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Well, it's certainly cursed ! Cursed with a ridiculous 50 mph speed limit ! I drove east along the new road from the A34 and just couldn't believe this speed restriction had been put in place. For most of its length it has grade-separated junctions and junction spacing is not all that close, unlike the A50 through Longton. So, on our little tootle through the lanes I noticed A57 Snake Pass, single carriageway was 50 mph. the A624 SC road north from Hayfield is 50 mph, then the un-numbered road at the top to Charleworth, a narrow and twisty SC road is also 50 mph.
I can't help feeling that the A555 50 mph limit is ridiculous overkill and very, very, typical of the road safety fascists in action. As HGVs weighing up to 44 tonnes are allowed to proceed at 50 mph, the private motorist is apparently not to be trusted at any higher speed.
How funny that on the thread immediately above this one there is a debate about whether the word 'fascist' is over-used, and in this one it is being applied to a speed limit!
Well, it's certainly cursed ! Cursed with a ridiculous 50 mph speed limit ! I drove east along the new road from the A34 and just couldn't believe this speed restriction had been put in place. For most of its length it has grade-separated junctions and junction spacing is not all that close, unlike the A50 through Longton. So, on our little tootle through the lanes I noticed A57 Snake Pass, single carriageway was 50 mph. the A624 SC road north from Hayfield is 50 mph, then the un-numbered road at the top to Charleworth, a narrow and twisty SC road is also 50 mph.
I can't help feeling that the A555 50 mph limit is ridiculous overkill and very, very, typical of the road safety fascists in action. As HGVs weighing up to 44 tonnes are allowed to proceed at 50 mph, the private motorist is apparently not to be trusted at any higher speed.
Back in the real world ... this road is used by a wide range of vehicles including HGV's (limited to 50 mph) there are few overtaking opportunities so the fact that the road is 50 limited makes no real difference.
Back in the real world ... this road is used by a wide range of vehicles including HGV's (limited to 50 mph) there are few overtaking opportunities so the fact that the road is 50 limited makes no real difference.
But surely it is dual-carriagway over its entire length ? Without the speed limit of 50 mph there would be many overtaking opportunities. Just note that the A556 near me is single-carriageway 4 lanes, and is 60 mph, and actually signed as such.This is also a very busy road used by a wide range of vehicle too. Nope, sorry, this new A555 limit is totally barmy.
Back in the real world ... this road is used by a wide range of vehicles including HGV's (limited to 50 mph) there are few overtaking opportunities so the fact that the road is 50 limited makes no real difference.
But surely it is dual-carriagway over its entire length ? Without the speed limit of 50 mph there would be many overtaking opportunities. Just note that the A556 near me is single-carriageway 4 lanes, and is 60 mph, and actually signed as such.This is also a very busy road used by a wide range of vehicle too. Nope, sorry, this new A555 limit is totally barmy.
Sorry but there are sections of the A556 that are 50 ... OK in real life that isn't enforced ... so apply the same to the A555
Bryn666 wrote: ↑Mon Nov 19, 2018 09:02
The new bits of A555 are 50mph because it is built to a low standard and has substandard forward visibility for 70.
There are also signal controlled junctions which design standards no longer permit on 70 limit roads.
But no, it's all some conspiracy to get drivers.
Well, the more one looks at what is going on in the UK as a whole, one does feel that only a conspiracy theory fits the facts.
So why not impose the 50 mph where needed ? Forward visibility looked perfectly OK to me, although I admit it was a Sunday when I drove the road. However, on reflection, maybe this limit is there to decrease the queues at each end. Once I got to the A6 it was 20mph all the way to the traffic lights for the New Mills road.
Bryn666 wrote: ↑Mon Nov 19, 2018 09:02
The new bits of A555 are 50mph because it is built to a low standard and has substandard forward visibility for 70.
There are also signal controlled junctions which design standards no longer permit on 70 limit roads.
But no, it's all some conspiracy to get drivers.
Yes. I can't get worked up about appropriate 50s. We can all grumble about whether bits of it should have been done to a higher standard, but the opening up a of a significant new length of this route is far more important than whether bits of it are 50 or 70.
Jeni wrote: ↑Mon Nov 19, 2018 11:24
50 is faster than we used to be able to travel through those fields - I don't mind it.
20 minutes longer to get in to work most days thanks to how it's completely effed up the A6 (not the smoothest flowing of roads in the first place) I very much mind. Queue all the way back to Disley this morning, always used to be pretty clear by 9. Every negative opinion I have about "development" and "improvement" has been confirmed and increased with this road.
Jeni wrote: ↑Mon Nov 19, 2018 11:24
50 is faster than we used to be able to travel through those fields - I don't mind it.
20 minutes longer to get in to work most days thanks to how it's completely effed up the A6 (not the smoothest flowing of roads in the first place) I very much mind. Queue all the way back to Disley this morning, always used to be pretty clear by 9. Every negative opinion I have about "development" and "improvement" has been confirmed and increased with this road.
And the queue was also back to Disley on Sunday, too.
fras wrote: ↑Tue Nov 20, 2018 09:55
And the queue was also back to Disley on Sunday, too.
Often gets busy around there on a nice weekend mind, with lots of people going to Lyme Park. And further along I've found on several occasions that Hazel Grove is more clogged at weekends than it is at (late) rush hour.
The stupidity of the road signs doesn't help - Stockport is signed straight ahead at the A523 junction so everything is sent around two sides of a triangle.
Likewise joining the A555 appears to be designed to rely on going via Simpsons Corner instead of the A523, which probably means huge amounts of green time for right turns that should have been accommodated at the next junction down.
It does seem bizarre that the A6 gets a crummy T-junction yet the unbuilt Poynton Bypass has that gigantic sausageabout monstrosity.
Bryn Terminally cynical, unimpressed, and nearly Middle Age already. She said life was like a motorway; dull, grey, and long.
The queue appears to come from the lights at the High Lane end of the diversion though rather than the A6 junction itself. They've been on for a while but it's only since the A555 opened that the traffic has jammed up though. It could be some strange interaction between that set of lights and the ones on the A6 / A555 junction, no idea how that could work other than a general view that traffic can sometimes behave in strange, non-obvious ways when it comes to where queues actually form.
It seems a shame that the opportunity hasn't been taken to downgrade a few of the classified roads in the area now that the A555 has opened. The B5094 is most obviously superfluous, but I'd also think the A5143 and the A5149 (east of the A555) could be reclassified as B roads or declassified entirely.
It does seem bizarre that the A6 gets a crummy T-junction yet the unbuilt Poynton Bypass has that gigantic sausageabout monstrosity.
The A6 junction is likely just temporary until they decide on the M60 extension, remember the small roundabout at the Bramhall end of the A555, not so small now! The Poynton Bypass is happening (soon) so that is why they built that junction the way it is, and I think they have massively underestimated the traffic that will pour onto the A555 from Macclesfield when the link does open!
It does seem bizarre that the A6 gets a crummy T-junction yet the unbuilt Poynton Bypass has that gigantic sausageabout monstrosity.
The A6 junction is likely just temporary until they decide on the M60 extension, remember the small roundabout at the Bramhall end of the A555, not so small now! The Poynton Bypass is happening (soon) so that is why they built that junction the way it is, and I think they have massively underestimated the traffic that will pour onto the A555 from Macclesfield when the link does open!
The A6 junction may also be temporary if a bypass for High Lane and Disley is built. The junction could be remodelled as a GSJ with the A555 mainline continuing as the bypass.
Just a quick note to say that following my asking the SEMMMS team why a 50 mph limit had been applied over the whole length of the A555, and pointing out that the previous section had been 70 mph, I have been advised that the limit on the old 70 mph section will be reinstated, the 50 mph is temporary. However it will be shortened to A34 Wilmslow Bpass to Woodford Road. Apparently the rest of the road is too tortuous to have 70 or even 60 mph applied: -
"The 50mph speed limit on the majority of the A555 stems from the design characteristics of parts of the road which incorporate vertical and horizontal features which are not commensurate with a design speed higher than 50mph."
Maybe the standards need a revisit ! I have no objection to 50 limits on approach to either end or to the at-grade junctions, in fact 40 as one gets close to the A6 end might be more appropriate to avoid rear-end collisions. Something surely needs to be done to improve traffic flow A6-A555 at this T-junction.
