Impossible (?) Road Improvements

[SteveA30]

I was looking at a map, unusual I know, but I was trying to work out how to bypass the Monmouth traffic lights on the A40. There didn't seem any way to do it without something drastic and nowadays unacceptable. A concrete raft over the River Wye was the best I could come up with but that will never happen.

How many other 'impossible' improvements are out there. Both from an environmental and engineering perspective.

[SouthWest Philip]

I was looking at a map, unusual I know, but I was trying to work out how to bypass the Monmouth traffic lights on the A40. There didn't seem any way to do it without something drastic and nowadays unacceptable. A concrete raft over the River Wye was the best I could come up with but that will never happen.

How many other 'impossible' improvements are out there. Both from an environmental and engineering perspective.

Monmouth is easily fixable. Stop up the roads either side of the traffic lights, pedestrian access only to the bridge over the Wye. Build a new link road and bridge over the line of the old railway to connect the A466/A4136 with the B4293/A40 to the south west, grade separate the A40/A466 roundabout to the north. Job done!

[Herned]

Or move it into a cut and cover tunnel for a few hundred metres, giving Monmouth a decent river front. Would need some flood defences and an enormous pile of money, but certainly doable

[jabbaboy]

Central Gateshead - all of it, it's just a complicated mess.
A1058 from A167(M) to Corner House

Two massive bottlenecks, with very little you can do as the Tyne is in the way.

[Micro The Maniac]

Monmouth is easily fixable. Stop up the roads either side of the traffic lights, pedestrian access only to the bridge over the Wye. Build a new link road and bridge over the line of the old railway to connect the A466/A4136 with the B4293/A40 to the south west, grade separate the A40/A466 roundabout to the north. Job done!

Or reinstate the railway, and include a moto-rail provision...

[KeithW]

It may be fixable at a physical level but most of it is in Wales and the Welsh government is not really keen on building roads, here it is

All new roads need to contribute towards achieving modal shift – both to tackle climate change and to reduce congestion on the road network for freight. We are developing a Freight Plan which will explore options for modal shift for freight as it often currently impractical to use sustainable modes. As a result, the Welsh Government will continue to consider road investment in roads (both new and existing) in the following circumstances

1) To support modal shift and reduce carbon emissions. This is about ensuring that future roads investment does not simply increase the demand for private car travel. Instead, we need to deliver schemes that contribute meaningfully to modal shift, which will require different approaches in different parts of Wales.
To improve safety through small-scale changes. Safety on the road network must be paramount. Investments for safety should focus on specific safety issues to be addressed (rather than wider road improvements and increases in road capacity). Speed limits should be considered as one of the primary tools for improving safety.

2) To adapt to the impacts of climate change. Climate change is already having an impact on our road network and is likely to become an increasing issue in future decades. Road investment can be justified to adapt for these circumstances to ensure roads can continue to function and contribute meaningfully to modal shift.

3) To provide access and connectivity to jobs and centres of economic activity in a way that supports modal shift. In particular, new and existing access roads will be necessary to connect new developments, including Freeports, to the existing network. The location of new developments needs to be consistent with Future Wales / PPW11, which includes the principle of maximising the opportunity of access by sustainable means and should be designed to prevent ‘rat-running’.
In developing schemes, the focus should be on minimising carbon emissions, not increasing road capacity, not increasing emissions through higher vehicle speeds and not adversely affecting ecologically valuable sites.

This is one for fantasy roads I think.

[SteveA30]

I'm talking real world, I fixed Monmouth years ago, in my head. Environmentally, what are the chances of it happening, even if it is possible engineering wise?

Miracles do happen though, I had thought Birdlip was unlikely but, there they are digging away. Stonehenge is on the cards but not 100% definite just yet. Hindhead was only possible through a deal to sacrifice the old road to restore the Devils Punchbowl.
A35 Chideock seems to be 'impossible' but given the above schemes, perhaps one day........

[Bessie]

It may be fixable at a physical level but most of it is in Wales and the Welsh government is not really keen on building roads, here it is

All new roads need to contribute towards achieving modal shift – both to tackle climate change and to reduce congestion on the road network for freight. We are developing a Freight Plan which will explore options for modal shift for freight as it often currently impractical to use sustainable modes. As a result, the Welsh Government will continue to consider road investment in roads (both new and existing) in the following circumstances

1) To support modal shift and reduce carbon emissions. This is about ensuring that future roads investment does not simply increase the demand for private car travel. Instead, we need to deliver schemes that contribute meaningfully to modal shift, which will require different approaches in different parts of Wales.
To improve safety through small-scale changes. Safety on the road network must be paramount. Investments for safety should focus on specific safety issues to be addressed (rather than wider road improvements and increases in road capacity). Speed limits should be considered as one of the primary tools for improving safety.

2) To adapt to the impacts of climate change. Climate change is already having an impact on our road network and is likely to become an increasing issue in future decades. Road investment can be justified to adapt for these circumstances to ensure roads can continue to function and contribute meaningfully to modal shift.

3) To provide access and connectivity to jobs and centres of economic activity in a way that supports modal shift. In particular, new and existing access roads will be necessary to connect new developments, including Freeports, to the existing network. The location of new developments needs to be consistent with Future Wales / PPW11, which includes the principle of maximising the opportunity of access by sustainable means and should be designed to prevent ‘rat-running’.
In developing schemes, the focus should be on minimising carbon emissions, not increasing road capacity, not increasing emissions through higher vehicle speeds and not adversely affecting ecologically valuable sites.

This is one for fantasy roads I think.

Interesting though that the new transport Minister has immediately signalled a move away from those principles:

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-68649940.amp

[Peter Freeman]

'Modal Shift' appears in every one of Wales's quoted paragraphs!

[Barkstar]

'Modal Shift' appears in every one of Wales's quoted paragraphs!

That's the reason Stockport Council have given for canning the A6 bypass. I speculated that by the time there is no need for an A6 bypass there'll also be no need for the buses everyone will be supposedly be using instead.

[Peter Freeman]

'Modal Shift' appears in every one of Wales's quoted paragraphs!

That's the reason Stockport Council have given for canning the A6 bypass. I speculated that by the time there is no need for an A6 bypass there'll also be no need for the buses everyone will be supposedly be using instead.

From time immemorial, the future has been very difficult to predict.

[KeithW]

Interesting though that the new transport Minister has immediately signalled a move away from those principles:
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-68649940.amp

Indeed but the closure of the Menai Bridge made it clear just how vulnerable Wales is to isolation if something were to happen to the Britannia Bridge as it carries the majority of road and railway traffic.

[FtoE]

Relocating the A82 Ft William town centre bypass which currently cuts the town off from the waterfront.
It would need either a tunnel, which will never happen, or a road high up above the town although how you’d get it back down again at the north end without an enormous viaduct around the entrance to Glen Nevis I’ve no idea.

[Chris56000]

. . .Judging by all the years of delays and excuses I've been hearing in the last ten years, the A64 from Hopgrove to Malton is rapidly approaching this category!

. . .Lancaster Western Bypass perhaps?!

. . .Hastings and Bexhill?!

Chris Williams

[Barkstar]

'Modal Shift' appears in every one of Wales's quoted paragraphs!

That's the reason Stockport Council have given for canning the A6 bypass. I speculated that by the time there is no need for an A6 bypass there'll also be no need for the buses everyone will be supposedly be using instead.

From time immemorial, the future has been very difficult to predict.

I was being rather flippant but there have been various plans for a proper bypass through the town for over 50 years and then a couple of years ago, after the council cancelled the scheme, a councillor justified it by pointing out they were building a new bus station and that it wouldn't be needed in the future. It is true predicting the future is difficult but the chances of the need going away any time soon is thinner than sheet of gold leaf.

[Scratchwood]

The East London River crossing/Thames Gateway Bridge, but with a proper connection to the A2.

The original surface route through woodland is unacceptable for environmental reasons, while terminating the crossing on the A2016 would cause gridlock on local roads. And tunnelling all the way from the A406 at Beckton to the A2 would be horrendously expensive and complicated too as there's a sewage works in the way on the north side of the river.

A shame, as it would be much more useful than the Silvertown tunnel, and take a lot of traffic away from Bow.

[Truvelo]

My view of an impossible bypass would be something like a Blackpool Western Bypass or a northern bypass of Llandudno. Both would require a serious amount of land reclamation or a very long bridge over the sea.

[Chris Bertram]

My view of an impossible bypass would be something like a Blackpool Western Bypass or a northern bypass of Llandudno. Both would require a serious amount of land reclamation or a very long bridge over the sea.

You could try tunneling under the Great Orme, but that's very expensive.

[wallmeerkat]

Boston "big dig" style tunnelling of the Belfast M3 and A12 Westlink, due to the ground being effectively mud, plus the costs involved.

[jackal]

Lunar Expressway
Saturn Ring Road
Asteroid Beltway
Sun Inner Distribution Road
Black Hole Regeneration Route
Universe Orbital Motorway
A303 Stonehenge Tunnel