The study of British and Irish roads - their construction, numbering, history, mapping, past and future official roads proposals and general roads musings.
There is a separate forum for Street Furniture (traffic lights, street lights, road signs etc).
Registered users get access to other forums including discussions about other forms of transport, driving, fantasy roads and wishlists, and roads quizzes.
Truvelo wrote:Has the westbound lane drop at Lakeside always existed? Doing something about it may relieve some of the queuing during the morning rush. Would east facing slips help? For starters it would enable easier access to Lakeside from the east.
The layout I drawn earlier continues the three lanes through the junction with lane one peeling off for the M25. This or the east facing Lakeside slips would be far superior to an unnatural lane drop with a 33% drop in capacity.
Yes and no....
The exit for Lakeside was an unplanned addition to that section of the A13 (dating from the early 80s) which had been D3 from the M25 to the A128 junction from the day it opened. The A126 didn't exist (the actual road itself I mean) until the shopping centre opened in the early 90s and for ages it was being hailed as the greatest invention humankind had ever seen. (Since then we have had the Trafford Centre in Manchester and Bluewater on the Kent side which are even bigger) but at the time Lakeside was 'the place to go' for your mega shopping trips from all over the South East. Queueing to enter the car parks was experienced from day 1 and I would suggest that the lane drop going Eastbound was a 'temporary' fix to traffic tailing back onto the mainline of the A13. (The A126 bridge and the railway bridge alongside are both wide enough for D3).
Widening the section between the M5 and the A126 to D4 would return the A13 to the state it was in pre Lakeside with the 4th lane available to hold queueing traffic if needed.
Phil wrote:Widening the section between the M5 and the A126 to D4 would return the A13 to the state it was in pre Lakeside with the 4th lane available to hold queueing traffic if needed.
Bloody hell, Lakeside has a bigger catchment area than I thought . That should be one hell of a project ...
“The quality of any advice anybody has to offer has to be judged against the quality of life they actually lead.” - Douglas Adams.
Did you know there's more to SABRE than just the Forums? Add your roads knowledge to the SABRE Wiki today!
Have you browsed SABRE Maps recently? Try getting involved!
Phil wrote:Widening the section between the M5 and the A126 to D4 would return the A13 to the state it was in pre Lakeside with the 4th lane available to hold queueing traffic if needed.
Bloody hell, Lakeside has a bigger catchment area than I thought . That should be one hell of a project ...
4-laning between junctions as effectively an extended weaving area can give difficulties if one of the through lanes is a lane drop (or gain), as those wanting to weave in the opposite direction to this have to cross two lanes in what (as in the case here at Lakeside) can be an unsuitably short distance.
those joining here to take the A13 eastbound have to cross two lanes of 50 mph traffic very smartly, and if a slow HGV joining uphill, as will be the case at Lakeside, it is a hazard.
The issue at Lakeside on the A13 eastbound is not weaving per se, it exiting traffic for the A126 blocking back along lane 1 of the eastbound A13, and indeed then back beyond the M25 merge point, giving those coming along the mainline A13 no scope to weave into the exit lane without obstructing the mainline. As the exit ramp has two lanes, and can be free flowing when the approach lane is congested, what is needed on the mainline is two through lanes, two exiting lanes. I know it won't be cheap because this section is in a cutting, when the exiting lane was added for the A126, a low retaining wall was required, this would have to be re-engineered to add a further lane. Now in the USA I've seen a second retaining wall inserted a lane behind the first very straightforwardly, whenever it is done in the UK a real meal seems to be made of the job in terms of time and expense.
I think my future early ack-emma trips home from Tilbury docks will now be conducted via M25 & M11. Having to hold to 50mph on a deserted three-lane road is just asking for trouble (on my licence).
I just drove that section towards the M25. All the SPECS still signed 'camera not in use'. I was in lane 1 doing nearly 60, getting overtaken in the other lanes.
The posts/repeaters etc make the limit look permament, but still leaves a big chunk of NSL at the end of the 50 zone leaving London. Quite a bit of that could also be raised to NSL by the look of the standard of road.
I drove that section on Saturday night. All the SPECS cameras had signs saying "Camera not in use". I hope they were right! The limit does seem very low for a well-aligned and maintained rural dual carriageway with good sight lines and street lighting.
A multi-million pound road improvement project that will help to kick start billions in regeneration starts next weekend.
placeholder
The interchange between the A13 and the M25 at junction 30 near Thurrock in Essex will be overhauled to reduce congestion and improve safety.
The A13 on approach to the junction will be widened to four lanes in each direction, and the junction itself will be improved, with new dedicated link roads between the M25 and the A13.
This busy junction sits at the heart of the Thames Gateway regeneration area, and the improvements we’re making will make sure that it can continue its key role in supporting economic growth, both nationally and in the region. Traffic at the junction is expected to grow by up to a quarter by 2032, and safety at the junction is also a concern. The project will add vital extra capacity to the junction, and improve safety by almost a fifth.
Roadworks are set to begin on Friday 27 February, and expected to be complete in Autumn 2016. It will be completed in two main phases; first on the A13 and then, from January 2016 on the junction itself.
From Friday 27 February, narrow lanes will be installed on the A13. A 40mph speed limit will be introduced, which will remain in place until work is complete.
WHBM wrote:At least journeys into London on the A13 have improved. The one signal between the M25 and Canary Wharf, that at Renwick Road, has been closed off.
From 14th February the right turn from the [A13] Ripple Road eastbound into Renwick Road, will be permanently closed.
Yes, I saw that the other day. Until recently I would use that turn fairly often to get to the Box Lane railhead to deliver/collect railtanks. That work seems to have dried up now however so I may not notice it's loss quite so often as I once would have.
Some years back it was a busy containerbase too but that all disappeared to be replaced by a holding area for the Olympic construction traffic. It's generally pretty quiet there now though a decent cafe survives on site.
It may be quieter still soon as Stobart have taken over most of the Kuehne & Nagel site on the convergence of the new & old A13. AFAIK, the site has it's own railhead so that may curtail the Stobart rail traffic going into Box Lane.
Although the lights will presumably still be in operation for the left turn out of Renwick road, so thinking about it, I fail to see the point of the closed right turn unless it was for safety reasons, ie: the turn lane filling up back on to the main carriageway.
Whatever, it will still have no effect on London-bound traffic unless the lights are removed & to do that, I think Renwick road would have to be closed at the A13. Perhaps the parallel industrial access road could be used for entry to it but I can't see that happening either.
Sunday mornings were always bad here, a large Sunday market down Renwick Road had the pocket turn lane filled to capacity and beyond, and many attending were locals joining the A13 from the left at the Lodge Ave junction shortly before, and weaving right across the eastbound carriageway, bringing the A13 to a crawl or a stand. Being all on a right-hand bend it was a classic hot spot for shunts.
. That should be one hell of a project ...
