I was looking at road junctions of recent and - whilst aware of the layout of the junction - was a little surprised when making a closer inspection.

The roundabout looks like it was religned at some time back because there appears to be an inner section which is not used. See Bing Maps.

Can anyone shed some light on the history of the junction and the potential changes?

Incidentally, I assume at the northern turn of the junction there's a depot for the bridge. If you follow it around there's an area with limited access. Approaching from Shaft Road may give a good photo though.

That's not a realignment, that's the oversized lorry bay. If you look at the supports for the flyover you can see that it's only ever been the size it currently is.

I don't think its been realigned, I presume they just built that inner road to park maintenance vehicles and the like.

Ah... so it's something as straightforward as that. I was under the impression that it is the sort of feature which would exist on the outer part of the alignment, such as the M5 at J3 lay-bys.

Don't get me wrong, I don't know for certain, but as far as I know that junction hasn't been modified since built. The inner part of the roundabout is quite logical, as it utilises that space under the bridge.

It's nothing to do with HGVs that might not be allowed to cross the Second Severn Crossing in particularly bad weather? Or wide loads that might need to await an escort to cross the bridge?

The final building by Shaft Road is the old Severn Bridges Visitor Centre, which closed down ages ago.

This junction has never been changed since it was built and the road indicated is definitely an over-size lorry parking bay.

Jim.

There is a similar lorry bay at Strensham, isn't there? Strange that a motorway-to-motorway junction would need one, when any bigger lorries would already have the escort in place.

Yes, there is. When I first noticed it, I wondered if that was actually part of the old carriageway from the original trumpet layout of the junction?