London Heathrow Airport is England's largest airport, the largest airport by traffic volume in Europe and one of the world's busiest airports, and London Gatwick Airport is England's second largest, followed by Manchester Airport. Other major airports include London Stansted Airport in Essex, about 50 kilometres (30 miles) north of London, Coventry Airport and Birmingham International Airport.
The growth in private car ownership in the latter half of the 20th century led to major road-building programmes. Important trunk roads built include the A1 Great North Road from London to Newcastle and Edinburgh, and the A580 "East Lancs." road between Liverpool and Manchester. The M6 motorway is the country's longest motorway running from Rugby through North West England to the Scottish border. Other major roads include the M1 motorway from London to Leeds up the east of the country, the M25 motorway which encircles London, the M60 motorway which encircles Manchester, the M4 motorway from London to South Wales, the M62 motorway from Liverpool to Manchester and Yorkshire, and the M5 motorway from Birmingham to Bristol and the South West.
Most of the British National Rail network of 16,116 route km (10,072 route miles) lies in England. Urban rail networks are also well developed in London and several other cities, including the Manchester Metrolink and the London Underground. The London Underground is the oldest and most extensive underground railway in the world, and as of 2007 consists of 407 km (253 miles) of line and serves 275 stations.
There are around 7,100 km (4,400 mi) of navigable waterways in England, of which roughly half is owned by British Waterways. An estimated 165 million journeys are made by people on Britain's waterways annually. The Thames is the major waterway in England, with imports and exports focused at Tilbury, one of the three major ports in the UK. Ports in the UK handled over 560 million tonnes of domestic and international freight in 2005.
Highways agency Brings you up to the minute info on the traffic conditions on the major highways throughout England
Travel by car, van or taxi is by far the most common means of transport, accounting for 85 per cent of passenger mileage in Great Britain.