Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Congestion is estimated to have cost the UK an estimated £8bn in 2018

Motorists on the UK's most congested road spend an average of two and a half days a year sitting in traffic.

Taxi drivers try to avoid the worst offender - London's A406 North Circular Road from Chiswick Roundabout to Hanger Lane - "at all costs", says one firm.

Traffic data firm Inrix said drivers lost the equivalent of a week each to jams in 2018.

The Department for Transport (DfT) said it was investing in public transport to ease congestion.

Road users lost an average of 178 hours each to congestion in 2018 in total across all roads, Inrix said.

It estimated the value of the time lost at about £7.9bn or £1,317 per driver.

London's drivers lost about 227 hours each on average, compared with 190 hours in Belfast, 165 in Edinburgh and 143 in Cardiff.

Most congested roads in the UK Area Road From To Hours lost per year London A406 North Circular Rd Chiswick Roundabout Hanger Lane 61 London A23 Brixton Rd Kennington Thornton Rd 56 London Kingsway / Strand / Cannon Str Russell Square Monument 49 Leeds Leeds Rd-Saltaire Rd Harrogate Rd Bradford Rd 44 Birmingham A34 Stratford Rd Highfield Rd Highgate Middleway 44 London A406 North Circular Rd East Finchley Edmonton 43 London A1203 The Highway Canary Wharf Tower of London 43 Birmingham A34 Stratford Rd Highgate Middleway Highfield Rd 42 Leeds Huddersfield Rd / Leeds Rd Dewsbury Huddersfield 40 Manchester Bury New Rd Higher Broughton M60 (Outer Ring Rd) 34 Manchester Bramhall Lane South Bridge Lane Stockport 33 Black Country Dudley Port Black Country New Rd Dudley 32 Manchester Chapel / Crescent / Broad Str Victoria Bridge M60 (Outer Ring Rd) 32 Glasgow Great Western Rd Kelvinside Bearsden Rd 31 Birmingham Soho Hill/Birmingham Rd Icknield Str M5 West Bromwich 30

'Avoid at all costs'

Image copyright Transport for London Image caption Traffic building up on the North Circular Road at Hanger Lane at about 08:30 GMT on Monday

Traffic on the North Circular road between Chiswick Roundabout and Hanger Lane can start building as early as 04:30, according to taxi firm owner Manoj Teji.

Mr Teji, 51, who has lived and worked near the road all his life, said: "I can't see any solution to it."

He said the "bottleneck" road had had to cope with an increasing number of cars coming off the M4 and A40 in recent years, adding that drivers sometimes had no choice but to use the route, but where possible they avoid it "at all costs".

Image copyright Benjamin Menyhart Image caption Benjamin Menyhart said he was "surprised" the road had been named the most congested in the UK

But Benjamin Menyhart, 27, who manages a hotel just off the A406 in Ealing, said although the road was quite busy, "I wouldn't have thought [it was] worse than some of the bigger routes in London."

Image copyright Derek Kliger Image caption Derek Kliger said the stretch was "congested and slow" but better than other parts of the North Circular

Minicab driver Derek Kliger, 64, from Richmond said the road had not got any worse over the past three decades.

"It's a major circular route, and if people want to avoid the congestion charge it's the way you get from east to west London."

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Rod Dennis, from the RAC, said although congestion was seen by some as "a marker of a successful city" there was an "enormous cost" attached to it for drivers and for air pollution levels.

"Those cities that are best placed to grow will be those that are developing public transport systems that suit the needs of their citizens, and successfully decide the role the private car should play alongside these," he said.

Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham said Manchester needed powers and funding to tackle congestion.

"I've called on government to give us these powers now and let us get a grip of the congestion that plagues our city-region." he said.

A spokeswoman for the DfT said the government was investing £23bn into the UK's roads, with £2.5bn to support "innovative public transport schemes" to help ease congestion in urban areas.

Transport for London said it was taking "bold" measures to reduce congestion, including extending the congestion charge to private hire vehicles.

A spokesman said it was also looking to make sure companies doing road an utilities work around the capital were "better coordinated", and delivery companies "more efficient".

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