THE majority of motorway lanes and roads in the region will remain open over Christmas and New Year to ease the Christmas rush.

The Highways Agency announced that most roadworks will be suspended over the holiday period to help reduce traffic congestion.

Essential work will be carried out with speed restrictions remaining in place is some locations.

In North Yorkshire, all schemes have been suspended or completed and only emergency work will be carried out.

On the A1M, between junction 63 at Chester-le-Street and junction 65 at Washington, there will be night-time lane closures between January 2 and 4, and a 24-hour contraflow system will begin on January 5.

The A1 Alnwick bypass, in Northumberland, will have some traffic management and 40mph speed limit will remain over Christmas.

Highways Agency Chief Executive Tim Matthews said: "Christmas is always a busy time on our motorways. By suspending the majority of our roadworks until the New Year, customers will be able to travel with as little disruption as possible to their journeys.