Heading to Dover from Sheffield tomorrow.

I'll hit the rush hour somewhere, some time.

Google reckons the A1 is only 7 minutes slower than M1. Any advice?

I know the M1 is boring, but is the A1 any better / more reliable?

M1 between J13 and J10 is 50mph with contra flows, can come to a halt if there's the slightest disruption. May make a difference to your calculation. Saying that the A1 has similar at Hatfield.

m1, the worst bit is the m25 over the dartford bridge which you hit anyway
the m1 is miles quicker, the a1 is very stop/start roundabouty and either way you hit the m25 before dartford,

khani – the A1 has had a lot of the roundabouts taken out AFAIK

OP – I'd take the A1 personally, I bloody hate the M1! 🙂

Its 1 mile short so go the A1

M1, M25 M20 try to be in Dover before 4pm if you can as you don't want to be on the M25 after about 4pm.

i hate the m25, makes me want a mini gun on the front of my bongo, if anyone farts it blocks up, as joolsburger says get past it before 3.30-4.00pm or your nackerd

if you go on the a1 drop on the a14-m11 rather than strait down to the m25 it drops you a lot further round the m25 which also has a lot of roadworks/contraflows which end just after the m11 junction,

Quickest way is to aviod the M25 Ring of Doom so –

M18 to Hull, ferry to Rotterdam, E17, E15 to Calais then tunnel to Dover.

Second considering the A1 > A14 > M11 as it misses out a decent chunk of the M25 and the slower section of the A1 (Bedfordshire). There are no longer any roundabouts on the A1 between Sheffield and the A14.

However check the highways website before you depart and tune into a radio station that does traffic (e.g. Radio 2). You have options so don't be scared to change them late on. The problem with the above route is whilst its quieter it's two lanes most of the way so if things go wrong they go horribly wrong.

Just watch the A14 in the morning rush hour, well jammed up from Huntingdon to Cambridge between 8 and 9.

I'm from Kent and used to live in Sheffield and would always use the A1 / A14 / M11 option (obviously, unless there was a specific problem on it). Go that one, all else being equal. As above, avoid the M25 from 3.30ish onwards.

A1, A14, M11, M25 every time, they've built flyovers to most of the roundabouts which were holdups such as Markham Moor, Stamford, Colsterworth etc, runs straight into M11. I do it on a regular basis on a Friday rushour. Also if the proverbial does hit the fan, there are more options to get off the A1 and take to the country lanes rather than queueing for a junction that may be 15 miles away.

the m25 was the main reason i gave up being an hgv driver, its soul destroying day after day

A1-m11 every time, just keep an eye out for cameras

I travel down from North Yorks to Folkestone every other week

I would do the A1 M11 route every time

A1 is fine now as they've taken out all the roundabouts and put nice underpasses in….
I'd do A1>A14>M11 onto the M25, but as richmars has said the A14 between Huntingdon & Cambridge is pretty slow from about 8am, particularly from Godmanchester onwards.
Not a total disaster, but it will be slow. It will dump you a lot further round the M25 than if you take the A1 all the way to the M25 and the A1 currently has roadworks through the Hatfield tunnel that are a nightmare at rush hour.

The A1 is officially owned by lorry drivers, who like to sit side by side blocking free moving traffic for miles……I wouldn't.

did'nt know they'd done that to the A1,not been that way for a while would be easier than the M1 though, as said above check the traffic reports, friday is not a good day down here for traffic, id leave sheffield at 9.30ish and you'd get down here before it kicks off fine style, i used to drive down from mancheater every week on a friday and if i left after 12 i was ****

A1, A14, M11. At rushhour it will take about an hour -> 1.5hrs to do M25 J27 to Dartford on the ring of doom. I'd leave Sheffield a bit later or stop on the way down and the M25 will have calmed down by 7pm. Lots more chilled then.

I do this route 2 times a week.