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Stevie D wrote:Gildersome was only just outside the shortlist. If it hadn't been for all the industrial development around it, there wouldn't be any great problem. And getting rid of IKEA would be no bad thing...
Sorry, no, IKEA is a great place but will unfortunately cause tailbacks wherever they put one (this is the reason Sheffield City Council has repeatedly turned down applications from the Swedish firm to put one on the Parkway).
Anyway, what makes Gildersome so bad, is, as Chris has pointed out so well on his Bad Junctions page, the off slip from the M62 eastbound doesn't join the northern roundabout directly but the road just before it. Contrast with the southern roundabout.
I had to make that maneouvre today where, if you want to make a right turn, you have to pull out across 3 lanes rapdily before coming to a halt at the give way lines of the roundabout just yards further on. A case for signalisation if I ever saw one.
Alternatively (and far more costly of course) would be to thread the off slip between the M621 and M62 instead, giving drivers more distance to get into lane before the roundabout.
I went for Simister, though this was originally a spur from the M62, which later became part of the M66... It wasn't very good for two motorways crossing, BUT now that you have to use a roundabout on the M60...
I think it needs redisning, but then again, so do quite a few of the other junctions mentioned...
My old posts are just downright embarrassing.
Expects to climb the job ladder quickly and is often glued to my phone... Apparently..
Paul wrote:Sorry, no, IKEA is a great place but will unfortunately cause tailbacks wherever they put one (this is the reason Sheffield City Council has repeatedly turned down applications from the Swedish firm to put one on the Parkway).
The latest news is that they want to build an IKEA in Ipswich. Which would be fair enough as the nearest one would be IIRC Thurrock or Milton Keynes. But you really need to improve the infrastructure significantly before building anything like that - the A14 can barely cope as it is.
Another candidate for the worst junction: the M11/A120 dog's dinner at Stansted. Don't know how well it actually works but it just looks awful on a map.
"Accuse the other side of that which you are guilty."
- some extreme-right nutcase
StormA1022 wrote: Another candidate for the worst junction: the M11/A120 dog's dinner at Stansted. Don't know how well it actually works but it just looks awful on a map.
This junction looks fine to me. You wouldn't plan it from scratch like that but it's a perfectly satisfactory upgrade given that M11S to A120E is the main flow.
jackal wrote:This junction looks fine to me. You wouldn't plan it from scratch like that but it's a perfectly satisfactory upgrade given that M11S to A120E is the main flow.
Hmm, I'm not so sure. I'd like to know of people's opinion when Junction 8B comes along.
"Accuse the other side of that which you are guilty."
- some extreme-right nutcase
Paul wrote:Sorry, no, IKEA is a great place but will unfortunately cause tailbacks wherever they put one (this is the reason Sheffield City Council has repeatedly turned down applications from the Swedish firm to put one on the Parkway).
The latest news is that they want to build an IKEA in Ipswich. Which would be fair enough as the nearest one would be IIRC Thurrock or Milton Keynes.
What about Edmonton or Brent Cross? Both nearer to Ipswich than MK.
Another candidate for the worst junction: the M11/A120 dog's dinner at Stansted. Don't know how well it actually works but it just looks awful on a map.
I don't use this at peak times these days, but my observation is that it works well now that the motorway link is there. It wouldn't occur to me to put it on a list of worst junctions.
Cheers,
Simon
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I voted Simister, because that junction can single-handedly bring half of Greater Manchester's motorway network to a standstill. Freeflow the M60 to M60 (clockwise direction) and that'll solve it!
M77 J3. I have no problems with the traffic lights being there, but their timing is nothing short of disgraceful, especially since they're not in sync with the junction down the road that does not need to be a 4-way 4-stager (and if it does, then it doesn't need a full pedestrian stage!). Similarly at M77 J1 the timing of the lights is crap which causes horrendous queues on Dumbreck Road, and some of the sliproads are really tight (although given space constraints, probably not much can be done about that latter point).
Simister gets my vote. Coming from Yorkshire and heading North along the M66 is the worst. It's the confusion it always seems to cause - number of times I've had people steering their car into me when they lose sight of the road markings. Or vehicles coming from the North and heading West jump the lights and block the carriageway. Or vehicles - unfamiliar with the junction - changing lanes 3 or 4 times within 200 yds. Gildersome and Simister; two words you hear on the radio on a daily basis.
I'd like to add M11 J14 to the list. The Girton Interchange treats the M11 fine, putting it onto the old A604, but the main movement is the A14 which gets put onto a one lane slip road and, westbound, has to cross traffic darting off the M11 onto the Eastbound A14. There are regular accidents on the westbound approach.
Girton is unusual for such a major British junction in that it has two loops putting down and picking up traffic from the same place, as JVGazeley describes. The HA have a plan under which '[t]he existing southern ‘cloverleaf’ loop would be removed and a new link road provided between the Cambridge Northern Bypass and the westbound A14'. They also plan to put additional links in for local traffic, creating one of the most complex junctions on the network - see the drawing on page 2 here. The plan is quite far progressed - an early contractor involvement contract for the project this is part of was awarded in January.
I'm not sure if this has already been mentioned, but Catthorpe as a motorway junction is fine. M6 to M1 South and vice versa is easy. Its the non motorway part where it falls apart. Granted its one of the busiest and most important non motorway roads in the country. As a Srtictly motorway junction it works well.
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