WHEN you find yourself waiting in a sea of brake lights on the commute home, it’s easy to think that the motorway roadworks have been going on forever.

Analysing a total of 107 A-roads and motorways, data from van rental company Van Monster has ranked Britain's most disruptive roadworks with the M62 and the M6 both appearing in the top 10.

And somewhat unsurprisingly, the north west was also ranked the most disrupted region.

The company looked at how many projects were planned for each region including current on-going works and planned improvements over the next three years to work out the total days of delays drivers could be facing in the coming months.

The data was also paired with official traffic data from the Department of Transport (DfT) to deliver an estimate of just how many journeys could be disrupted between now and 2021.

The M62 was ranked fourth in the country with 42 roadworks resulting in 503 days of delays.

The M6 was sixth in the national table with 34 roadworks resulting in 1,586 days of delays.

It estimated this would affect 71,783,155 journeys on the M62 and 210,325,195 on the M6.

Runcorn and Widnes World:

Pic credit: Van Monster

A spokesman added: "Our analysis revealed a total of 830 projects are currently planned in across the nation and that drivers in the north west can expect the most delays, with a total of 161 planned projects over the coming three years, resulting in 1,152 days of potential delays to motorists.

"On the other hand, drivers in the east midlands face the fewest potential delays, with just 91 projects currently planned in for the region.

"This amounts to just 123 days that drivers might be delayed, largely due to projects planned in along the portion of the M1 that stretches past Leicester and Nottingham."

Long-term road works are currently taking place on the M62 to turn junctions 10 to 12 into a 'smart motorway'.

The route, which links the M6 near Warrington to the M60 near Eccles, is used by around 120,000 vehicles every day and highways bosses say commuters previously faced average speeds as low as 36 miles per hour before work started on the upgrade.

Speaking last month, Malcolm Carter, project manager at Highways England, said: “We’re on schedule to complete the project by the end of March next year when drivers will see major improvements to their journeys thanks to new technology as well as an extra lane in each direction.”

You can search for the number of roadworks planned on your nearest route by clicking here