of ‘B’ road
- 197,100 miles of ‘C’ and ‘U’ roads
Chart 1: Percentage of road length by road class in Great Britain 2021
Roads in Great Britain (see Infographic 1)
By length, most roads in Great Britain are managed locally (by a local highway authority or Transport for London). This includes all minor roads (‘B’, ‘C’ and ‘U’ roads), and some major roads (principal ‘A’ roads and motorways).
The rest of the major roads (trunk motorways and ‘A’ roads) are managed centrally by National Highways (formerly Highways England), Transport Scotland, and the Welsh Government.
Motorways, ‘A’, ‘B’ and ‘C’ roads are classified roads, and ‘U’ roads are unclassified. ‘U’ roads are typically residential streets or rural lanes.
For further information see the notes and definitions
Infographic 1: Graphical representation of road types and their management in Great Britain
Trends over time
In 2021, there were 247,800 miles of road in Great Britain. This was 2,800 more miles than a decade earlier in 2011 (a 1.1% increase), and 4,900 more miles than in 2001 (a 2.0% increase).
Most of this change seen over the last 20 years was due to an increase in minor roads. There were 4,200 more miles of minor road in Great Britain in 2021 than in 2001 (a 1.9% increase), almost entirely driven by an increase in ‘C’ and ‘U’ roads.
The remaining 700 mile increase between 2001 and 2021 was accounted for by major roads in Great Britain, a 2.2% increase, with motorways contributing 200 miles and ‘A’ roads contributing 500 miles of that increase (see Chart 2). Whilst the overall length of ‘A’ roads increased by 500 miles between 2001 and 2021, the length of trunk ‘A’ roads decreased by 1,600 miles and the length of principal ‘A’ roads increased by 2,200 miles. This largely reflects the Government’s de-trunking programme where centrally managed roads were transferred over to local authorities, with most transfers carried out between 2001 and 2003.
Trends in road lengths are consistent over time, with small changes observed each year. Given the time taken to implement road schemes, the disruption observed during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has had minimal impact on the rate of change of road lengths compared to previous years.
Chart 2: Length of major trunk and principle roads by road type in Great Britain from 2001 to 2021
Road length by country
Of the 247,800 miles of road in Great Britain in 2021:
- 190,000 miles (77%) of road were in England
- 36,800 miles (15%) were in Scotland
- 21,000 miles (8%) were in Wales
Table 1 and Chart 3 directly below show the varying composition of each country’s road network by road type.
Table 1: Breakdown of road length (thousand miles) by country and road type in 2021
| Trunk Major Roads | Principal Major Roads | All Major Roads | ‘B’ Roads | ‘C’ and ‘U’ Roads | All Minor Roads | Total Roads | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| England | 4.5 | 17.9 | 22.4 | 12.4 | 155.2 | 167.6 | 190.0 |
| Scotland | 1.1 | 1.7 | 2.7 | 1.9 | 16.4 | 18.3 | 21.0 |
| Wales | 2.1 | 4.6 | 6.7 | 4.6 | 25.5 | 30.1 | 36.8 |
| Great Britain | 7.7 | 24.1 | 31.9 | 18.9 | 197.1 | 216.0 | 247.8 |
Chart 3: Proportion of road length by country and road type in 2021
In England, the Strategic Road Network (all trunk motorways and trunk ‘A’ roads) was 4,500 miles long and made up 2% of the total length of road in England.
In comparison, trunk roads made up a slightly higher proportion of roads in Scotland (6% of total road length) and Wales (5%). The composition of these trunk roads differed in each country, with 42% of trunk roads classified as motorways in England, compared to only 8% in Wales and 14% in Scotland.
In 2021, a higher proportion of the road network in Scotland consisted of major roads (18%) compared with Wales (13%) and England (12%). A greater proportion of ‘A’ roads were classified as principal in England (87%) compared to Scotland (71%) and Wales (63%).
Scotland and Wales estimates
The Scottish and Welsh Governments produce their own estimates of road length.
Rural and urban breakdowns
In 2021, the majority of road length in Great Britain was rural, with 75% of ‘A’ roads, 80% of ‘B’ roads, and 57% of the combined ‘C’ and ‘U’ roads classified in this way.
Just as the composition of the road network by road type varied between England, Scotland and Wales, so did the proportion of urban and rural road length. England had a lower proportion of minor roads classified as rural (57%) than Scotland (62%) or Wales (77%). England also had the lowest proportion of rural ‘A’ roads out of the three countries (see Chart 4).
Chart 4: Proportion of road length classified as urban and rural by road classification and country
Background Information
Rounding
Figures quoted in this publication are rounded to the nearest 100 miles. Raw differences and percentage changes are always calculated from unrounded numbers.
Traffic and road length in England
Vehicle activity is unevenly distributed across Great Britain’s road network. Road traffic estimates for 2021 are provisionally due to be published in May 2022, and so were unavailable at the time of publication.
In 2020, 60% of the motor vehicle miles travelled were on motorways and ‘A’ roads, despite comprising only 13% of the road network by length.
On an average day in 2020, 44 times more vehicles travelled along a typical stretch of motorway than a typical stretch of minor road (‘B’ roads, ‘C’ roads and unclassified roads).
More information can be found in the road traffic estimates for Great Britain: 2020 publication.
Methodology changes
Ongoing improvements to the accuracy of data sources and methodology may account for some of the slight changes between years.
Further technical and methodological information
Updated urban and rural classification for Scottish roads
The 2021 road length estimates for Scotland have been calculated using the 2016 Urban and Rural classification (the latest version available). This update was announced in our previous annual publication and provides a more consistent definition of urban and rural roads across Great Britain. Data for years prior to 2021 are still based on the older classification (2013 to 2014 for Scotland).
Some of the changes in the length of urban and rural roads in Scotland since the last publication are due to the updated methodology rather than changes in the actual length of roads.
National Statistics
National Statistics are produced to high professional standards set out in the Code of Practice for Official Statistics. They undergo regular quality assurance to ensure customer needs are met. Details of ministers and officials who receive pre-release access to these statistics up to 24 hours before release can be found in the pre-release access list
Further information about these statistics is available, including:
- road length statistics: data tables
- road length statistics: notes and definitions
- road length statistics: methodology note
Future road length statistics publications
The department is continuing to assess how the OS MasterMap Highways Network dataset can be used to produce improved estimates of road length in future. The product is continuously being developed with Ordnance Survey (OS), GeoPlace and other stakeholders. If you have any questions, please email road length statistics.
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Contact details
Road length statistics
Email road.length@dft.gov.uk
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