Does Luton need a northern bypass?

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A303Chris
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Re: Does Luton need a northern bypass?

Post by A303Chris »

Government has confirmed £32.7 million towards the cost of it

Central Bedfordshire need to find the other £28 million with work starting next january. But a bypass, its development creation road serving 3,600 houses and 2,800 jobs. So a 40mph estate road in the end.
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trickstat
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Re: Does Luton need a northern bypass?

Post by trickstat »

Yes, the main news overall appears to be that there will be a new development just north of Luton with its own road that means you can get to and from the M1 without going into Luton itself. Added benefit for those in villages like Streatley and Sundon.
Micro The Maniac
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Re: Does Luton need a northern bypass?

Post by Micro The Maniac »

An unfortunate typo?
The project ... will see the construction of a new 2.75-mile road link between Junction 11a of the M11 and the A6, forming a north-western bypass for Luton.
A320Driver
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Re: Does Luton need a northern bypass?

Post by A320Driver »

One thing that strikes me as odd: why have they planned to close Sundon Road but build a new road 200m to the west basically paralleling it? Seems rather pointless.
It would have been good to see a GSJ at the A6 (not sure what the best priority would be though) and in a fantasy layout a high-level flyover at J11A.
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jackal
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Re: Does Luton need a northern bypass?

Post by jackal »

A320Driver wrote: Sun Oct 24, 2021 11:04in a fantasy layout a high-level flyover at J11A.
J11a will be pretty comical, with a solitary bridge for the main junction surrounded by a halo of bridges for local roads. In a more logical world the local roads would go directly into the main junction so they didn't need their own bridges, and the additional structures would be to freeflow major movements. The Texans have their heads on straight with a basic GSJ layout that can then be upgraded with further flyovers as required.

A more modest suggestion is that there should be a segregated left turn for M1sb to A6 link road, bypassing the J11a dumbbell. They have instead provided a SLT so traffic for the freight interchange can bypass the new roundabout. This is idiotic as J11a movement will clearly be far busier. It brings to mind the SLT out of the Nexus development near M5 Junction 25, which is so much of a hindrance to the main flows that Highway England now propose to remove it before it has even been opened. Another development site-centric design disaster in the making.

The railway bridge also has only two lanes eastbound, which is bound to become a pinchpoint. Should be 2 from the dumbbell+1 from the SLT.
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Re: Does Luton need a northern bypass?

Post by Peter Freeman »

jackal wrote: Sun Oct 24, 2021 11:55 ... a segregated left turn for M1sb to A6 link road, bypassing the J11a dumbbell.
Jackal, I think you just broke your own new rule as 'King of Sabre' by saying "M1sb" instead of 'M1 north' ... ?
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jackal
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Re: Does Luton need a northern bypass?

Post by jackal »

Peter Freeman wrote: Sun Oct 24, 2021 13:17
jackal wrote: Sun Oct 24, 2021 11:55 ... a segregated left turn for M1sb to A6 link road, bypassing the J11a dumbbell.
Jackal, I think you just broke your own new rule as 'King of Sabre' by saying "M1sb" instead of 'M1 north' ... ?
Alas, if I say "north to A6 link road" there's a good chance that people will read it as meaning northbound, so prevalent is the error of saying "[cardinal direction]" when what's meant is "[cardinal direction]bound".

The ideal rule would indeed be a total ban on using "bound" directions when referring to junctions, but as this would require a sabristic dictatorship that is sadly absent :wink:, I'm using the second-best rule of specifying "bound" when you mean "bound".
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owen b
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Re: Does Luton need a northern bypass?

Post by owen b »

jackal wrote: Sun Oct 24, 2021 11:55
A320Driver wrote: Sun Oct 24, 2021 11:04in a fantasy layout a high-level flyover at J11A.
J11a will be pretty comical, with a solitary bridge for the main junction surrounded by a halo of bridges for local roads. In a more logical world the local roads would go directly into the main junction so they didn't need their own bridges, and the additional structures would be to freeflow major movements.
I haven't seen any analysis of the expected traffic flows for each of the movements. It would be interesting.

For the existing A5 Dunstable northern bypass the main turning movement must be to / from M1 south. For the proposed road to the existing A6, it's not so obvious. The new road is essentially a local development route, not primarily aimed at longer distance through traffic, so I would have thought that flows straight across J11a to / from the A5 won't be that high. I expect a lot of northern Luton traffic will use J11a to / from M1 north, not so much to M1 south (for which in most cases J11 will still be still quicker). On the other hand I would think that Central Beds villages traffic using the new road will mainly be to / from M1 south. The other complicating factor as you say is the tangle of roundabouts and flyovers connecting the Woodside relief road (A5505). There must already be a lot of turning traffic M1 north to / from A5505 (which will increase when all the development is complete) and M1 south to / from A5505 -> B5790 -> B579 and minor roads for the villages.

So it's not obvious which free flows would be best to provide, but probably M1 south / A5 west will be the highest flow of the turning movements, but this would not be easy as there is so much physically in the way.

EDIT : I am using cardinal directions as per the suggestions in the previous posts eg. north means north, it does not mean northbound :) .
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Re: Does Luton need a northern bypass?

Post by Peter Freeman »

jackal wrote: Sun Oct 24, 2021 13:45 ... I'm using the second-best rule of specifying "bound" when you mean "bound".
Fair enough - that's fail-safe.
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