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I was recently driving on the A59 and noticed the Whalley bypass was built with an extra wide over bridge for Elker Lane suitable for a D2 upgrade at a later date similar to many other new roads of that era.
Whilst I doubt we'll see a D2 upgrade of this section of the A59 in the near future it got me wondering what people reckon are the most optimist examples of unused future proofing on the UK network?
I'm thinking of locations which have similar extra wide bridges for a future D2, flared entrances to roundabouts for flyovers etc but are in locations which are very unlikely to ever get used, and may even have been a bit over optimistic at the time of building but were still done anyway.
Obviously the days of future proofing are long gone with current major projects almost designed to prevent future upgrades without huge rebuilding but that's another discussion which I think we've had plenty of time around here
Achmelvic wrote: ↑Wed May 08, 2019 16:59
I was recently driving on the A59 and noticed the Whalley bypass was built with an extra wide over bridge for Elker Lane suitable for a D2 upgrade at a later date similar to many other new roads of that era.
Whilst I doubt we'll see a D2 upgrade of this section of the A59 in the near future it got me wondering what people reckon are the most optimist examples of unused future proofing on the UK network?
I'm thinking of locations which have similar extra wide bridges for a future D2, flared entrances to roundabouts for flyovers etc but are in locations which are very unlikely to ever get used, and may even have been a bit over optimistic at the time of building but were still done anyway.
Obviously the days of future proofing are long gone with current major projects almost designed to prevent future upgrades without huge rebuilding but that's another discussion which I think we've had plenty of time around here
The A59 was of course intended to be the original express road to Yorkshire; the Whalley/Clitheroe Bypasses opened in 1970 with provision for future dualling on this basis. The M65 rendered it redundant and further A59 improvements went down the proverbial.
The dual bit between the two A671s is not original, this was completed in around 1998 or so. The middle roundabout for the service area and housing developments was done at the same time. I think this was part of a detrunking deal.
All in all, the decision to not dual the A59 has been a poor one as there have been numerous fatals at the at-grade junctions. You'll also have noticed all the two-way traffic repeaters as a result of bad overtakes ending in disaster.
Bryn Terminally cynical, unimpressed, and nearly Middle Age already. She said life was like a motorway; dull, grey, and long.
The A8 between Newhouse and Newbridge was rebuilt with the intention of being a dual carriageway.
Notice the very wide bridge at the Almond Viaduct near the Newbridge end so they could decide what arch the second carriageway could go through. Lots of Livingston too with very wide verges.
A617 Rainworth bypass. Highly engineered D2 with wide enough central reservation and margins for D3 and probably for D3M. Huge roundabout at western end with flared carriageways clearly intended for a big ass flyover. But this short marvel just bypasses the one village. At the eastern end it is followed by twisty unimproved S2 passing through every village all the way to Southwell and at the western end it crashes straight into urban Mansfield.
Droitwich by-pass, A38/A442 junction. A38 is dualled either side of this roundabout, and is futureproofed for continuation over the junction, using the eventual sliproads to meet the roundabout. Unlikely ever to happen.
There are loads of bits of A4040, the former Outer Ring Road around Birmingham where the formation is wide enough for D2, but the second carriageway has either never been built, or is in use as a service road only. A few sections did get dualled early on, but since the Birmingham Motorway Box was completed, it is unlikely that any more will be done.
A174 - from the western end of the Kirkleatham by-pass to the roundabout junction with A1085 for Marske - the formation is wide enough for D2 and the carriageway is clearly to one side of this with the roundabouts off-centre from the road. Will probably never be done. Also on A174 at the eastern end of the Parkway, a clear intent to provide a flyover over the roundabout, with an earth bank and flared carriageways - but in which direction? Both A1053 and A174 east of the roundabout meet the roundabout with no flare. The balance of probabilities suggests A174 -> A174, but that would leave traffic heading for Teesport having to use the roundabout. A mystery, though KeithW probably knows the full story ...
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Chris Bertram wrote: ↑Wed May 08, 2019 20:57
Also on A174 at the eastern end of the Parkway, a clear intent to provide a flyover over the roundabout, with an earth bank and flared carriageways - but in which direction? Both A1053 and A174 east of the roundabout meet the roundabout with no flare. The balance of probabilities suggests A174 -> A174, but that would leave traffic heading for Teesport having to use the roundabout. A mystery, though KeithW probably knows the full story ...
There are two D2 width bridges (one an overbridge, one an underpass) on the M3 between junctions 4A and 5 near Fleet that seem to have been built with future proofing in mind. Also one on the M4 between the 2 Swindon exits near Wroughton that is D2 width.
The A31 Alton bypass was built with capacity to be a D2M or D3 as it has a very wide central reserve, a GSJ in the middle and widely diverging slips at the roundabouts at each end for a flyover or underpass GSJ
Junction 2 of the M53 takes some beating with it’s GSJ, slip roads flying all over and coming to an abrupt end at a small roundabout (having come to an abrupt end at village of Upton for years). I’d still love to know what was actually planned - whether a barrage across to North Wales or just a very quick way of getting to West Kirby beach...
The A907 on the Clackmannan bypass was clearly built to be D2, with a couple of bridges done- although not where it passes under the railway- and an awkward angle to meet the roundabout at the A977
Chris Bertram wrote: ↑Wed May 08, 2019 20:57
Also on A174 at the eastern end of the Parkway, a clear intent to provide a flyover over the roundabout, with an earth bank and flared carriageways - but in which direction? Both A1053 and A174 east of the roundabout meet the roundabout with no flare. The balance of probabilities suggests A174 -> A174, but that would leave traffic heading for Teesport having to use the roundabout. A mystery, though KeithW probably knows the full story ...
I think that is correct. I believe the original intent was to take the flyover across to the A174 with a slip to the roundabout for the A1053 to Teesport. In the early 1970's used to drive back from ICI Wilton on the old A174 through Eston. The A1053 wax built in the late 60s and the A174 east had been widened from the original country lane but was still S2. The Parkway had NOT been built at this time but the cutting it runs through had been excavated and the roundabout built in anticipation. At the time ICI Wilton was a very large employer with around 12,000 people on site and it generated a lot more road transport than there is now. The new Redcar Steelworks had just been built and the Basic Oxygen British Steel plant at Lackenby was going strong while Shell had a refinery at Teessport and Nissan had a major car import centre. But with that the A1053 did not carry as much traffic as the A174. It still doesnt, AADT on the Trunk A1053 is 15k while that of the A174 east of the roundabout is closer to 40k.
When I last worked at Wilton in the late 1970's as a contractor all this had changed, a number of the major units such as the spinning plant and the titanium works had already been closed and both the nylon and terylene plants were downsizing. All of the ICI technical apprentices in the 1968 intake (future designers and engineers) had either been made redundant or resigned by 1975, I was in fact one of the few who actually quit as I could not see a long term future there. My father who had been at ICI Wilton since it opened was offered and took early retirement in 1978. All the guys in the office thought I was mad giving up a 'job for life'. Within 5 years 90% of them had been laid off and finding a job in the late 70's and early 80's was not easy.
The A66 extension through Middlesbrough had not been built when the Parkway opened which meant the old routes through Middlesbrough and the A1085 Trunk Road were overloaded. I suspect it was the plan to build the A66 along with the downturn at Wilton and the closure of the Shell Refinery and Smiths Dock shipyard that resulted in the flyover being quietly dropped.
M5 Junction 21 (Weston-super-Mare) comes to mind of course. Designed to include the South Bristol Spur (see PM), which still seems as unlikely as ever 54 years on.
