Driving for masochists- old roads you don't miss

[jlsmith]

A1 Stannington

http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/new ... d639740920:

[SteveA30]

One of the best posts I've seen on the Interweb for a long time. Thank you!

Thanks. I wish there were more general traffic views out there. Mostly, it is local newspaper stories.

Re, awkward junctions like the A303/A359. Travelling from Fleet to Reading on Saturday shopping trips was a journey of 2 halves. Fleet to Hartley Wintney and HW to Reading. Crossing the A30 was via a half mile staggered crossroads. Most of the 10-15 mins was just waiting for the cars in front to nudge their way out into the endless procession of westbound traffic. Much the same at junctions all the way to Cornwall I guess.

Here are 3 more at Shap.
1. Another Ford Anglia tries a blind overtake. A coach and van have to slot in to the line of traffic somehow. The white coach looks as if it may have locked up, as the traffic in front bunches up.
2. A quieter scene as 2 cars and a lorry line up for the swoop downhill.
3 The traditional Shap snow scene. A long convoy crawls up at less than walking pace probably. A southbound lorry creeps carefully downwards in low gear, to avoid brake fade and a possible runaway. I don't think an advert for Black Boy Tips Tea would pass muster today!

[James1978]

The only ones I can think of were the A1 when it went through Tyne Tunnel (remember this was the route when I went on a school trip to the Farne Islands in about 1988, it took forever!), and the other is having to use the A58 from Wetherby and through Leeds to get from the A1 to the M62 westbound before the M1 extension in the late 90s.

[ForestChav]

Not a British example but anyone remember the N138 between Rouen and Le Mans? Kill me now. The Alençon Bypass was the only motorway on the whole route. You did get some D2 but bottlenecks like Sees and Gacé wiped out any benefit.

The worst from memory was a crossroads at Nonant le Pin where a level crossing also added to the fun.

Today for that kind of experience you have to take the N147 from Poitiers to Limoges.

The motorway was there then, but I've been to Sees a few times, and it is fortunately bypassed by what is now the D438, and though it would clearly be a bit hellish having the Rouen-Le Mans traffic on, at least the narrow central streets by the cathedral and all the shops etc wouldn't take the traffic. Lovely town, and the cathedral is well worth a visit if you like such things; though as it has no heating at all, it's closed most of the year, and cold the rest!

[Robert Kilcoyne]

The only ones I can think of were the A1 when it went through Tyne Tunnel (remember this was the route when I went on a school trip to the Farne Islands in about 1988, it took forever

My first experience of the Tyne Tunnel was in July 1974 when it was still numbered A108 (the A1 still crossed the Tyne Bridge). I can always remember the virtual 360 degree turn on the Wallsend side as you emerged from the tunnel to go through the toll booths, before you had to make a sharp left turn to join the A108 dual carriageway towards Morpeth and the A1.

[ForestChav]

Rouen itself is still a bit of a bottleneck though, one time we went was when one of the bridges was closed due to a fire...

[clc]

The old S4 A77 was always a nerve wracking experience particularly at night. Quite a few head-on collisions I recall.

[Bryn666]

Here are 3 more at Shap.
1. Another Ford Anglia tries a blind overtake. A coach and van have to slot in to the line of traffic somehow. The white coach looks as if it may have locked up, as the traffic in front bunches up.
2. A quieter scene as 2 cars and a lorry line up for the swoop downhill.
3 The traditional Shap snow scene. A long convoy crawls up at less than walking pace probably. A southbound lorry creeps carefully downwards in low gear, to avoid brake fade and a possible runaway. I don't think an advert for Black Boy Tips Tea would pass muster today!

My late granddad had been stranded on Shap a few times in the snow. If you made it to the layby at the summit you were OK, otherwise it was a precarious "I hope this thing doesn't slide back down" kind of worry...

[Richardf]

I think roads like the A30 Honiton-Exeter, the old Winchester bypass and sections through towns and villages on the A35,(such as Puddletown and Axminster) that have been bypased in my lifetime, are sections that i wont miss as main roads anyhow, although its nice occasionaly to drive them just to be reminded of what they were like!

[Berk]

Or what about roads like the A303 Ilminster-Honiton, or the A47 Leicester-Peterborough.

Roads from the past that haven't been converted yet. With added S3 (now S2+1).

Uphill chases in climbing lanes are fun.

[Klepsydra]

A377 Barnstaple-Exeter before the North Devon Link Road was truly vile. I see regular grumbles about the NDLR today which always make me think the complainant can't have driven in Devon before it existed!

[Glenn A]

A1 Stannington

http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/new ... d639740920:

I do recall this section of the A1 and remember being caught in a massive jam in 1979 when a car in front broke down and no one could get past.
Another bad section of road was the 2 mile S2 section of the A69 that linked the Horsley by pass with the Corbridge by pass. You went from a very high standard of D2 with grade seperated junctions to this bottleneck where accidents were common and getting out of the filling station took forever. However, it did have that nice Northumberland red asphalt.

[James]

A453 M1 to Nottingham - absolutly hated the old road as it was always a convoy of lorries, and only used it at silly hours when it was quiet

Still irritated by the S4 section approaching Crusader that should be D2, but the roads been transformed overall and is now a quick easy drive. My only concern is that is so freeflowing people tend to speed quite a bit in the 40 section and wouldn't be suprised if cameras get installed (I think it would already if it wasn't trunk as the city council love their average speed cameras)

[Richardf]

Or what about roads like the A303 Ilminster-Honiton, or the A47 Leicester-Peterborough.

Roads from the past that haven't been converted yet. With added S3 (now S2+1).

Uphill chases in climbing lanes are fun.

Strictly speaking the thread is about old, replaced roads that you don't miss, but we get your point.

[WHBM]

A55 North Wales coast road in summer has been transformed. The worst of several pinch points was eastbound through Conway, with jammed traffic in the narrow streets which had blocked back all the way from Llandudno Junction across the old river bridge, because on the Llandudno Junction side there was a level crossing over the Llandudno branch. It could take more than an hour to get through, as the peak train service to Llandudno was inevitably on Summer Saturdays when the road was busiest as well. There was no immediate alternative. A flyover was eventually built at the level crossing, quite some time before the current A55 dual carriageway.

Bangor to Queensferry at this time was quicker by A5 to Betws-y-Coed, thence Ruthin and Mold.

[Robert Kilcoyne]

A55 North Wales coast road in summer has been transformed. The worst of several pinch points was eastbound through Conway, with jammed traffic in the narrow streets which had blocked back all the way from Llandudno Junction across the old river bridge, because on the Llandudno Junction side there was a level crossing over the Llandudno branch. It could take more than an hour to get through, as the peak train service to Llandudno was inevitably on Summer Saturdays when the road was busiest as well. There was no immediate alternative. A flyover was eventually built at the level crossing, quite some time before the current A55 dual carriageway.

Bangor to Queensferry at this time was quicker by A5 to Betws-y-Coed, thence Ruthin and Mold.

I have visited Conwy a few times in recent years, and it is hard to believe that all traffic between the northwest of England and Holyhead had to negotiate the narrow streets through the town centre until 1991. While the A55 dual carriageway is not perfect, it is infinitely better than having to trundle through Ewloe, Holywell, St. Asaph and Colwyn Bay on the way to Llandudno.

While you could make much better progress on the A55 after the opening of the Conwy Tunnel, there would however remain the interminable plod along the A5 through Anglesey before the dual carriageway was built west of Llanfair PG. Very few motorists will miss the tedium of driving through Pentre Berw, Gwalchmai, Bryngwran and Valley, particularly if they had to catch a ferry at Holyhead.

[Glenn A]

A real drag, the old A75 from Gretna to Dumfries, a totally substandard S2 road that went through the middle of Annan and Dumfries and seemed to be snarled up constantly.

[Helvellyn]

Ooh, I like those Shap pictures. These days I quite often go that way rather than the M6 because it's less dull and less busy, but it must've been fun then.

[A303Chris]

Not a British example but anyone remember the N138 between Rouen and Le Mans? Kill me now. The Alençon Bypass was the only motorway on the whole route. You did get some D2 but bottlenecks like Sees and Gacé wiped out any benefit.

The worst from memory was a crossroads at Nonant le Pin where a level crossing also added to the fun.

Today for that kind of experience you have to take the N147 from Poitiers to Limoges.

After last week following the Tour de France the N5 between the A39 at Poligny and Les Rousses on the Swiss Border, the N83 between Besancon & Poligny amd the N19 between Vesoul and Langres make the N147 look like a superb road

[Glenn A]

Ooh, I like those Shap pictures. These days I quite often go that way rather than the M6 because it's less dull and less busy, but it must've been fun then.

Old timers I know said the A6 could be interesting over Shap in winter when lorries had to be abandoned due to snow, or sometimes went out of control on ice. Nowadays, Helvellyn, I sometimes take the A6 as an alternative to the M6 in Cumbria as it's almost deserted( well outside of Kendal anyway).
Another very interesting bottleneck until 1973 was Gretna and Gretna Green, particularly where the A74 met the A75 opposite where Gretna Gateway is now. In holiday time, the villages often ground to a halt.