Shropshire residents were bracing themselves for the big Easter getaway today, with millions predicted on the roads and a weekend of sunshine and showers expected in the county.

About 10 million drivers are set to take to the road nationally over the holiday period, with today expected to be the busiest day for traffic and for airports, but county rail service users should not face delays.

Rail users in Shropshire should be able to get to London relatively easily as extra services will be put on by the rail company Wrexham & Shropshire.

However, nationally passengers on a number of routes will face service suspensions while a £55 million programme of engineering work goes ahead.

Tourism bosses in Shropshire today said Easter was vitally important to the county, with tourism worth £561 million a year in total.

A wealth of big events are planned in the county with weather due to be in complete contrast to last year when travellers faced snow and bitterly cold weather.

John Warner, Shropshire Star’s weatherman, said tomorrow would be fairly wet but Saturday, Sunday and Monday were expected to be sunny with light winds and scattered showers, particularly in the afternoons.

Temperatures are expected to be about 13C (55F) to 14C (57F), which Mr Warner said was about average for this time of year.

The Highways Agency said 50 sets of roadworks were suspended by 6am today to ease congestion including work on the A49 at Dorrington, near Shrewsbury.

Sarah Whittall, senior marketing officer with Shropshire Tourism, urged people to turn out to support planned events.

She said: “Easter is a very important break. It’s the start of the season.”

Nationally, about two million people will travel abroad this Easter.

The RAC said today that 33 per cent more people intended to take short trips by road this Easter than last Easter, and warned all major routes are likely to be congested over the holiday period.