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Owain wrote: ↑Sat Oct 19, 2019 06:44I'm originally from Gloucestershire, but I've never heard of any of these pubs except the Air Balloon! I guess that reflects how the road affects the perceptions of passers-by. I'll bear these tips in mind though...
I've stopped in the Air Balloon 3-4 times. I think the first time was after a SABRE AGM about 15 years ago when I was roadtripping around the area with si404 and stopped off for a quick bite to eat. More recently, when I've taken the overnight ferry from Fishguard to Rosslare, I've tended to pass the Air Balloon about dinner time and stopped off there. Everyone who I've gone with has been complimentary about the food and the atmosphere, far beyond what anyone would expect from a pub on the side of a busy and dangerous main road.
So while I realise progress is progress, I'll miss it.
-- SABRE Maps - all the best maps in one place....
Owain wrote: ↑Sat Oct 19, 2019 06:44I'm originally from Gloucestershire, but I've never heard of any of these pubs except the Air Balloon! I guess that reflects how the road affects the perceptions of passers-by. I'll bear these tips in mind though...
I've stopped in the Air Balloon 3-4 times. I think the first time was after a SABRE AGM about 15 years ago when I was roadtripping around the area with si404 and stopped off for a quick bite to eat. More recently, when I've taken the overnight ferry from Fishguard to Rosslare, I've tended to pass the Air Balloon about dinner time and stopped off there. Everyone who I've gone with has been complimentary about the food and the atmosphere, far beyond what anyone would expect from a pub on the side of a busy and dangerous main road.
So while I realise progress is progress, I'll miss it.
OK Awaydays hat on - I know I've asked this before but who is interested in a trip to the Air Balloon?
We could combine it with a drive up and down the A417/419 corridor.
Graham wrote: ↑Sun Oct 06, 2019 23:20
There is/was also a pub on the LAR past the Centurion Garage - I can't remember the name of it and I think it has now closed down (another casualty of the building of the dual carriageway).
Five Mile House, Duntisbourne Abbots. A classic unspoilt pub too
If anyone was at Highways UK at the NEC this week, the Arup stand had a driving simulator set up showing an 'anonymous scheme' that was clearly the A417 project.
Owain wrote: ↑Sat Oct 19, 2019 06:44I'm originally from Gloucestershire, but I've never heard of any of these pubs except the Air Balloon! I guess that reflects how the road affects the perceptions of passers-by. I'll bear these tips in mind though...
I've stopped in the Air Balloon 3-4 times. I think the first time was after a SABRE AGM about 15 years ago when I was roadtripping around the area with si404 and stopped off for a quick bite to eat. More recently, when I've taken the overnight ferry from Fishguard to Rosslare, I've tended to pass the Air Balloon about dinner time and stopped off there. Everyone who I've gone with has been complimentary about the food and the atmosphere, far beyond what anyone would expect from a pub on the side of a busy and dangerous main road.
So while I realise progress is progress, I'll miss it.
OK Awaydays hat on - I know I've asked this before but who is interested in a trip to the Air Balloon?
We could combine it with a drive up and down the A417/419 corridor.
Here's a local news outlet's review of the Air Balloon's food - they thought they'd get in there while it was still open. The verdict seems to be that it's perfectly OK without being particularly special.
In the meantime, as far as the road scheme itself is concerned, there appears to have been some sort of delay caused by admin issues, but it's unclear if this will affect the hoped-for 2024 completion date:
A few design changes, including changing the gradient - it was initially 10%, at the most recent consultation this was changed to 7%, now it's proposed to be 8%.
The change to Cowley access also caught my eye. Essentially they will sever the existing road to it! I suspect some locals have put 'ratrunning' as a concern without really thinking about the fact that they use that exact road themselves every day...
jackal wrote: ↑Wed Aug 05, 2020 09:54
A few design changes, including changing the gradient - it was initially 10%, at the most recent consultation this was changed to 7%, now it's proposed to be 8%.
The change to Cowley access also caught my eye. Essentially they will sever the existing road to it! I suspect some locals have put 'ratrunning' as a concern without really thinking about the fact that they use that exact road themselves every day...
Presumably the change to 8% means they won't necessarily need a climbing lane (10% they'd definitely need one, I'd say even 7% would have, but we know how HE can twist things to cost cut).
10% downhill would need escape lanes too, even the less steep A465 at Clydach is getting those.
Bryn Terminally cynical, unimpressed, and nearly Middle Age already. She said life was like a motorway; dull, grey, and long.
Bryn666 wrote: ↑Wed Aug 05, 2020 21:3410% downhill would need escape lanes too, even the less steep A465 at Clydach is getting those.
I'm a little bit surprised by that – IMX escape lanes are usually only used where the downhill leads promptly to a built-up area, junction or sharp bend where a runaway vehicle would be a severe danger, but where the road levels off and there is space for a runaway to lose speed safely it is unusual to see them – I don't know whether the curves and the proximity of junctions put the A465 into a higher risk bracket, or if the standards requiring escape lanes on new roads are higher than for existing roads.
Bryn666 wrote: ↑Wed Aug 05, 2020 21:3410% downhill would need escape lanes too, even the less steep A465 at Clydach is getting those.
I'm a little bit surprised by that – IMX escape lanes are usually only used where the downhill leads promptly to a built-up area, junction or sharp bend where a runaway vehicle would be a severe danger, but where the road levels off and there is space for a runaway to lose speed safely it is unusual to see them – I don't know whether the curves and the proximity of junctions put the A465 into a higher risk bracket, or if the standards requiring escape lanes on new roads are higher than for existing roads.
DMRB mandates their consideration where vertical alignment cannot be improved at the design stage. In reality we don't have many new roads built on steep hills in order to warrant this consideration. The A465 already had them, the A417 is likely to need them given the horizontal alignment and potential for a brake failure to hit the central reservation and cause a crossover.
Whether or not they decide they need them is down to the risk assessment process, but I'll be very surprised if they don't.
Bryn Terminally cynical, unimpressed, and nearly Middle Age already. She said life was like a motorway; dull, grey, and long.
Bryn666 wrote: ↑Wed Aug 05, 2020 21:3410% downhill would need escape lanes too, even the less steep A465 at Clydach is getting those.
I'm a little bit surprised by that – IMX escape lanes are usually only used where the downhill leads promptly to a built-up area, junction or sharp bend where a runaway vehicle would be a severe danger, but where the road levels off and there is space for a runaway to lose speed safely it is unusual to see them – I don't know whether the curves and the proximity of junctions put the A465 into a higher risk bracket, or if the standards requiring escape lanes on new roads are higher than for existing roads.
DMRB mandates their consideration where vertical alignment cannot be improved at the design stage. In reality we don't have many new roads built on steep hills in order to warrant this consideration. The A465 already had them, the A417 is likely to need them given the horizontal alignment and potential for a brake failure to hit the central reservation and cause a crossover.
Whether or not they decide they need them is down to the risk assessment process, but I'll be very surprised if they don't.
Back in the days when it was the A48, this was an escape lane. It became a car park when the A48 was diverted, and the road declassified. I don't know if HGVs are banned from using it, but it wouldn't surprise me if they were, and hence the risk of one running into the river was eliminated.
Owain wrote: ↑Thu Aug 06, 2020 09:19Back in the days when it was the A48, this was an escape lane. It became a car park when the A48 was diverted, and the road declassified. I don't know if HGVs are banned from using it, but it wouldn't surprise me if they were, and hence the risk of one running into the river was eliminated.
And at the other end of the old road, the stub left when the road was realigned has been converted into an escape lane to prevent runaway vehicles from landing on the A48. https://goo.gl/maps/zofx3uKBaQAzZDTy8
Owain wrote: ↑Thu Aug 06, 2020 09:19Back in the days when it was the A48, this was an escape lane. It became a car park when the A48 was diverted, and the road declassified. I don't know if HGVs are banned from using it, but it wouldn't surprise me if they were, and hence the risk of one running into the river was eliminated.
And at the other end of the old road, the stub left when the road was realigned has been converted into an escape lane to prevent runaway vehicles from landing on the A48. https://goo.gl/maps/zofx3uKBaQAzZDTy8
Gloucestershire didn't get the memo that the M4 moved looking at all the signs around there either.
Bryn Terminally cynical, unimpressed, and nearly Middle Age already. She said life was like a motorway; dull, grey, and long.
Owain wrote: ↑Thu Aug 06, 2020 09:19Back in the days when it was the A48, this was an escape lane. It became a car park when the A48 was diverted, and the road declassified. I don't know if HGVs are banned from using it, but it wouldn't surprise me if they were, and hence the risk of one running into the river was eliminated.
And at the other end of the old road, the stub left when the road was realigned has been converted into an escape lane to prevent runaway vehicles from landing on the A48. https://goo.gl/maps/zofx3uKBaQAzZDTy8
That could quite possibly be the most pointless escape road in the country! The gradient is quite short and far from steep.
Bryn666 wrote: ↑Thu Aug 06, 2020 13:38Gloucestershire didn't get the memo that the M4 moved looking at all the signs around there either.
The original signage would predate the moving of the M4 by almost a decade, because the new A48 was open by the end of the 1980s (and the B4228 was cut back from the Beachley ferry slip at the same time).
That doesn't excuse this one though, which is relatively recent. Like a lot of other stuff on the Gloucester-Chepstrow stretch of the A48, it greatly exaggerates the hazard, as the curve is nowhere near as tight as that.
Using your feedback, we’ve made some improvements to our proposals to build 3.4 miles of new dual carriage way on the A417 between Brockworth and Cowley. The changes will benefit local connectivity, accessibility and reduce the impact on communities, the environment, and the local landscape.
To allow you to provide feedback on these changes, we’re holding a consultation from 13 October to 12 November 2020.
While we welcome feedback on the entire scheme, the changes we’re seeking feedback on are:
new crossings: Cotswold Way and Gloucestershire Way crossings
the change in gradient of the A417 as it climbs the escarpment near Crickley Hill
the design of Cowley junction
the rerouting of the B4070 to Birdlip via Barrow Wake
improvements for walkers, cyclists and horse riders, including disabled users
the replacement of Common Land, which is a type of green space
the change in environmental effects as a result of the new design
The feedback from this consultation will help Highways England develop its application for a Development Consent Order (DCO) that we plan to submit early next year.
There doesn't seem to be any change in the strategic road. The gradient is proposed as 8% as it was in August so I'm not sure why gradient was highlighted as a major point of the consultation. Maybe I'm missing some subtle point there. But they do provide an interesting visualisation:
The main changes concern local access. As mentioned above, access to Cowley junction from Cowley itself will now be severed. Seems a bit mad to me but apparently it was requested.
There's also an image showing the existing A417 repurposed as an S2+1 A436, resulting in a 9 lane cross-section at the Gloucestershire Way green bridge.
Is the cost of lowering the proposed new road into a retained cutting worth it ? All that it does is reduce the gradient slightly. What is wrong with an 8% gradient ?