The Highways Agency is providing real-time road data to Google Maps in a bid to help drivers plan their journeys ahead to avoid congestion.

Under the partnership, users will benefit from traffic information and predictions based on past conditions. The data is provided by the Highways Agency's national traffic control centre in Birmingham, and is also used to populate the Agency's own information channel.

The traffic feature superimposes a colour-coded layer of the average speeds on England's motorways and major A roads onto the existing Google Maps facility with different colours indicating the current speed of traffic.

Partnerships such as this are a key part of the Highways Agency's information strategy aimed at getting real-time traffic information out to drivers, according to Denise Plumpton, director of information at the Agency.

"We work regularly with third-party organisations in order to get our information to as wide an audience as possible," she said.

"We have also recently provided the BBC with access to our traffic cameras to allow road users to check the conditions on the internet before they leave. We look forward to working with other partners in the future."