Worst motorway junction in Britain

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What do you think is Britain's worst motorway junction?

M1/M6/A14 catthorpe interchange
77
46%
M25/M26/A21
13
8%
M40 J15 longbridge
2
1%
M60 simister island
13
8%
M27/M271
9
5%
M57/M58/A59 switch island
11
7%
M8 J20 kingston bridge (source of M8 jams)
5
3%
M62/M621/A62/A650 J27 on M62 (again, big queue causer)
9
5%
please state if other junction
30
18%
 
Total votes: 169

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BugsBunny
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Re: Worst motorway junction in Britain

Post by BugsBunny »

Brenley Corner wrote:
BugsBunny wrote:I think one of the worst junctions is M20 J10A
Are you sure, especially as it hasn't been built......yet! :) LINK

Do you mean 11A or are you just predicting the future? :stir:

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Brock
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Re: Worst motorway junction in Britain

Post by Brock »

Jam35 wrote: Or close the slip road. The westbound on slip at M4 J2 should die so that the A4 doesn't back up all the way to Earl's Court.
So how would traffic from the North and South Circulars get onto the M4 then? Would it have to go all the way to junction 3? (I suppose traffic coming from the south could go via the Hogarth Roundabout, but that doesn't strike me as particularly desirable.)
Similarly, the westbound on slip at M4 J4 should be killed (or at least barriered off to force all traffic from it onto the M25(S)) for the particularly nasty low-speed weave it creates.
That strikes me as even worse, especially in conjunction with your other proposal. Either westbound traffic from the airport would have to join at an already congested junction 3, or it would have to take the single-carriageway section of the A4 via Colnbrook to junction 5. Sounds like a recipe for more congestion, not less.
Peter Freeman
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Re: Worst motorway junction in Britain

Post by Peter Freeman »

Jam35 wrote: Or close the slip road. The westbound on slip at M4 J2 should die so that the A4 doesn't back up all the way to Earl's Court. Similarly, the westbound on slip at M4 J4 should be killed (or at least barriered off to force all traffic from it onto the M25(S)) for the particularly nasty low-speed weave it creates.
Oh, I've got a good idea ! Let's close ALL the junctions, then the motorway will flow really smoothly ...... :wink:

( Those angry folk at the closed on-ramps will never think of going to the next junction .... will they ? )
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A329Mdren
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Re: Worst motorway junction in Britain

Post by A329Mdren »

*cough* M27/M271 is horrible. I have to ride it sometimes, coming back from Bournemouth at 12am (Midnight), fully packed at the junction.

I did go to Beaulieu recently, free-flow at 10-11am on a Thursday, M271 wasn't busy!
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Jam35
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Re: Worst motorway junction in Britain

Post by Jam35 »

Peter Freeman wrote:
Jam35 wrote: Or close the slip road. The westbound on slip at M4 J2 should die so that the A4 doesn't back up all the way to Earl's Court. Similarly, the westbound on slip at M4 J4 should be killed (or at least barriered off to force all traffic from it onto the M25(S)) for the particularly nasty low-speed weave it creates.
Oh, I've got a good idea ! Let's close ALL the junctions, then the motorway will flow really smoothly ...... :wink:

( Those angry folk at the closed on-ramps will never think of going to the next junction .... will they ? )
In these two cases, it would be very helpful if they did precisely that. The M4 is D2M at J2, but D3M at J3 (one of those wonderful what-were-they-thinking pieces of design, gaining a lane midway between junctions); there's 50% more capacity there before it causes jams on the mainline. And they'd get a longer time to merge in, rather than a glorified give way line on a viaduct. Likewise, if the traffic joining the M4 at J4 joined it at J5 (and let's face it, that is straight down the A4 – couldn't be simpler), it wouldn't be feeding into the path of traffic leaving the M4 at J4B (the M25).
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