Road traffic
Busiest UK roads by traffic count
More traffic generally means more road noise, but not always: speed, lorries, road surface, cuttings and screening all matter too. This table ranks the 32 roads we cover by how many vehicles pass a typical count point on each one a day. It shows traffic, not measured noise.
| # | Road | Typical vehicles a day | Busiest count point | Lorries (typical share) | Count points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | M25 | 136,100 | 212,636 | 10.5% | 54 |
| 2 | M60 | 129,700 | 201,196 | 4.6% | 42 |
| 3 | M27 | 111,100 | 146,598 | 4.8% | 25 |
| 4 | M1 | 110,200 | 162,446 | 12.2% | 108 |
| 5 | M56 | 105,400 | 179,634 | 8.1% | 32 |
| 6 | M62 | 104,500 | 150,115 | 13.7% | 63 |
| 7 | M3 | 95,400 | 140,751 | 6.2% | 26 |
| 8 | M5 | 94,000 | 150,612 | 9.5% | 55 |
| 9 | M23 | 90,500 | 119,367 | 4.9% | 9 |
| 10 | M40 | 88,900 | 136,403 | 9.5% | 33 |
| 11 | M4 | 88,700 | 156,491 | 7.0% | 83 |
| 12 | M6 | 86,800 | 187,521 | 13.6% | 117 |
| 13 | M61 | 82,400 | 153,012 | 7.2% | 16 |
| 14 | M66 | 80,600 | 105,024 | 5.5% | 8 |
| 15 | M42 | 76,600 | 138,454 | 11.4% | 36 |
| 16 | A13 | 72,100 | 133,085 | 5.1% | 51 |
| 17 | M53 | 64,300 | 78,813 | 6.2% | 19 |
| 18 | M2 | 61,400 | 103,004 | 8.6% | 21 |
| 19 | M65 | 59,300 | 86,935 | 5.4% | 24 |
| 20 | M11 | 56,600 | 123,458 | 10.6% | 26 |
| 21 | M69 | 55,800 | 70,483 | 9.2% | 5 |
| 22 | M20 | 51,900 | 128,314 | 11.6% | 18 |
| 23 | A14 | 45,600 | 106,320 | 14.4% | 92 |
| 24 | A12 | 44,000 | 102,888 | 4.1% | 84 |
| 25 | M54 | 41,000 | 74,257 | 8.7% | 21 |
| 26 | A1 | 39,200 | 112,532 | 9.3% | 238 |
| 27 | A19 | 32,700 | 110,220 | 5.5% | 108 |
| 28 | A3 | 29,400 | 112,777 | 2.5% | 112 |
| 29 | A34 | 23,900 | 79,504 | 2.5% | 146 |
| 30 | A2 | 20,200 | 157,821 | 4.2% | 102 |
| 31 | A23 | 18,900 | 79,637 | 2.6% | 99 |
| 32 | A40 | 13,700 | 116,893 | 3.7% | 182 |
How this table is made
- Figures are annual average daily flow counts from the Department for Transport, 2025 data, matched to each road by its road reference. "Typical" is the median across that road's count points.
- Only roads with count points in the data are listed. A road missing from the table has not been ranked.
- A count point is a place on the road, so a road with a few busy junction counts and many quiet stretches can sit lower than its busiest section suggests. The "busiest count point" column shows that peak.
- Counts are for the road, not for your home. Distance, speed, surface and screening change what you hear. AcoustaPLOT results for an address are modelled, not measured.
To see what a road means for a specific address, run an address check, or read buying a house near a motorway or busy road.