A34 Alderley Edge Bypass

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Haydn1971
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Re: A34 Alderley Edge Bypass

Post by Haydn1971 »

Road looks fine to me. ;-)
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echowarning
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Re: A34 Alderley Edge Bypass

Post by echowarning »

There is nothing 'hidden' about that dip. A blind summit - you reach the top and can't see ahead or whatever.

You can see that dip, and the other side of it, just fine.

If you can't see ahead, and you overtake, and crash... well that is bad driving. Nowt to do with the quality of the road.
RickyB_uk
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Re: A34 Alderley Edge Bypass

Post by RickyB_uk »

Haydn1971 wrote:Road looks fine to me. ;-)
If you're not in a V8 car, you don't have many opportunities to overtake. And the ones you do have, there's enough traffic that often there are oncoming cars appear just at the wrong moment.

Here's one I filmed in a non-V8 car, back in April;


I set off at an indicated 60 once past the :nsl: and it takes me about a minute to catch up to the car ahead, which is doing roughly 50.

It takes a while (1:28) before you get a decent sightline to the main bend - by which point a car has appeared coming the other way from the bend. I would have only had a 4-second headway to get past there.

We're round the bend on the straight at 2:11. It's not 100% clear because of the centre-mounted camera position, which is set lower than the driver's view, but you can see the green bridge blocks the view of the road beyond the bridge, and once you've dropped partially in the dip at 2:30 and can see past the green rail bridge, the grey road bridge blocks the view of the road beyond the bridge.

Once you're in the dip at 2:35, you've got a blind summit. You've finally got forward visibility at 2:50, by which time there's a steady stream of oncoming cars. I finally could have overtaken at 3:16, but by that point, there's only a few hundred yards left of the road anyway.
Last edited by RickyB_uk on Sun Oct 06, 2013 23:28, edited 1 time in total.
RickyB_uk
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Re: A34 Alderley Edge Bypass

Post by RickyB_uk »

echowarning wrote:There is nothing 'hidden' about that dip. You can see that dip, and the other side of it, just fine.
You can see the dip, but not the other side of it.
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echowarning
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Re: A34 Alderley Edge Bypass

Post by echowarning »

RickyB_uk wrote:
echowarning wrote:There is nothing 'hidden' about that dip. You can see that dip, and the other side of it, just fine.
You can see the dip, but not the other side of it.
The camera angles between the footage and GSV are admitedly a touch confusing, but I'll take your word as per the above comment re: what you can and can't see.

But - the dip itself is visible, the bridge blocks the view of the road in that area but it is obvious enough where the road goes.

Surely the answer is a couple of double whites down the centre by the bridge, if folks are really getting too trigger-happy with their overtaking?
Paninaro
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Re: A34 Alderley Edge Bypass

Post by Paninaro »

I don't suppose anyone has any pics of this being built?
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wrinkly
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Re: A34 Alderley Edge Bypass

Post by wrinkly »

Paninaro wrote:I don't suppose anyone has any pics of this being built?
Here's a video of the bridge under the railway being built:

http://www.alderleyedge.com/news/articl ... ng-bridges
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Re: A34 Alderley Edge Bypass

Post by RickyB_uk »

Paninaro wrote:I don't suppose anyone has any pics of this being built?
I've got quite a number, however they were held on my now defunct Fotopic account.

I still have all of the photos, but I'll see if I can get them back online on Flickr or something shortly.

Here's a quick taster:

The last photo was taken just 3 days before opening. The bottom left photo was taken 1 week before a running race was held on the bypass, and they let the public on to walk there and back after the race.
Progress on the Alderley Edge Bypass, taken from the B5359 (former A535) bridge looking northbound
Progress on the Alderley Edge Bypass, taken from the B5359 (former A535) bridge looking northbound
Arkady222
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Re: A34 Alderley Edge Bypass

Post by Arkady222 »

I've driven on this a couple of times a week for the last three months and it's a funny bit of road - I think the problem is that it feels like you ought to be able to overtake on it, but in fact it's not a particularly safe road on which to do so.

One other curious thing is that it has cycle lanes on both sides that seem to be quite well used, but the prevalance of LED lamps on bikes mean that at night it's often not possible to differentiate between a mono-lanterned cycle and a numptie with a headlamp out.
Paninaro
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Re: A34 Alderley Edge Bypass

Post by Paninaro »

Thanks for the pics guys. I can recall in '94-'95 there was an on site asphalt plant with a stock of clapped out tippers ferrying tarmac to the barber greens.
I took some photos but have since lost them. :(
chris486
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Re: A34 Alderley Edge Bypass

Post by chris486 »

It opened ahead of schedule IIRC - I only found out by chance.

I used it quite a bit until a couple of close calls when I had to take evasive action due to crazy overtaking. There was a fatal accident on the road and that has put me off it altogether.

A side effect of the bypass is it makes junction 18 a pleasant route in and out of south Manchester past Jodrell Bank and Chelford roundabout taking the downgraded A535 to Alderley Edge, passing over the bypass as pictured in the excellent photos above.
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QuietInRealLife
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Re: A34 Alderley Edge Bypass

Post by QuietInRealLife »

This is a strange stretch of road, there are over-bridges & underpasses taking it past railways & B roads & then there's a flat farmyard crossing. :?

What with all the talk of this road feeling unsafe somehow (even though, logically it's hugely over engineered for a single carriageway link & thus should be much safer than an equivalent old twisty S2 with flat junctions & the like what not) I think this particular bit of the DMRB might help to clarify things somewhat...
Experience has shown that frequent
overbridges and the resulting earthworks create the
impression of a high speed road, engendering a level of
confidence in the road alignment that cannot be justified
on single carriageways
I think that nails what feels slightly 'off' with this particular stretch of road. The A35 around Dorchester has the same problem, with an enormous over-engineered viaduct carrying it over an allotment. The S2 bit of the A31 past Canford Bottom has the same problem (there's even a weird, half GSJ at the junction with the A349/B3073) They all feel high quality but aren't really. They're nice, straight well engineered bits of road that feel like a dual carriageway or a motorway, meaning drivers switch off to an extent, the problem is there are pedestrians just a few meters to your left & fast traffic travelling in the opposite direction on the same carriageway as you.
RickyB_uk
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Re: A34 Alderley Edge Bypass

Post by RickyB_uk »

Just over 4 years after the first, there's been a second fatal accident on the A34 Alderley bypass - this time 2 have been killed - and only 3 weeks after another accident with serious injuries.

What is noticeable is that every one of the serious and fatal accidents since it opened nearly 7 years ago have happened in the northern-most half-mile of the bypass up to just south of the Brook Lane overbridge. There must be something about that shallow curve between the bridge and northern roundabout that makes it tempting to overtake but without the visibility to do so.

Some of the locals commenting on an earlier thread have already called for a blanket 50 with speed cameras and double-white-lines down the middle for the whole way.
Duple
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Re: A34 Alderley Edge Bypass

Post by Duple »

It is a deceptive road because it is a lot wider for people coming from the Congleton side and in the opposite direction people are still in "dual carriageway mode" - the rest of the A34 south is 50 so it did surprise me this didn't get lowered. Only a matter of time now. :roll:
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poshbakerloo
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Re: A34 Alderley Edge Bypass

Post by poshbakerloo »

RickyB_uk wrote:
Some of the locals commenting on an earlier thread have already called for a blanket 50 with speed cameras and double-white-lines down the middle for the whole way.
The 50mph limit can do one as I always do 60-70mph down there no problem, but I do agree with the double white lines, or even a hatched strip the full length and signs which say no over taking, and for cyclists to stay on the paths as I have seen a few in the road!

I think people think "ooh modern bypass, I can overtake!" but its really not safe, I have had to break hard a few times when I suddenly see 2 sets of headlights pointing at me :shock: :shock:
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PeterA5145
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Re: A34 Alderley Edge Bypass

Post by PeterA5145 »

AIUI it was built along the alignment originally intended for a dual carriageway, and so has gentle, sweeping curves. I thought the current view was that new S2s should have a mixture of straights where overtaking was possible, and bends where it obviously wasn't, but this clearly doesn't match that specification.

Anyway, as they do not provide any movements not previously catered for by the existing road network, why not get rid of the cycle tracks and convert it to S2+1?
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Chris5156
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Re: A34 Alderley Edge Bypass

Post by Chris5156 »

poshbakerloo wrote:The 50mph limit can do one as I always do 60-70mph down there no problem, but I do agree with the double white lines, or even a hatched strip the full length and signs which say no over taking, and for cyclists to stay on the paths as I have seen a few in the road!
I would support double white lines if they're merited, or "no overtaking" signs to achieve the same ends, but I would always argue for less centre hatching on the road network, not more.
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Bryn666
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Re: A34 Alderley Edge Bypass

Post by Bryn666 »

Chris5156 wrote:
poshbakerloo wrote:The 50mph limit can do one as I always do 60-70mph down there no problem, but I do agree with the double white lines, or even a hatched strip the full length and signs which say no over taking, and for cyclists to stay on the paths as I have seen a few in the road!
I would support double white lines if they're merited, or "no overtaking" signs to achieve the same ends, but I would always argue for less centre hatching on the road network, not more.
Unfortunately DMRB promotes hatching on single carriageway roads despite little to no evidence of its effectiveness at reducing collisions. Indeed in my experience it just provides a death strip for nutters to take advantage of (and others don't expect it). The photo in the news article linked above shows a standard 1008.1 marking on a bend - this perhaps should be a 1004.1 if the forward visibility is lower than desirable but above the minimum FFSD requirement in DMRB. If it is below that then double white lines should be installed.

A 50 limit will make little difference, as ever we hear the same tired knee jerk responses from people with no knowledge of how roads actually work.
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RickyB_uk
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Re: A34 Alderley Edge Bypass

Post by RickyB_uk »

Three dead, two seriously injured in crash between car and minibus, almost a year to the day after the last fatal accident. Looks like all killed and seriously injured were in the car. The minibus occupants have reportedly only minor injuries.

Guessing there will be local calls for "something to be done" to the road.
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Re: A34 Alderley Edge Bypass

Post by nowster »

It should really have been dualled.
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