Roadworks to be lifted for Easter

Roadworks were being lifted today across the motorways in the West Midlands in a bid to help motorists get away for the Easter break.

But drivers in the Black Country will face the same delays as usual on one of the most congested parts of the M6 with work staying in place for safety reasons.

The Highways Agency is lifting or completing 24 sets of works around the region and keeping five in place as the great getaway begins.

Works were meant to be complete by 6am today as around six million car drivers across the country were expected to hit the roads.

One of the few staying put was the £150m scheme to open up the hard shoulder to traffic and install variable speed limit signs on the M6 between Junctions 8 at Wednesbury and 10a at Wolverhampton.

The agency said open excavations and unprotected infrastructure made their removal impossible.

Traffic will be kept to 50mph.A total of 74 sets of roadworks are due to be completed and a further 60 are due to be suspended across the country.

Derek Turner, the Highways Agency's director for network delivery and development, said: "The Highways Agency is lifting as many roadworks as is safe and practical to do so for this Easter bank holiday."

Around 60,000 people will escape the Easter rain to fly to the sun from Birmingham Airport. Manchester Airport will see around 140,000 passengers flying, while Heathrow will deal with more than half a million passengers.

Bus services will operate as normal on Easter Sunday with a Sunday service running on Easter Monday.On Good Friday National Express West Midlands will run a Saturday service with extra buses on the 13, 14, 17, 20, 54/55, 66, 94, 97/97a routes.

The Midland Metro is running a 15-minute service on Good Friday, Easter Sunday and Easter Monday.Engineering works mean some trains will be diverted.

Buses replace London Midland trains between Coventry, Rugby and Birmingham International on Saturday.

CrossCountry services between Stafford and Manchester Piccadilly will be diverted via Crewe on Easter Sunday.