A1 Traffic Statistics
How much traffic uses the plain A1, the non-motorway parts of the road? This page gives the Department for Transport road traffic statistics, 2025, for the road the dataset names “A1”, with the motorway stretches, named “A1(M)”, shown alongside for comparison.
Read this first: these figures include Scotland
The headline figures below are for every A1 count point in Great Britain, so they include the Scottish A1 between the border at Marshall Meadows and Edinburgh. Our news covers England only. We have not yet published an England-only table of individual count points; until we do, treat these as figures for the whole road.
The A1 in 2025
| Measure | A1 | A1(M) |
|---|---|---|
| Count points | 167 | 86 |
| Busiest count point, vehicles a day | 112,532 | 142,783 |
| Average across all count points, vehicles a day | 35,735 | 55,755 |
| Cars and taxis | 72.8% | 68.9% |
| Vans (light goods vehicles) | 17.5% | 18.2% |
| Lorries (heavy goods vehicles) | 8.3% | 12.5% |
The shares are worked out from the vehicle counts added across every count point, so busy points weigh more than quiet ones. On average an A1(M) count point carries more than half as much traffic again as an A1 one, and a higher share of it is lorries.
The A1 count points also record pedal cycles, which are not allowed on a motorway; the A1(M) records none.
Twenty-five years of the A1
| Year | Count points | Busiest | Average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 221 | 104,831 | 39,085 |
| 2005 | 238 | 105,190 | 39,318 |
| 2010 | 218 | 115,704 | 39,904 |
| 2015 | 164 | 117,054 | 34,103 |
| 2019 | 167 | 118,251 | 36,368 |
| 2020 | 163 | 104,069 | 27,461 |
| 2021 | 163 | 107,148 | 30,969 |
| 2024 | 166 | 106,882 | 35,068 |
| 2025 | 167 | 112,532 | 35,735 |
Two things stand out. First, 2020: the average fell to 27,461 in the year of the pandemic, and by 2025 it had recovered to 35,735, close to the 36,368 of 2019. Second, the number of A1 count points has fallen from more than 200 to 167 while the A1(M) has grown from a single count point in 2002 to 86. The set of count points on each road has changed over the years, so the averages for different years are not strictly like for like.
Related pages
- A1(M) traffic statistics — the motorway sections in detail.
- A1 route guide — which stretches are A1 and which A1(M).
- A1 traffic news — reports for the plain A1 in England.
Traffic count figures on this page are from the Department for Transport road traffic statistics, 2025.
Figures for earlier years are from the same Department for Transport road traffic statistics series.