ALMOST all motorways and major A routes will be clear of roadworks in time for Christmas, says Highways England.

The agency is getting ready to lift and finish almost 400 miles of works around the country so people can get to their families and festive celebrations.

Repair teams will be working round the clock to beat the December 22 deadline when 99 percent of motorways and strategic A roads are expected to be clear.

Highways England’s customer service director, Melanie Clarke, said: “We’re doing everything we can to make journeys as smooth as possible this Christmas and that’s why we’re keeping 99 per cent of the road network we manage free from roadworks.

“Over the past two years we’ve already added 190 lane miles of much needed capacity and that will make life easier for those travelling around this month, as the Christmas countdown begins.”

And during the festive period more than 5,000 Highways England staff, including traffic officers and control room operatives will be working around the clock, helping to clear incidents and manage congestion.

Over the last year the officers went to almost 50,000 motorway incidents and 85 percent of them were cleared within an hour.

Since it was created in 2015, Highways England has invested £15BN in completing 18 major road improvements across the country.

The roadworks embargo runs from 6am on December 22 until 12.01am on January 2.