Selly Oak Bypass

[Mr C]

One problem with improving the traffic flow through Selly Oak is that when you try to turn right across the dual carriageway, leaving the city centre bound A38 Bristol Rd to turn into Eastern Rd, as many commuters like me do, the other drivers in the right hand lane may be more inclined to see this as just an overtaking lane. It's bad enough at the moment with some people racing along and swerving back into the left hand lane at the last moment to avoid the stationary traffic waiting to turn right in the afternoon rush hours.

[gepree68]

The map on the PDF seems to show that a large part of the Selly Oak By Pass will be S2 as opposed to the existing A38 that is S4.

Is this correct, and if so how is the new road intended to cope with the traffic? Or are they expecting that half the drivers will continue using the existing A38?

[Big L]

There are always parked vehicles, trucks unloading, busses stopped etc to block off one of the lanes on the old route.

[dvboy]

Yep, no buses running along the new road.

[JamesA44]

I've just sent an email to Birmingham City Council asking about this. Let's see what they say.

I'll be very interested to see the response to that!

[geo449]

Regarding the...err...interesting re-numbering, can we ask Warwickshire/Oxfordshire not to renumber the B4100 to B41?

Also, how long have they been building this bypass? It seems like there has been work going on there for well over a year now, not that I go that way often but there always seems to be building work of some sorts going on over Selly Oak way.

[Jeni]

I've heard that it's open now, anyone been through recently? If I'd have known then I'd have actually looked out the train window as I passed over!

[vlad]

I've heard that it's open now, anyone been through recently? If I'd have known then I'd have actually looked out the train window as I passed over!

You should have done! I travelled on the Cross City Line earlier this month for the first time in years - and I have to say crossing the new A38 was a bit of a shock!

Strewth - where did the embankment go!

I'd have liked to watch the builders removing a part of canal / railway embankment and replacing it with bridges, without causing too much disruption!

[wrinkly]

Strewth - where did the embankment go!

I'd have liked to watch the builders removing a part of canal / railway embankment and replacing it with bridges, without causing too much disruption!

It will have required a possession of the railway, so I googled "Selly Oak possession" and found this link and this one.

[Jeni]

Yep, its open. Though only a handful of cars on it, while the Bristol Road was jammed up as usual!

Tbh locals will probably use the old route anyway as its not a million miles longer!

[davemase]

I've heard that it's open now, anyone been through recently? If I'd have known then I'd have actually looked out the train window as I passed over!

You should have done! I travelled on the Cross City Line earlier this month for the first time in years - and I have to say crossing the new A38 was a bit of a shock!

Strewth - where did the embankment go!

I'd have liked to watch the builders removing a part of canal / railway embankment and replacing it with bridges, without causing too much disruption!

I didn't know it was open yet, I'll have to go and have a drive down it when I get a chance.

With regards to the canal, the route was changed very slightly by putting a 'kink' in it and routing it over a temporary structure so it was kept open during the building works.

[Mr C]

I decided to have a look at the new bypass today. I headed down from Bournville on the A4040 and found the old signage in place at the junction with the Bristol Rd telling drivers to turn right into Selly Oak if they wanted to follow the A38 to the city centre. I continued along the A4040 along Harborne Lane to the new(ish) roundabout where you turn right to go to the Queen Elizabeth hospital and Birmingham University and found new signage up informing drivers about the newly opened bypass stating, of course, that this was the A38. When you reverse the route and head away from the city centre all traffic flows easliy onto the bypass, with the Bristol Rd through Selly Oak signed, as noted before, as the B38. So, Selly Oak will still be congested because at the moment only traffic heading out of town (or ignoring the old signs on the A4040 like me at the crossroads near the Sainsburys) is signed onto it, and all the traffic heading into the city centre and Edgbaston is signed into Selly Oak onto what is officially now the B38 (despite the nice green signs telling drivers it's the A38).

I presume this is only the first phase of the bypass though, because there is a roundabout on Harborne Lane with a blocked off exit signed to a as-yet non-existent supermarket, which indicates that the current A38 / A4040 junction with the Sainsburys in the middle will be remodelled.

Attached is a photo of the northern terminus of the bypass. If you look closely you can see a sign telling drivers to turn right onto the B38 for Selly Oak. It is S1 along most of its length with it widening to S2 at this junction. This is fine for drivers heading into the city centre given that the next stretch of road is S2 following by D2 but heading out of town drivers find that the right hand lane suddenly ends after 100 metres or so with no signage (a classic feature of Brum roads it seems is the unannounced lane drop).

[Mr C]

Here is another photo. It's of the southern A38 (the bypass) at its southern terminus (the northern A38 runs a few hundred metres away through Selly Oak).

[Mr C]

Here is the bypass in all its glory, with the University of Birmingham behind the fencing on the left and student houses on the right. This stretch of road was very quiet and if you look at the first photo posted you will see lots of traffic emerging from Selly Oak to continue towards the city centre, having followed the signs that routed them along the old alignment.

[davemase]

good photos (you should have put them in a WAI quiz )

[Bryn666]

Single carriageway using the wrong type of centre line, I see... should be a 2 x 4 module, not a 1 x 5.

[Jeni]

So let me get this straight... traffic heading out of the city has to cross the flow of traffic heading into the city... twice? Yeah because that will obviously end well!

[Mr C]

So let me get this straight... traffic heading out of the city has to cross the flow of traffic heading into the city... twice? Yeah because that will obviously end well!

Yup ! Once you're past the University of Birmingham, heading out of the city, you get to some traffic lights that allow inbound traffic on what is signed as A38 going from Longbridge and Northfield to the city centre via Selly Oak to cross your path, from the turning on your left to the other side of the road. A few minutes later you get dumped onto the A4040 (the downgraded outer ring rd which can't cope with local traffic let along act as a ring rd) just as it crashes into that terrible junction with the Sainsburys in the middle and the other 4 'out of town' shops (PC world etc.) on the left. At this point you need to try and get in lane 3 as you queue for the traffic lights where the A4040 junctions with the old A38 and wait as lots of inbound traffic pours along the old A38 in Selly Oak. I suspect a lot of locals will follow the route signed as B38 and avoid the bypass to continue along the outbound Bristol Rd to avoid all the congestion by the out of town shops, til that junction is rebuilt.

If you fancy a fun time go to the PC World or Currys there in rush hour and then try and get from the car park exit on the left into lane 3: you can't creep out and block lane 1 to wait for a gap when the traffic starts to move because the traffic in the left hand lane (for Selly Oak) has a filter light which comes on a minute or so before the lights for lanes 2 and 3 allow traffic to turn right for the A4040 and A38 outbound. After queuing for ages to escape the car park there once in rush hour I had to just follow the left hand lane into Selly Oak and then use the back roads to get home because it was impossible to get to the A4040.

On a related note... There used to be a really odd rundown (indeed semi-derelict) cafe on the left just before the railway bridge in Selly Oak called the Titanic with the words 'not sunk yet' or something spraypainted on the side. When the door was open all you could see were red plastic ketchup bottles on rickety and dirty old tables. The side window was boarded up and the frame left open with no glass in it. That disappeared several years ago. I think it was knocked down to help with the regeneration of that area at the back of Selly Oak.

[JamesA44]

Oh dear, anything that involves more traffic going past Battery Park isn't good. At the moment it sounds like the only benefit to using the bypass is to avoid the bottleneck through Bournbrook, but if you do that you get involved in the bottleneck by Battery Park

Looking at the area on Google, I noticed here that Harborne Lane has 2-way arrows between Chapel Lane and the Bristol Road. Does anyone know if that's a mapping error or how it's going to be at some point (the former I imagine).

[Mr C]

Oh dear, anything that involves more traffic going past Battery Park isn't good. At the moment it sounds like the only benefit to using the bypass is to avoid the bottleneck through Bournbrook, but if you do that you get involved in the bottleneck by Battery Park

Looking at the area on Google, I noticed here that Harborne Lane has 2-way arrows between Chapel Lane and the Bristol Road. Does anyone know if that's a mapping error or how it's going to be at some point (the former I imagine).

I suspect it is a mapping error because if it were correct drivers on the anticlockwise A4040 would have 2 roads allowing them to turn left onto the Bristol Rd into Selly Oak.