Which temporary termini were originally at-grade?

[M4Simon]

*M4 east of Port Talbot - this is again a little like the other two, and the original final few hundred metres is now an unnumbered spur which meets an at-grade roundabout. The motorway was diverted just to the south when it was extended in the 1990s.

I think you mean north west of Port Talbot. There was another temporary at-grade terminus at the south eastern end of the Port Talbot bypass when the entire road dropped down to the existing J39 roundabout. In 1976/7 the eastbound carriageway was diverted along the new motorway alignment to the under construction J38 roundabout, arguably another short-lived temporary terminus.

The J28 and the J46 (southern) roundabouts were both also at-grade temporary termini.

Simon

[lefthandedspanner]

The southern end of the original M62 (later M63, later still M60) was an at-grade roundabout where it met the A56 near Stretford - it's now M60 junction 7, which is a large diamond interchange.

[wrinkly]

Swerving off topic, but to help me get a timeline in my head - was it ever suggested that the Ross Spur would be anything other than a spur? In the motorway madness days, was there no plan for a motorway to connect through Monmouthshire to Newport (current A40-A449), or through Raglan to the coal fields (current A40-A465-A470)? It seems unbefitting the prosperity given to Wales by the coal industry that the fairly crap arrangement of partially grade-separated dual carriageways and one very fatal S3 spreading out from the terminus of the M50 were always the plan. Only now with the Heads of the Valleys expressway are we seeing the kind of plan I'd have thought the coal fields deserved.

Perhaps this was due to the dominance of railway and ship traffic carrying coal - through Newport, Cardiff and Barry rather than by road to greater England?

The M50 was conceived as part of a route from the midlands to South Wales.

The northern part of that route was shared with the route to Bristol etc so became part of the M5.

The southern part of that route was seen as an upgrade to existing roads, so it wasn't seen as needing to be a motorway, just as the upgrades to the A1 were mostly seen as not needing to be motorways.

The middle part of the route, the part that became M50, was on a completely new alignment, and was made a motorway for that reason.

If you're going to talk about a period of motorway madness, it would perhaps be the late 60s and early 70s, after the M50 was open, and after much of the route south of the M50 had been upgraded or committed as AP.

[RJDG14]

I think the north/south ends of the original M1 were also at-grade.

The original south end at J5 was a flat, circular roundabout which was removed when it was extended south. As far as I know nothing remains of it today. The original north end at J18 was the roundabout and south-facing slip roads that we have today, with an embankment between them but no bridges.

The M50 was also an early motorway, but the at-grade roundabout at the western end was always intended as the permanent end and someone said on another thread that they believe the eastern end was built with provision for expansion.

I hadn't heard of any original plan to extend the M50 at its east end, but there was one later, after the M5 extended both ways from the junction.

I'm not talking about the old proposal to extend it eastwards to meet the M42; I meant the temporary eastern terminus at J1 that existed for a couple of years before the M5 was built. From what I've heard, it was built with the bridge and provision for expansion.

[wrinkly]

The southern end of the original M62 (later M63, later still M60) was an at-grade roundabout where it met the A56 near Stretford - it's now M60 junction 7, which is a large diamond interchange.

The northern end was also an at-grade roundabout - the more south-easterly of the two roundabouts that now form part of M60 J13.

[Chris Bertram]

I think the north/south ends of the original M1 were also at-grade.

The original south end at J5 was a flat, circular roundabout which was removed when it was extended south. As far as I know nothing remains of it today. The original north end at J18 was the roundabout and south-facing slip roads that we have today, with an embankment between them but no bridges.

The M50 was also an early motorway, but the at-grade roundabout at the western end was always intended as the permanent end and someone said on another thread that they believe the eastern end was built with provision for expansion.

I hadn't heard of any original plan to extend the M50 at its east end, but there was one later, after the M5 extended both ways from the junction.

I'm not talking about the old proposal to extend it eastwards to meet the M42; I meant the temporary eastern terminus at J1 that existed for a couple of years before the M5 was built. From what I've heard, it was built with the bridge and provision for expansion.

I'm sure that would have been right - the M5 was already planned and designed to plug in. Incidentally, the slip roads would have been built complete from day 1 - they're both single-carriageway with only double-white lines to separate opposing traffic, ending at roundabouts on A38, and are unchanged from then. None of the junctions on M50 is a two-bridge roundabout, which we tend to think of as the most common form of junction, unless you're counting M5 J8, which is now such a junction but was originally a trumpet. The first stretch of M5 was also sparing in its use of two-bridge roundabouts, with J5 and J7 being similar in design to M50 J1, i.e. dumb-bells with folded slips. J4, the northern terminus, and J6 were and still are two-bridge roundabouts, J7 has since been converted to one. J5 is now an unfolded dumb-bell with teardrop islands in place of roundabouts.

[wrinkly]

One temporary tie-in for the A74(M) was planned and at least partly built but to the best of my knowledge never used. It was at Muirhouse, north of J17, and would have formed the north end of the Lockerbie bypass. In the 1990s I used to visit the area once or twice a year and on one visit I saw it partly built with kerblines in place. But I believe the next section to the north caught up with it, and four consecutive sections, including these two, were opened simultaneously in September 1994.

[KeithW]

The M11 terminated at Stump Cross ona Roundabout while waiting for the completion of the Cambridge Western bypass section.

The contracts for the London to Stump Cross section were.

Contract 1, mainly urban, ran from Redbridge to Loughton, Essex, a distance of nine kilometres.
Contract 2, entirely rural, from Loughton to S Harlow (13 kilometres).
Contract 3 continued across open country to just east of Bishop's Stortford in Hertfordshire (15 kilometres);
Contract 4, still rural, temporarily concluded the motorway at Stump Cross (27 kilometres).

Contract 3 was the first part to commence and be completed followed by Contracts 1 and 2. Contract 4, in two sections, 4A and 4B, commenced shortly after for completion in 1979.

Full info is available here
http://mat.pixl8-hosting.co.uk/en/motor ... /index.cfm

The initial plan was for the M11 to run down further into the centre ending in the Temple Mills pretty much along the line of the A12 as I understand it which is why the Motorway begins at J4

[Chris5156]

It seems as if many of the earliest motorways were built without provision for expansion in the contract (Preston Bypass, Lancaster Bypass etc).

That's a really weird statement considering that both the Preston Bypass and Lancaster Bypass were laid out for future continuation at both ends, and you've acknowledged that yourself in previous posts.

[wallmeerkat]

Temporary junction between J4 and J5 at Paradise Walk - two lanes southbound dumped onto an S2. Northbound RCS was last replaced late 80s/early 90s.

Does anyone have a map of this layout? I have never seen one but have wanted to for many years.

What is the significance of the RCS replacement?

@nirs has a writeup of a visit, if you look on google maps you can see where the road would've met the motorway

https://wesleyjohnston.wordpress.com/20 ... -motorway/

@nirs also put up a map of the route, albeit not an original OS map

https://wesleyjohnston.files.wordpress. ... g_1033.jpg

[RJDG14]

It seems as if many of the earliest motorways were built without provision for expansion in the contract (Preston Bypass, Lancaster Bypass etc).

That's a really weird statement considering that both the Preston Bypass and Lancaster Bypass were laid out for future continuation at both ends, and you've acknowledged that yourself in previous posts.

I was already aware, yes, but I meant it from the view that they were built without bridges and ghost carriageways in the original contract whereas newer motorway stretches typically included these.

[M5Lenzar]

The two ends of the Cullompton by-pass, which eventually became part of the M5, were both at grade junctions. I think both were roundabouts.

[nirs]

Does anyone have a map of this layout? I have never seen one but have wanted to for many years.

What is the significance of the RCS replacement?

Wesley would be the guy to ask. The significance of the replacement is that nobody appears to have assessed whether it was still needed in the first place!

I have a set of the original contract blueprints for the M2 from Paradise Walk to Antrim, which shows the temporary layout as *proposed* though I suppose I can't be 100% sure that it was built exactly like that. See attached photo of the relevant page. It seems that traffic joining the M2 was able to do so free-flow, but traffic exiting the M2 eastbound had to give-way to traffic on Paradise Walk.

A RCS would have been redundant once the temporary terminus disappeared, as you only need an RCS sign when joining a motorway.

[Chris Bertram]

The two ends of the Cullompton by-pass, which eventually became part of the M5, were both at grade junctions. I think both were roundabouts.

They were, and the by-pass also included the A373 junction that still exists. The roundabout at the Willand end has gone leaving no trace. The other end was here, and the shape of it is visible on the map. I think there's an emergency access gate there as well.

[Robert Kilcoyne]

I seem to remember that the A1(M) south of Hatfield had a temporary terminus in 1985. I was travelling south towards London and the S2 opened out into D2M a few hundred yards south of the at grade roundabout with the then A405 (now A414).

[Chris Bertram]

There was briefly a temporary tie-in of A1(M) to A1 just south of Fairburn, when the motorway had been extended south of Hook Moor, but had not at that stage made its way around Ferrybridge power stations. It was just a t-junction, and there is no trace remaining on what is now A1246.

[wrinkly]

There was briefly a temporary tie-in of A1(M) to A1 just south of Fairburn, when the motorway had been extended south of Hook Moor, but had not at that stage made its way around Ferrybridge power stations. It was just a t-junction, and there is no trace remaining on what is now A1246.

My recollection is that it was a non-junction. A 2+2 contraflow on the southbound carriageway of the (future) A1(M) from the north connected smoothly to the two carriageways of the A1 to the south. This arrangement left the northbound carriageway free to be tied in later to the motorway from the south.

To get to or from the cut-off section of ex-A1 to the north you had to go via the A63 junction. And there was some inconsistency in the signage about at what point it became a motorway - the more intelligent signs said it was at the A63 junction.

Where the line of a new road crosses the line of the road it replaces, as here, a temporary tie-in at the crossover site is often unavoidable, if the old road is a busy dual carriageway and you are trying to maintain flow while opening the new road.

[KeithW]

I was already aware, yes, but I meant it from the view that they were built without bridges and ghost carriageways in the original contract whereas newer motorway stretches typically included these.

That was because those works were not part the contract for that section. Rule number one in the Construction game is if its not in the contract or a bona fide Variation Order it doesn't happen.

Going back to the M-11 I posted the contract numbers for each section - lets add in the names of the Contractors

Contract 1, from Redbridge to Loughton, Essex
W&C French (roadworks) and Kier (structures)

Contract 2, from Loughton to S Harlow
Dowsett Engineering Construction Ltd

Contract 3 to Bishop's Stortford in Hertfordshire
Fitzpatrick & Son (Contractors) Ltd.

Contract 4, Stump Cross
was split into two sections.
Contract 4A Sir Alfred McAlpine (Southern) Ltd.
Contract 4B Holland Hannen and Cubitts (Civil Engineering) Ltd (later bought out by Tarmacand then Carrilion

The Cambridge Western Bypass (J8 to J14)
Contractors Bovis for the length of 8 miles north of Stump Cross and Amey Roadstone for the remaining 6 miles to Junction 14

[wallmeerkat]

There would be quite a few examples from the Irish motorway projects of the past couple of decades, some of which have been patchy.

For example here on the N/M7

[Chris Bertram]

Do we count the A18(M) as a totally separate entity from M180? The former ended at an at-grade roundabout, the latter now continues under A18 on a separate grade with a new sliproad.