Gaps in the motorway system: how they cope?

[Enceladus]

I know that in the UK, the spate of motorway building between the early 1960s and the mid 1980s meant that there were several gaps between continuous sections of motorway where motorway traffic had to use A roads to connect between to motorways. A few that come to mind offhand are the gaps between the M1 and the M6 for Northwest bound traffic, gaps between completed sections of the M25, the gap at tbe Avon crossing in Bristol where the already completed M5 sections at Filton abd Gordano had no Avonmouth bridge to use for a few years. Some other gaps were on the M20, M4 between Maidstone and Tormarton and more such gaps.

Were they a real frustration? Can you regale of tales of dealing with these gaps. I know some didn't last long but others persisted. Was the standard of the connecting trunk roads adequate to cope with traffic...or not!?

[Chris Bertram]

I do remember the gap in the M20, the road was certainly quite busy and moved slowly. This was in 1989.

The Avon gap on the M5 was a pain in the rear end. It meant that the Cumberland Basin complex remained an issue beyond when it should have. We suffered that a couple of times when taking grandparents to Bristol airport for their holidays.

[c2R]

It really depended on the gap, whether the new motorway was on an existing corridor (or not), and how much of the rest of the route was completed. The Winchester bypass suffered appalling delays, whereas the M40 gap was so huge that it didn't make too much of a difference. The last section of the A20 was bad during holiday season, but not appallingly so most of the year, whereas the M25 east of J25 was a new corridor so wasn't too bad.

[rileyrob]

I remember travelling west on the M4 to The Gower in the early 90s (August 93 or 94) when part of a new section had just opened, and I think another part was still under construction. I remember it being an exciting rollercoaster on the coach, trying to get it up to 70 on a downhill section (it could do it, as proven on the M5 / A38 around Exeter).

However, to answer the question, I don't remember any delays, just the huge disappointment when Alan said he had to slow down for a roundabout when we were at about 68½ mph on the speedo!

Likewise, travelling up to Scotland in August 1990 didn't prove problematic with the long gap of the A74 as far as I can remember, but other than the huge excitement of crossing the border, I don't remember anything with much clarity from that trip. It was all too exciting. More recently, the Cumberland Gap never gave any real trouble, even when they were upgrading, although the same cannot be said for the M80 which was often a tedious crawl whilst the works were ongoing.

[Chris Bertram]

Going back to about 1981, there were still gaps in the S Wales M4 - around Bridgend, and across the Neath estuary. The latter wasn't too bad, the A48 was dualled, but the former was a trial as the earlier non-motorway bypass, to the south of town rather than the north, had to try to take the strain.

[Duncan macknight]

I do vaguely remember the M9 spur stopping abruptly and then the long crawl to the toll booth to cross the forth road bridge.

[drpsg]

not quite gaps in the motorway system but I do vaguely remember days out to North Wales in the late 80s/early 90s along the A55 as that got upgraded, especially when it was dualled either side of Conway, but before the tunnel was complete, but also other sections like Rhuallt

[Johnathan404]

The best example you will get is surely the extension of the M3.

By the time the road reached J8 in the 1960s there was a clear and relatively high-standard route from London to Southampton, and it was clear this would soon be a motorway, but it took about 30 years to complete.

[Bryn666]

Between 1984 and 1997 the M65 gap caused a few problems. Was very welcome when the link to the M6 was finished.

[Berk]

The best example you will get is surely the extension of the M3.

By the time the road reached J8 in the 1960s there was a clear and relatively high-standard route from London to Southampton, and it was clear this would soon be a motorway, but it took about 30 years to complete.

I think I would add to that, and say the M6/A74 in the 60s/early 70s, because it was slowly being extended, but gaps were still present. So you would bowl along on the motorway... only to be directed off at the next exit, back to the A-roads.

It also needs to be remembered that quite a few of our A-roads (especially the ones that were later detrunked) really don’t meet modern standards for long-distance roads. A few (like the old A46) have even been downgraded to B-roads. I’m sure it’s the same in Ireland too.

[vlad]

There was the roundabout on the A80 in Cumbernauld, which by the 2000s was the only place you'd need to stop between Plymouth and Perth. I only went that way a couple of times but I remember queues going back a few miles.

I'd mention the A8000 as well only I think most people have deliberately chosen to forget about it.

[M19]

There was the roundabout on the A80 in Cumbernauld, which by the 2000s was the only place you'd need to stop between Plymouth and Perth. I only went that way a couple of times but I remember queues going back a few miles.

I'd mention the A8000 as well only I think most people have deliberately chosen to forget about it.

You could bypass it using Cumberland's expressway network.

[SteveA30]

There was a gap in the M27 from the M3 to Hedge End area, until 1984. From the west, you left the A33 at Eastleigh, went under it, back up the other side, down to the end of A33, then left under a narrow rail bride to A27. Seemed to flow ok most of the time but then, I was never there at rush hour.

A20 in Kent was busy but free-flowing as well, on a WS2 with short D2's here and there.

I used the M25 gap in Kent in the summer of 83 I think. Along the M26, off at A20 Wrotham bypass and on to M20 at J2 for Dartford tunnel, very busy but still flowing ok. We stopped at the layby toilets opposite the Oakdene café, which was full with cars and lorries. The layby was full and so were the loos. This was the first stop after Reigate, which was another gap then. A31 to Guildford then A25 to A217 Reigate so, a lot of people were walking in a cross legged sort of way at Wrotham. Layby and café are still there but, the loos were removed after the M25 gap was filled. A25 was ok until Reigate, where it all ground to a halt.

A48 at Bridgend was also fun. The double LC's and garages on each side of the bypass were also full to bursting. I think only 1 garage is left now.

[James1978]

One I remember wasn't a motorway but as close as, this would have been about 1989 or 1990 - before the M42 was extended to the M1 (the A42 of course), coming from the M5 heading NE for the M1 we had to go M42, M6 south (I had to convince my parents that it was actually south!), then M69 to join the M1 north. What a long way round!

[IAN]

The gap in the M5 between J24 and J25 was a pain in the holiday season, though I don't think it lasted long. For a while the M5 ended at J30 so you had to crawl round the edge of Exeter to re-join the A38, which was the better route west at the time.
The M54 had an isolated section in Telford, which meant a crawl along the A5 to reach the main motorway network.

Ian (M5 Driver)

[A428_Owen]

The gap between the M50 and the M4 on what is now the M5 was very congested, even on Sundays. I can remember 'A38' being a by-word for 'traffic jam' in the early 1970s. I think the M5 was built from J8 to J13 first which took out Tewkesbury and Gloucester but filling the final gap was a noticeable relief, at least as far as Avonmouth.

[SteveA30]

They were March 71 and Dec 71 to the M4, which also plugged its own gap in that month. One of the reasons I photograph diversions/overspill, is to rectify my mistake in not recording these roads in their heyday. The diversions are just as real, for a few hours at least.

The last M5 gap before Exeter was J26-J27, until Oct 76, then J30-31 in May 77

Another gap was the A5 from M1 to M6. That was stop/start through Cannock in 1969 and 71. I recall we took the A34 to Stafford, just to escape it.

[Vierwielen]

It really depended on the gap, whether the new motorway was on an existing corridor (or not), and how much of the rest of the route was completed. The Winchester bypass suffered appalling delays, whereas the M40 gap was so huge that it didn't make too much of a difference. The last section of the A20 was bad during holiday season, but not appallingly so most of the year, whereas the M25 east of J25 was a new corridor so wasn't too bad.

The Winchester bypass was a right pain. Planning was held up for years because the DoT wanted to route the motorway via giant cutting through the middle of St Catherine's Hill while environmentalists claimed that such a cutting would scar the landscape and lobbied for a tunnel. The cost of the inquiry was huge, so much so that I would not be surprised to find out that had the tunnel been planned in the first place, the additional cost would have been less than the additional costs resulting from the inquiries and court cases.

There was a similar argument regarding the Devil's Punchbowl, but in that case the environmentalist concerned was the National Trust who wielded considerable influence and in the end a tunnel was built.

[Norfolktolancashire]

Between 1984 and 1997 the M65 gap caused a few problems. Was very welcome when the link to the M6 was finished.

I remember the queues westbound on the A677 to the old traffic light junction of the A59, then two lanes of queue down to the M6. Commuting into Blackburn along the southern route (A674) wasn't much better!

[Vierwielen]

I believe that the gaps in the M25 were a deliberate ploy to ward off the NIMBYs. The philosophy was to create a few lovely sections of road such as the highly over-engineered Rickmansworth by-pass, get lots of traffic on them so that the the locals would demand that the gaps be filled in to take away the traffic that was clogging up their towns.