M1 Junction 2

[A42_Sparks]

There were two slip roads at the time - the northernmost one was a temporary crossover the unfinished southbound carriageway.

It's correct, except for the mainline of the M1 reaching the A41, which never happened. It was a stub of unfinished mainline waiting for a further southward extension that didn't connect to anything.

Your map does, however, accurately show:
- free-flow on-slip from A1 to M1, as currently in use.
- free flow sliproad from A1 to A41 northbound, using what later became the M1 to A1 off-slip and a temporary ramp. This was designed to avoid A1 traffic crossing the A41 on the level.
- free-flow sliproad from A41 northbound to M1. This has since vanished underneath the Fiveways/Pentavia retail park car park. This slip was for A41 traffic wanting the M1, though as you point out A1 traffic could get to it too. The weaving on the northbound A41 between the A1 on-slip and M1 off-slip doesn't bear thinking about but presumably in the late 60s it wasn't as bad as it would be now!
- free-flow off-slip from the M1 to A41 south, from which A1 could also be accessed. This is the abandoned single-lane sliproad that still exists, and at the time of this map was the only way off the southbound M1.

Thanks, been trying to make sense of that layout for some time. I see in the wiki that j2 had several different layouts between 1968 and 1977 anyway.

[Phil]

I'm surprised the M1 itself has lasted as NSL given the proximity to houses. Presumably being next to a mainline railway helps keep the noise nusiance down a bit.

I've never lived next to it, but I've spent enough time in the streets around Mill Hill Broadway to be familiar with it. The M1 provides a constant, low level white noise from the passing traffic, as you'd expect, which is certainly loud but very easy to tune out. The railway produces far louder and less predictable noises from the passage of HSTs and other fast trains, which are significantly more distracting and disruptive than the road traffic, and the sound carries further.

My understand is that scientific research has actually shown that relatively loud but short duration noises actually bother people less than a quiet but constant drone! Even the busiest of railways will have gaps between trains where things like birdsong can be heard (assuming no noisy roads nearby) which doesn't tend to be possible with noise from a busy road.


As for the MML itself, true the railway might be busy - but with new bi-mode trains on order for InterCity services noisy HSTs will be retired within 5 years or so lowering noise levels.