Millions of motorists face the frustration of their daily commute.

They don’t need reports telling them about the congestion in cities – they experience it every day driving into workplaces.

While these reports spell out problems on the roads – Bradford has once again made it into the top ten of the country’s worst congested cities.

According to a new report from INRIX, the leading traffic information and driver services provider, motorists wasted 25 hours stuck in traffic in 2013.

Joe Grint, Bradford Council’s principle engineer for transport and planning, says according to the Department of Transport’s figures which focus on the A roads in all the different local authorities across England, Bradford is 60th out of 149 for congestion which he says paints a different picture.

“They are roads we have entire control over and I think the national average speed in a morning peak is 20 mph, or 20.5 mph on Bradford A roads in 2013 – which is slower than we like but we are a big city, the fifth biggest city in the UK,” says Mr Grint.

He says while they would expect to have some level of congestion, as any big city would, he doesn’t feel Bradford has too much to be ashamed of. “But we do recognise a lot more needs to be done.”

According to Mr Grint, there is plenty in the pipeline and some schemes are already in the planning – thanks to the £1bn West Yorkshire Plus Transport Fund – a joint initiative between West Yorkshire local authorities and York and the West Yorkshire Integrated Transport Authority.

The fund aims to focus on schemes that will help improve the economic performance of the area. Among Bradford’s projects are the congestion hotspots of Canal Road and Tong Street along with the Harrogate Road/New Line junction and Hard Ings Road in Keighley.

It is anticipated the improvements will be carried out over the next ten years, but Mr Grint explains the Council is currently in negotiations with the Government as to how to fund the package.

“The Government has agreed it is a good idea, but the difficulty is getting a funding mechanism we can all agree on sorted out,” he says.

Various scenarios such as changes within the economy can have an impact on funding availability however, some of the projects have already begun ensuring time isn’t lost while negotiations continue.

Detailed feasibility work has started on the Harrogate Road and Tong Street schemes and there are also plans to start detailed feasibility work on schemes for Hard Ings Road and Canal Road in the new financial year.

The Government has already given £2.66m of funding for a first phase of the Canal Road initiative which will incorporate junction improvements in Canal Road and Stanley Road. This has been fully designed and will be completed by 2015. It is expected that the full scheme for Canal Road, including the creation of a dual carriageway for much of its length, will be complete by 2019/20.

Around £250m of the fund is earmarked for smaller scale but important improvements, such as minor junction improvements and measures to help buses. Mr Grint says the Council is currently preparing a list of viable sites where these could be implemented, and is also looking at bidding for more money to fund other projects.

“The Council takes transport incredibly seriously. It is one of our priorities because we recognise the importance of transport to economic growth and this is why we have been working to make sure we get all these things into place because it is going to make a massive difference,” he says.

He adds that we can all do our bit to help and suggests those who are able could consider walking, cycling or taking the bus to work rather than taking the car.

Incidentally, Mr Grint was working from home the day we spoke – a flexible arrangement offered through his workplace which he believes other firms could follow to help cut the district’s congestion.

He says reducing congestion doesn’t just relieve the roads; it can go a long way to improving our health, too.

“We want to make a difference to the economic performance of the district and improve the air quality, get people on the bus and cycling and walking. It is about reducing congestion but it is about making people healthier as well,” he says.

“Even if people did it one day a week it would make a difference.”

He explains that improving the roads to ease congestion will also make the areas better connected.

“We want the whole of West Yorkshire and York and the Leeds city region to be much better connected because it makes such a difference to the economy. All the West Yorkshire councils and York see this as a real priority.”