Dorset's worst A roads for traffic revealed in new data

The Department for Transport has released data on the average speed, delay and reliability of travel times on the Strategic Road Network and local A roads.

Data was collected from 2019 to 2023 and represents ‘seconds per vehicle mile’ which is how many seconds a vehicle is held up for each mile travelled.

Whilst a few of Dorset's A roads have seen an increase in the average time a vehicle is held up, many have seen an improvement.

What are Dorset's worst A roads for traffic delays?

A347

The A347 road is a route that zig-zags through the north of Bournemouth and is one that used to be the main route into the town from the north and east before being taken over by the A338.

It has the worst seconds per mile waiting time of Dorset's A roads at 78.3 seconds which is a fairly marked increase from 63.7 seconds in 2022.

Despite that, the current time is still slightly better than the 80.8 seconds from 2019.

A348

The A348 is one of the routes into Poole from the A31 trunk road, starting at Ferndown and going just past West Howe.

Its seconds per mile waiting time is 74.9 seconds with it only being slightly better than the A347.

Similarly to that road, the current time is still an improvement over what was recorded in 2019 at 79.9 seconds.

A3052

The third worst A road in Dorset for traffic delays is the A3052, which starts near the village of Charmouth on the very western edge of the county.

This road is a fairly long way that finishes up close to Exeter and has a seconds per mile waiting time of 70.8 seconds.

It is a slight improvement from 2022 where it was 73.9 seconds, but considering it used to be 47.4 seconds in 2019 it has gotten a lot worse.

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How do Dorset's other A roads compare?

In comparison to the three A roads mentioned above Dorset holds up quite well, with only three others reaching above 20 seconds.

The A351 has a seconds per mile waiting time of 38.7 seconds, the A399 has 25.1 seconds and the A350 has 21.5 seconds.

A few have seen the average delay time go up by a couple of seconds in the last year, but some have decreased also, such as the A338 decreasing from 26.5 seconds to 12.1 seconds.