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.
Achmelvic wrote:One that I think may have been mentioned before but annoys me every time I use it is on the A62 as it goes under the M62/M621 albeit I'm not sure if it's a botched sign or a botched road marking? The sign here] says to get into the left hand lane for the M621 to Leeds & A650 to Wakefield & Morley however if you follow the lane markings up to where it widens to three lanes here it implication is traffic for those two destinations should have been in the right hand lane as that's the one which opens out! I've seen plenty of last minute lane changes here and horns blown as for want of a small bit of paint...
That's incorrect signage. The junction was rebuilt within the last 10 years: both roundabouts were signalised and the northern roundabout was 'hamburgerised', allowing through traffic on the A62 to bypass it. The first sign would have been correct before the rebuild, but now the layout has changed it's no longer accurate.
If Lane 1 split into two, instead of Lane 2 doing it as marked, the sign would be fine.
Did no one check the design as that is pretty rudimentary and a schoolboy error.
Bryn Terminally cynical, unimpressed, and nearly Middle Age already. She said life was like a motorway; dull, grey, and long.
Oops - it looks like the roads guys in Northern Ireland have botched the markings on the roundabout of the newly-dualled A26!
On approach to the roundabout, signage tells drivers they can use both lanes to continue straight on along the A26, while traffic for the A44 right-turn must use the right-hand lane only*.
Then, on the roundabout itself, a bit of white-painted numptiness suggests that traffic in the left-hand lane can use it to make the right-turn for the A44, while discouraging traffic from legitimately using the right-hand lane to take the A26 from doing so.
Owain wrote: ↑Sat Jan 05, 2019 13:30
Oops - it looks like the roads guys in Northern Ireland have botched the markings on the roundabout of the newly-dualled A26!
The junction itself is botched. The A26 to the south has recently been dualled with GSJs at all the side roads but has a tiny nasty roundabout with the A44. The same problem as the AWPR at Cleanhill
Why is it we can't build roads with proper junctions in the right places
How would you like your grade separations, Sir? Big and complex.
Based on the road markings on the roundabout it seems to be the case that drivers coming from the south can use only one lane to continue along the A26 but can use either of the lanes to access the A44 as if the A44 is the continuation of the route. Clearly the vast majority of traffic along the road will be heading towards Coleraine with comparatively little traffic going to Ballycastle the "boring" inland way. The botched sign might be attempting to imply that the A26 should be treated as the through route at the roundabout with the A44 just as a side route, but the lane markings on the roundabout are incorrect for this to be the case.
Owain wrote: ↑Sat Jan 05, 2019 13:30
Oops - it looks like the roads guys in Northern Ireland have botched the markings on the roundabout of the newly-dualled A26!
The junction itself is botched. The A26 to the south has recently been dualled with GSJs at all the side roads but has a tiny nasty roundabout with the A44. The same problem as the AWPR at Cleanhill
Why is it we can't build roads with proper junctions in the right places
Unlike the Cleanhill Roundabout, at least this one does have rumble strips along the D2 approach. The Cleanhill Roundabout has no rumble strips along any of the three D2 approaches.
So the A738 into Kilwinning is straight on rather than right? What is interesting about this mistake is that the markings are relatively recent, and the old fading ones were correct!
Owain wrote: ↑Sat Jan 05, 2019 13:30
*There's a botched sign too. What's with the space in "A 44"?
There should be a thin space between the letter and the number, but not a full space.
The funny thing - and the reason it looks a mess to me - is because the space in "A44" is different in size to the space in the two instances of "A26" on the same sign!
You'd think (and hope) they might have been consistent.
So the A738 into Kilwinning is straight on rather than right? What is interesting about this mistake is that the markings are relatively recent, and the old fading ones were correct!
This is something that has come up a few times recently. Some councils seem reluctant to use a right-turn arrow (or a combo arrow including a right-turn) on the approach to a roundabout, in case it encourages drivers to go the wrong way round the roundabout. So having both lanes marked with straight-on arrows even though one of them can also be used for turning right is common, if not necessarily helpful.
Micro The Maniac wrote: ↑Tue Jan 08, 2019 21:20
Coming out of Hopwood Park Services (at M42 J2) I was completely thrown by the signs that give directions to M42(N) and M42(S)
My eyes were drawn to the "M42" sign on the right, with a big arrow and two smaller arrows all pointing to the right. Took me a moment to spot the damaged left-pointing arrow buried on the sign.
Micro The Maniac wrote: ↑Tue Jan 08, 2019 21:20
Coming out of Hopwood Park Services (at M42 J2) I was completely thrown by the signs that give directions to M42(N) and M42(S)
Micro The Maniac wrote: ↑Tue Jan 08, 2019 21:20
Coming out of Hopwood Park Services (at M42 J2) I was completely thrown by the signs that give directions to M42(N) and M42(S)
In fact, between the M5 and M40, the M42 is about as East/West as can be.
It must just be regarding the M42 in a broader sense as a north-south motorway, even though along that stretch it is aligned east-west. Approaching the M42 from the M40 the markings in the lanes read "M42 NTH" and "M42 WEST".
The M42 really has a SW - NE aligned route which has the same problem as the M3 and the M80 when trying to describe directions on signage and via road markings.
Euan wrote: ↑Wed Jan 09, 2019 08:32
It must just be regarding the M42 in a broader sense as a north-south motorway, even though along that stretch it is aligned east-west. Approaching the M42 from the M40 the markings in the lanes read "M42 NTH" and "M42 WEST".
The M42 really has a SW - NE aligned route which has the same problem as the M3 and the M80 when trying to describe directions on signage and via road markings.
It is very confusing if you're heading towards the M40 though - you are following north to go south.
Johnathan404 wrote: ↑Wed Jan 09, 2019 11:23
It is very confusing if you're heading towards the M40 though - you are following north to go south.
No different to someone in Birmingham going north on the A38M and M6 to get the southbound M5; no doubt people could suggest silar examples around London or Manchester. Orbital motorways will do this to you.
Make poetry history.
Did you know there's more to SABRE than just the Forums?
Help with maps using the new online calibrator.
Add your roads knowledge to the SABRE Wiki.
Johnathan404 wrote: ↑Wed Jan 09, 2019 11:23
It is very confusing if you're heading towards the M40 though - you are following north to go south.
No different to someone in Birmingham going north on the A38M and M6 to get the southbound M5; no doubt people could suggest silar examples around London or Manchester. Orbital motorways will do this to you.
Often you will have to start or end your journey by heading the "wrong" way, but it's rare to have to follow the wrong compass direction in the middle of long, cross-country route like Stoke to Oxford.
A journey from one side of the M25 or the M60 to the other doesn't involve much wrong-way travel, and the compass points are usually given clearly. There should be a thread for that!
Euan wrote: ↑Wed Jan 09, 2019 08:32
It must just be regarding the M42 in a broader sense as a north-south motorway, even though along that stretch it is aligned east-west. Approaching the M42 from the M40 the markings in the lanes read "M42 NTH" and "M42 WEST".
The M42 really has a SW - NE aligned route which has the same problem as the M3 and the M80 when trying to describe directions on signage and via road markings.
It is very confusing if you're heading towards the M40 though - you are following north to go south.
The north-south signage at that point does seem potentially misleading to me. If you want to head south towards London and the SE you will want the opposite direction to someone wanting to head south towards Bristol and the SW.
Euan wrote: ↑Wed Jan 09, 2019 08:32
It must just be regarding the M42 in a broader sense as a north-south motorway, even though along that stretch it is aligned east-west. Approaching the M42 from the M40 the markings in the lanes read "M42 NTH" and "M42 WEST".
The M42 really has a SW - NE aligned route which has the same problem as the M3 and the M80 when trying to describe directions on signage and via road markings.
It is very confusing if you're heading towards the M40 though - you are following north to go south.
The north-south signage at that point does seem potentially misleading to me. If you want to head south towards London and the SE you will want the opposite direction to someone wanting to head south towards Bristol and the SW.
Which is probably why, on the very large white metal sign, you see the words 'London' and 'Worcester' to help you towards southeast or southwest.
Make poetry history.
Did you know there's more to SABRE than just the Forums?
Help with maps using the new online calibrator.
Add your roads knowledge to the SABRE Wiki.