M40/M42 interchange

[jackal]

Is this the first time DHSR has been converted to ALR?

As far as I know. While ALR must be the eventual goal I wonder if doing it in this limited way might just increase confusion as the adjoining section will remain DHSR.

Interesting to see it beginning at all, and very welcome. Is it possible HE are starting with a relatively small pilot scheme before converting longer lengths?

I think it's mostly an immediate need arising from the 3 lane ALR slips at the junction. Five into three would not go. Though I suppose it will double as a pilot.

[Gareth Thomas]

I always find it interesting to read about motorways that have been built and what the different plans where. The only 'new' motorway to open since I have been born was the M6 toll

I'd say that the M74 extension also counts as a new motorway that's opened since the M6Toll.... Even if you don't count the M6 Cumberland Gap, M90 and Queensferry crossing, M80 upgrade, M77 extension, M8 gap, and the A1(M) in North Yorkshire....

I think he meant the only new motorway number.

Was this junction ever Junction 17 on the M40? I have maps referring to it as such but the few times I have gone through it it has always been signed as "3A", even on the M40 itself.....

[ColinB]

Firstly I agree with Jackal there would be less confusion if N meant north and NB meant northbound.

Second I note Bryn666 is critical of the proposal. But it seems reasonable to me. Though I doubt the M40 needs the extra lane, I suspect the addition of the diverge from lane 2 early in 2017 is all that was needed. The lack of this diverge was a bugbear of mine for decades, and only introduced once I stopped being a regular user of this route.

The amount of traffic on the M42 both within the junction and to the west justifies the extra lane. So in the absence of widening (to D5) to the north of J3A I do not see what would have been better.

[A303Chris]

I don't know why they don't just convert the whole DHSR section to ALR while they're at it. The hard shoulder is already hardened, the technology is already there. It can't involve much more than signs and markings. They might want to harden the HS inside junctions for use but that could wait.

This is the HE so nothing will be straightforward, quick or easy