Easter weekend traffic expected to be at its worst today

The motoring organisation expects more than 11 million drivers to hit the roads over the bank holiday weekend, with the bulk of congestion occurring today.

Conversely, Easter Sunday is liable to be the quietest day of the year.

More than 450 miles of roadworks on major routes are due to either be completed or suspended by Highways England by the holiday weekend.

The south-west will be the busiest area, with the M54, M5 and A303 likely to experience heaviest traffic, with the M1, M6 and M25 also likely to be congested.

The railways should be relatively unaffected by engineering works, with Network Rail promising normal operation promised for 95% of services.

However, passengers are advised to check before traveling, as various network upgrade plans are planned, causing slight disruption on parts of the West Coast, East Coast and Great Western main lines.

Also, Manchester Victoria station will be closed for nine days from Good Friday.

British Airways, the largest carrier at Heathrow, predicts Thursday will be its busiest day, with 2.4 million people flying from the airport.

Meanwhile, National Express is adding 13,000 seats to cope with increased holiday demand.