The Cornwall A-Road Where Delays Have Jumped 307% Since 2020

Drivers across Cornwall already know which routes test their patience, but new figures suggest one road in particular has gone from a quiet run to a daily slog in just four years.

Research from car parts marketplace Ovoko has ranked every A-road in the county by current delays and how much conditions have worsened since 2020, drawing on Department for Transport data covering extra seconds added per mile.

The A3076 stands out

No road in Cornwall has deteriorated as sharply as the A3076. Delays on the route stood at 14.4 seconds per vehicle per mile in 2020. By 2024 that figure had reached 58.6 seconds, a rise of 307% in four years and the steepest increase of any A-road in the county.

That puts the A3076 in third place overall for current congestion, sitting alongside roads that have long been recognised as Cornwall’s slowest.

The county’s most congested routes

For sheer delay, the A3073 takes the top spot, recording 61.9 seconds of delay per vehicle per mile in 2024, up 35% on 2020. The A3047 sits just behind at 58.9 seconds, although delays on that route have remained broadly stable since 2020 and have actually fallen slightly.

The A3082 has climbed from 30.8 to 45.8 seconds, a 49% jump, while the A3072 has remained consistently high at just above 40 seconds per mile across the period.

Not every road is getting worse

The figures also show that congestion pressure in Cornwall is concentrated rather than county-wide. The A30, A39, A394 and A395 have all seen delays either fall or remain relatively steady since 2020.

Kazimieras Urbonas, Supplier Excellence Manager at Ovoko, said: “What stands out here is not just how high delays are on some roads, but how quickly certain routes have caught up. The A3076 has gone from relatively low delay levels to sitting alongside some of the busiest roads in Cornwall.

“That kind of change usually points to shifting traffic patterns, whether that is new developments, changing travel habits or increased demand on specific routes. Once that happens, delays can rise very quickly.

“And in a county where traffic can double during the summer months, even small shifts in local travel patterns can have an outsized effect on roads that were never built for this volume.”