The UK's Most Pointless Highways

[p4p3rc1ip 2]

Don't tempt me!

Trust me, I'd know when I was on the M25. Just look out for the congestion and the vandalism..

[Horus_Kol 118]

Originally posted by: p4p3rc1ip Yes, but the TSRGD clearly states that all road numbers which are not the number for the road which is marked (in this case, the forward destination on the sign) should be in brackets. IMO the rule should be amended so that you can put the road's number on 'fork' signs. "Heathrow (M4) Gatwick (M23) Oxford (M40) M25" would be much clearer.quote>

the sign makes sense to me - it means keep going until you get to the junction for that road...

[montrouge 2]

I think UK  motorway will be toll.

In France the worst motorway

A47  is free

http://franceautoroutes.free.fr/photosautoroute.php?route=a47

http://franceautoroutes.free.fr/photosautoroute.php?route=a47&nb=10&page=2

[p4p3rc1ip 2]

With this pay-per-mile thing every road in the UK will be tolled.

[S1acker 0]

I think UK motorway will be toll.quote>

At the moment England only has one Toll motorway (excluding bridges and tunnels), that is the M6 Toll.

[S1acker 0]

With this pay-per-mile thing every road in the UK will be tolled.quote>

I personally think this is a rather bad idea, it will encourage people to drive off the Motorways and through towns - to avoid the charge. however i think the idea itself is pretty good, it has to be planned out extremley well.

[Horus_Kol 118]

hmmm. the image posted by DarkTrooper at

https://www.simtropolis.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=23&threadid=79945&enterthread=y&STARTPAGE=2

highlights the poinlessness of the A329(M) - originally envisioned as a link from the M25, through Bracknell, past Reading and into South Oxfordshire - the road never makes it over the Thames...

still, for me, it is the quickest way home (I live 5 minutes from the north end of it), so I guess it isn't entirely pointless...

[p4p3rc1ip 2]

I actually posted it the first time!

There's more info on the M31's plans at http://www.pathetic.org.uk/motorways/m31.shtml, and more info on the A329(M) as it is at http://www.pathetic.org.uk/motorways/a329m.shtml.

[neongamer 3]

Yea, in Didcot the main bypass is basically just a bridge over the rail line, with a sudden drop. I've lost count of how many cars have crashed not knowing the roundabout is just at the bottom of a hidden dip... Oh yea, has anyone seen the Swindon 'Magic Roundabout'? It looks like this:

And the sign looks like this:

[p4p3rc1ip 2]

Yes, it's been mentioned twice in the roundabout's thread. There's also two more, one in Hemel and one in Uxbridge.

[S1acker 0]

http://bealach-na-ba.fotopic.net/p8969908.html 

This gives a clear view of the proposed "London Ringways".

[p4p3rc1ip 2]

CBRD also has looks at it in huge detail under 'histories'.

[S1acker 0]

Do you mean this site: www.cbrd.co.uk/histories/ringways/ ? If so its not working for me

[p4p3rc1ip 2]

Yeah, CBRD is down today. I was talking to Chris earlier and he's trying to get it back going.

We assume that the problem is that his host is doing maintenance (we both use the same host, and have both got an e-mail warning of maintenance). However, mind isn't down yet, and they said they have emergency procedures and you should be down for no more than five minutes...

[MadTV_Freak 0]

I find it very amusing that the UK has large highways in the middle of dense forested areas... at least let the median be spread out... not made of metal and concrete.... however, I dont think its anything wrong with that, just amusing

[p4p3rc1ip 2]

http://pathetic.org.uk/photos/a167m/index.shtml

We have some urban motorways too. However, none of them are complete and we don't really have any 'proper' urban motorways.

[organicsabre 1]

Originally posted by: SystemUK

Originally posted by: Duke87 What I mean by 'milepost numbering' is explained here.

Look in the third section, "Distance based numbering".quote>

 

We do.

They are on the signs at one of the corners. And, making them better than the picture on Wiki, they also show the towns/cities that you can get to from it.

quote>

Signs like that are common place on teh M25, also common place is it always gets gridlocked so you can spend more time admiring them while you are sat not moving Talking of pointless things.. How about this sign (and it is a real one not a joke)

[LBraden 14]

how do they know its there...... wait, we cannot confirm or deny the existance of that bunker

[Horus_Kol 118]

Originally posted by: p4p3rc1ip http://pathetic.org.uk/photos/a167m/index.shtml

We have some urban motorways too. However, none of them are complete and we don't really have any 'proper' urban motorways.quote>

what about the M5 and M6 through Birmingham, the M74 in Glasgow, and the M602 in Macnhester?

[p4p3rc1ip 2]

Not quite. A proper urban motorway is four lanes of concrete, parts in tunnels, sharp corners, local exits, traffic joining and leaving from all angles, and all in a few miles! Compared to that, the M602 runs through the countryside!

[Constantina 5]

Secret nuclear Bunker... Interesting... Where is it?

[S1acker 0]

Ha ha, the secret Nuclear Bunker, i have a funny story about this. I was in Essex with my Family and we had found out about this bunker, but we could not find it! We saw the signs, followed them but nothing. It turns out the entrance to it is through a normal bungalow, so we were driving around looking for an "entrance" and all the time it was just a bungalow. So we never got to it.

[p4p3rc1ip 2]

Yeah, "Britain's Best Kept Secret"!

[Horus_Kol 118]

There was one in the centre Basingstoke too (because everyone knows what a vital location that place is for the defence of the realm), before they pulled down the old building on top of it and built new flats...

[asteconn 9]

I'm sure this has been covered already but I'll say it anyway :-)

Distance Markers.

Distance Markers in the UK are provided on all motorways and some major all-purpose-roads (like th A417 / A419). They are pretty insignificatnt little things on the side of the road about 3 feet high. The distance is measured in yards and there is one every 100 yards.

Route Numbering:

Route numbering for all-purpose-roads (euqivalent to highways in the US I think) in the UK follows a 'zone' pattern. We have 9 (formally) major routes, the A1, A2, A3, A4, A5, A6, A7, A8 and A9. Not really too brain-taxing, although some of these roads have been superceded now. Each of these forms a boundary of the zones. So the A1006 will be found in the '1' zone, and so on. There is a map here: (I don't know how to do links so you'll just have to live with the URL for now :-)

The numbers *tend* to be numbered as spurs of the main route (such as the A12 is the A1 2nd spur) although there are a lot of exceptions (such as the A38, the A34, the A14 etc.)

Numbers for Motorways (= Freeways in American) follow a similar trend, except that the boundaries are different.

Hope that's helped :-)

[ben_1986 0]

here in belgium we have a lot of motorways. In the low-populated southern part most of them have 2lanes in each directions but in the high-populated northern part of the country a lot of them have 3 or 4 lanes in each direction. Despite the 3 or 4 lanes they are usually heavily congested during rush hours (from where i live to brussels airport, it would normally take about 40min, but during rush hours it can easily take 2-3hours). Also the roadsurface isn't always in a good state and we our speed limit is set at a 120kph (i think about 75mph) while the european standard is a 130kph.

and since you all seem to love rondabouts: this is a picture of an exit of the e40-motorway (the exit "Wetteren") where they have constructed a roundabout above the motorway

[p4p3rc1ip 2]

They are pretty insignificatnt little things on the side of the road about 3 feet high.quote>

You may like this then:

http://www.cbrd.co.uk/indepth/mileagesigns/

[asteconn 9]

I should have said "usually" lol. Yeah I'm aware of the existance of those things. They're only on the M6, M25 and M42 ifaia

ben_1986: Those sorts of junctions are very common in the UK. most motorway junctions are of that type or similar.

[p4p3rc1ip 2]

Those things only exist there because they've only just been invented! All new or improved motorways will have these.

Yup, I'm back...

[Constantina 5]

Well, the more weird the motorways are, the more unique it is.