Where would you have a new road built? - opportunity beckons

[320touring]

This would make chod collection much easier! I'd buy 320tourings octavia if it would only cost me £17.99 to fly up to his local plane station

First week in Jan is showing prices from £13 to fly london to glasgow...

[trigger]

A proper carriageway linking Ipswich to Norwich instead of using that god awful A140 would be a god send.

[Asimo]

Most of the rest of Europe get this - as soon as you are past the slower vehicle get back over to the right (or here the left). We really do not anymore widening programs, we need people to move back over straight away; us Brits are absolute morons about this - some sort of national mental issue going on.

I wonder if it is because of driving on the left; deep down we all want to drive on the right?

 

I know it sounds daft but even though I have driven at least a hundred times as far on the left here in Britain than I have driven on the right in the U.S.A. or Continental Europe, there is something about driving on the right that feels more natural to me.

[Taff]

A tunnel please, at the Birdlip end of the A 417, to connect the very good dual carriageway from the M4 at Swindon with the M5 at Gloucester. At most 2 miles long and through soft limestone it would delete a serious bottleneck and accident spot as well as improve life in two Villages. Win, Win, Win.

 

Tunnels are widely used for roads everywhere else I have been, but they are rarely used here.

 

agreed, all tunnels are most excellent

[AlabamaShrimp]

I wonder if it is because of driving on the left; deep down we all want to drive on the right?

 

I know it sounds daft but even though I have driven at least a hundred times as far on the left here in Britain than I have driven on the right in the U.S.A. or Continental Europe, there is something about driving on the right that feels more natural to me.

I don't want to drive on the right thanks. In fact everyone should drive on the left so we can all swing swords at each other as we pass or even better car jousting!

[dave21478]

quicker and easier to turn every road into an 8 lane super highway #welshpavingisforwinnerz

 

But then you get trucks lined up in lane 6, oblivious assholes spaced out in lane 7 and bumper to bumper 110mph Audis in lane 8 with nothing on the inner ones at all.....Back to where we started.

 

Seriously, a few bodies swinging from the overhead gantries and "Get out of the middle lane, asshole" daubed in blood would go a long way.

[forddeliveryboy]

Didn't the French use to hang car wrecks which had been in bad accidents from trees/whatever at or near the accident spot? Would make you think, certainly.

[John F]

Building on Dave's excellent suggestion, I'd like a deep oubliette constructing to house serial middle lane hoggers.

 

Perhaps equipped with a pissing platform around the edge at the top.

[dave21478]

I never saw wrecks but its still pretty common for them to install black silhouette cutouts representing dead victims at the accident spot, sized appropriately for adults or kids.

 

[hairnet]

A motorway to Calais and to Dublin.

id vote for you if one went to holland also

[hairnet]

I don't want to drive on the right thanks. In fact everyone should drive on the left so we can all swing swords at each other as we pass or even better car jousting!

every other country apart from usa that drive on the right do so properly - maybe the roads thing needs to start with that

[DSdriver]

Our village has always been right at the bottom of the by-pass list. It never seems to get any higher although the list gets longer. Probably because no-one from the government or council lives here.

For the first thirty years we were here I thought that a by-pass would be unfair to those who bought a house nowhere near the main road but had it imposed upon them by Macalpine/Marples/whoever is minister for transport nowadays. 

However, lorries are getting bigger and bigger, up from 30 tons max to what? forty five nowadays. Not to mention those who roar through at night obviously well above the weight and speed limits causing the whole house to shake so I am now of the opinion: Sod the poor buggers who would have my traffic imposed upon them, just let me sleep at night without being bounced out of bed by bloody juggernauts.

My house has been standing for three hundred years now, I just want it to last me out.

/rant.

[greengartside]

Diss in Norfolk needs another bypass, the town centre traffic any time of the day is frankly appalling.

 

Norwich is getting a new Northern Distributor Road built which will help the city, but the most crucial link between the Swaffham side of the A47 to the Fakenham road won't be built as there are too many areas of natural importance and significance to plough a road through.

[Slappy]

Can I nominate the A11 between the M11 and the outskirts of Norwich as the country's first unrestricted speed limit highway please?

[PhilA]

You know, the funny thing.. Bristol used to have a nice overhead road that alleviated traffic in a sensible way.

 

Therefore it was taken down because OMGUGLY and replaced with an elongated roundabout that involves (from memory) 7 sets of traffic lights and probably an extra half mile of travel.

 

This is PROGRESS.

 

 

Mind you, taking the speed limiters off trucks would help motorway hassle.

 

--Phil

[Felly Magic]

North Ipswich bypass, so when the A14 frigs up a treat, there is another way round instead of through the town centre. Say from the A140 jct to the A12, as a dual carriageway, and while they are at it, dual the whole of the A12, bypassing umpteen villages

[New POD]

http://www.cbrd.co.uk/badjunctions/57-58-59

 

The m57 has been recently extended into an A road going north bypassing Netherton and Thornton. Planned as a motorway back in 1975, they have built a single carriage way road, which joins up with traffic from Liverpool, snakes slowly through the Ince Blundell woods, before arriving at the Formby bypass. Why the FUCK they couldn't actually have a flyover at switch island, into a dual carriage way and join it to the exist dual carriage way 6 miles further north. Oh I know why. Money.

[chaseracer]

Six-lane motorway from Llanberis to the top of Snowdon, because Vauxhall Frontera.

 

And the fucker would still be in the outside lane at 68mph.

[Dave_Q]

Look no further than the past for what we need.

 

North to south is fairly well catered for, east to west is what is needed, 1 viable Pennine motorway crossing isn't enough as anyone who has tried to use the M62 at rush hour will tell you.

 

All of these have been seriously proposed at some point in the past before being shelved.

 

Another Pennine crossing? I give you the M650.

 

As anyone who's driven on the M606 could guess, it was originally planned to go further than it does, in fact through Bradford and up to Shipley. Map here. This would have linked up to the M650 and on to the M65.

 

Another link from the M62 to the M1 might be a good idea too, how about the Flockton link?

 

This is a particular favourite of mine, another motorway alongside the M60 north of Manchester to seperate the E-W traffic from the local traffic.

 

But enough about the North, how about the Midlands?

 

The M64. Some of it turned into the current A50, a way to get from the M6 to the M1 without going through Brum.

 

The Western orbital, another route to relieve the Birmingham area by going to the West of the current M5.

 

All these are from Pathetic Motorways, http://pathetic.org.uk/ a very interesting site for road fans. The rest of the country has plenty of motorways that didn't quite make it for whatever reason, if they had been built we'd have a more appropriate road system.

 

 

Also, soz to any truckers out there but I would ban HGVs from leaving lane 1 during rush hour.

 

[chaseracer]

I know it sounds daft but even though I have driven at least a hundred times as far on the left here in Britain than I have driven on the right in the U.S.A. or Continental Europe, there is something about driving on the right that feels more natural to me.

 

Me too.

[chaseracer]

Also, soz to any truckers out there but I would ban HGVs from leaving lane 1 during rush hour.

 

Agreed.  This works in Europe - where they understand lane discipline - and on the A42 near Ashby-de-la-Zouch, of all places.

 

Elephant racing is the enemy of progress, in more ways than one.

[Tamworthbay]

Not bothered about new roads but can't we just pave over Kent? It seems to be full of bankers, wankers and people who can't drive properly. At least a decent car park would come in useful. (Sittingbourne excepted as I have mates there).

[ian&mary]

Another Thames crossing, I work within sight of the bridge and almost every day there is a huge traffic jam as people queue to get through the tunnels.

ps no, the recent 'improvements' haven't made the north crossing any better (if anything it's worse) despite what the powers that be are saying. Just ask anyone who lives/works round here...

[Pillock]

Agreed.  This works in Europe - where they understand lane discipline - and on the A42 near Ashby-de-la-Zouch, of all places.

 

Elephant racing is the enemy of progress, in more ways than one.

 

Except during my regular use of the A42 near Ashby-de-la-Soul it seems to be almost universally ignored.

Either they're already in the outside lane when they enter the "fuck off back to your own lane" zone, and they just carry on elephant racing regardless, or they're catching the truck in front up so fast they just go for it. Yesterday - british registered truck, clearly empty as he was on the limiter up the hill towards the A444, just lurched out in front of me with one flash of the indicator (for the benefit of my dash cam presumably) and overtook a slower lorry. Short of using my puny car to pull him over and drag him down to the sign by his ear, what can you do?

 

Someone once told me the cost to a haulier of coming off cruise to not overtake. Every time they have to slow to 50 and get back up to 56mph, it costs them 50p in fuel or something daft. Perhaps a myth, but also perhaps why some truckers would rather plough through a field of kittens than brake.

 

Someone also once told me the M42 was purposefully designed to have bridges too narrow to go to three lanes, to avoid the future cost. True or not, it's a bloody terrible road so in a particularly selfish way, I'd tear the whole lot up - narrow bridges and all - and reconstruct it as 4-lane thus getting me an extra 20 minutes in bed. 

 

http://pathetic.org.uk/unbuilt/is quite a good site, it's a list of proposed yet unbuilt motorways. Quite interesting when you know where they were going to be to see the gaps left - for example, M1 J3, or the huge gap just south of M1 J23A where there was going to be a motorway heading west plus a service station too. Oh, and a motorway chopping straight through the middle of Sheffield.

 

Edit: I see I'm far from the first to point towards the Pathetic Motorways site, soz! http://www.cbrd.co.uk/is just as good in places, but not nearly as funny.

[Lankytim]

I'd like to build some massive elaborate "raised highway" type things which have no allowances for pedestrians or bicycles because screw them. I'd love to be able to drive my car completely through a city without having to stop and acknowledge it in any way, also it'd be more cool and futuristic instead of this bollocks version of the 21st century we've ended up with where nothing's really different.

 

 

The M6 and M5 through Birmingham is all elevated and from the future and that, plus there's spaghetti junction with is scifi. You can sit in traffic and marvel at the thought of all the plebs living in polluted squalor beneath you.

 

I think that section of the M6 is the longest viaduct in the world.. or something.

 

Plus Brum has the worlds only tidal flow motorway with no central reservation (FUTURE) plus a network of tunnels under the city centre you can drive through (FUTURE)

 

Unfortunately all this future roads were built in the 60's/70's. we should really be in driverless skycars by now.

[steved40]

I think we need more cycle lanes.  So.for a start I'd make the outside lane of every motorway into a cycle lane.  Then, when there are no more cyclists (by my reckoning this might take as long as a couple of hours) we can reclaim all the ones that currently clutter up our cities and turn them over for use by proper people who drive cars.

 

And then there's bus lanes.  I have no problem with these as long as they can be used by anyone. In any vehicle.  At any time.

 

Finally speed cameras - remove them all and sell them to the French (other nationalities are available) for a fat profit.

 

Sorted.

[vulgalour]

I can't cure the motorway/road network problem but I can complain about it.

 

Get this, when I'm in lane 2 and I've got my indicator on to move into lane 1 so I'm not a middle lane hog, people actually decide that's when they should speed up, close the gap and pull in front of me.  WTaF?  Lorries also appear to get pissed off when I'm in 'their' lane, particularly HGVs with Polish plates for some reason and Eddie Stobart trucks.

 

I hate using motorways anyway because I don't particularly like driving over 60mph.  It uses more fuel and makes me nervous because of the crazy maneouvres people make at those speeds.  I far prefer a brisk A road but they add so much time to long distance travel it's often just not feasible.

 

Public transport is annoying too.  I'm about four miles from where the shops are, you can't really expect someone to walk 8 miles round trip with a week's shopping and it'd be nice to get on a bus.  Trouble is if I get a bus then I generally have no space on it to put the shopping to come home, and that's if the bus is on time and can get me to the shop at a reasonable pace.  Taxi then?  Well that's just hideously expensive even with door-to-door and again you can be waiting quite a while for one to arrive.  Bicycle?  Love to, but I'd feel especially vulnerable wobbling along with a week's shopping strapped to it, especially on the many roundabouts around here.  Car it is then, because it's the sensible choice.

 

I used to enjoy taking public transport in the late 90s, I'd regularly use the coach to get to London to see friends.  Then they put extra rows of seats in the coaches so there's nowhere for your legs to go, and no space for luggage.  Trains got way more expensive and the same cramped seat issues and even though the car is more expensive still it's balanced out by convenience and comfort.

 

 

 

Essentially, I wish there was a viable alternative to the personal car for doing everything but there isn't unless you live in a city where it's easier to just walk.  The future is crap and not at all what I was promised.

[Junkman]

drew this

 

 

new roads in green.

 

then found this

http://metro.co.uk/2015/03/21/map-shows-15-billion-plan-to-turn-britain-into-giant-motorway-5114161/

 

 

That plan is actually not bad at all.

 

 

However, there should be an actual motorway from Southampton joining the M40 at Bicester, not just a dual carriageway.

This should continue to the M1 at Northampton.

It would take all the traffic (i.e. lorries) going from Southampton to the North (West and East) off the M25.

[rml2345]

The answer to less congestion is never more roads as they fill up with cretins who can't drive just the same leaving you back where you started. What we need is a transport system with a diversity of modes of travel. Ideally one that doesn't line the pockets of Brian Souter or Richard Branson.

So we'd have to own it ourselves but as a national corporation independent of government so they can't sell it again.

So freight can go in containers. Containers go on trains for the longest part of their journey and do the last bit to the shops on roads that are much quieter because we mainly use the new buses and trains for getting about. Cyclists can rejoyce in not being mown down by Range Rovers and cars get used for pleasure trips or holidays or whatever. They become a hobby again and not an appliance.

Well.. We can all dream I suppose.

[Junkman]

The answer to less congestion is never more roads as they fill up with cretins who can't drive just the same leaving you back where you started. What we need is a transport system with a diversity of modes of travel. Ideally one that doesn't line the pockets of Brian Souter or Richard Branson.

So we'd have to own it ourselves but as a national corporation independent of government so they can't sell it again.

So freight can go in containers. Containers go on trains for the longest part of their journey and do the last bit to the shops on roads that are much quieter because we mainly use the new buses and trains for getting about. Cyclists can rejoyce in not being mown down by Range Rovers and cars get used for pleasure trips or holidays or whatever. They become a hobby again and not an appliance.

Well.. We can all dream I suppose.

 

Helicopters for everyone!