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Hey everyone, long time lurker, first time poster here...
Wondering what people's opinions were for the most over-engineered piece of road in the UK is? Thinking of things like the A1(M) from Huntingdon to Peterborough that seem far beyond what would normally be built... (Not that I'm complaining! )
Another one I come across on a fairly regular basis is the A46/A52 junction near Bingham... The roundabout here has always seemed unnecessarily large to me for the amount of traffic that actually uses it... https://goo.gl/maps/FTS2zQzqqDxPSBau6
TomJ wrote: ↑Wed Nov 06, 2019 14:30Thinking of things like the A1(M) from Huntingdon to Peterborough that seem far beyond what would normally be built... (Not that I'm complaining! )
Does it still flood every time it rains or did they eventually solve that problem?
TomJ wrote: ↑Wed Nov 06, 2019 14:30Thinking of things like the A1(M) from Huntingdon to Peterborough that seem far beyond what would normally be built... (Not that I'm complaining! )
Does it still flood every time it rains or did they eventually solve that problem?
Can't say I've been along it when it's been really wet, but I've never really known it to get jammed up other than an accident so I'd assume not? Could be wrong.
A470 in South Wales past Aberfan. You can't tell to look at it but they put an enormous amount of effort into ensuring the road would never ever slide down into the village.
Alderpoint wrote: ↑Wed Nov 06, 2019 15:13
A470 in South Wales past Aberfan. You can't tell to look at it but they put an enormous amount of effort into ensuring the road would never ever slide down into the village.
The road level is well below the former spoil tips - this is more understated engineering as you say, you'd never know.
See also the retaining wall on the A465 at Rassau.
Bryn Terminally cynical, unimpressed, and nearly Middle Age already. She said life was like a motorway; dull, grey, and long.
The "Toyota Island" junction between the A38 and the A50. The whole thing is vast and over-scaled but the roundabout is absolutely enormous - it is surely a contender for the largest UK roundabout title. It must have diameter of 300-400 metres or more.
roadtester wrote: ↑Wed Nov 06, 2019 15:45
The "Toyota Island" junction between the A38 and the A50. The whole thing is vast and over-scaled but the roundabout is absolutely enormous - it is surely a contender for the largest UK roundabout title. It must have diameter of 300-400 metres or more.
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A470/A40 Aberhonddu / Brecon bypass. Its probably the lowest spec D2 Trunk road you can find (it doesn't even have central crash barriers!) but its massively over-engineered compared to the rest of Mid Wales' trunk network
roadtester wrote: ↑Wed Nov 06, 2019 15:45
The "Toyota Island" junction between the A38 and the A50. The whole thing is vast and over-scaled but the roundabout is absolutely enormous - it is surely a contender for the largest UK roundabout title. It must have diameter of 300-400 metres or more.
Difficult to tell for sure without getting the ruler out, but on Google maps/satellite that looks to me like it's nearer to 200 metres across at its widest point, with Toyota Island being more like 300 plus.
PS - actually looking again, Toyota Island isn't that big but still over 200m and I think still slightly bigger than Coryton. Off to Specsavers!
roadtester wrote: ↑Wed Nov 06, 2019 15:45
The "Toyota Island" junction between the A38 and the A50. The whole thing is vast and over-scaled but the roundabout is absolutely enormous - it is surely a contender for the largest UK roundabout title. It must have diameter of 300-400 metres or more.
This is one I use almost daily, I've no idea how this slipped my mind when writing this topic originally. I've always thought that Derby and the surrounding area was home to some of the most oversized roundabouts, what with the A50/A38 junction, then the surprisingly large A38/A5111 roundabout just slightly further up and the A52 at The Pentagon. Then there's Kegworth (okay, maybe not oversized for how much traffic goes through it, but big nonetheless!)
Alderpoint wrote: ↑Wed Nov 06, 2019 15:14
M45 is not over-engineered. It's just a standard D2M motorway which has stood the test of time.
I know it is a standard, or maybe even a sub-standard D2M. My point is why? The traffic levels would only justify a S2.
How busy it was before the M6 was extended to Catthorpe I don't know.
You need to read the history. It was designed to take half the traffic off the M1 and distribute that onto local roads (like the M10 did at the other end of the original M1) which it did great for 12 years. It would hardly be cost effective to remove it!
TomJ wrote: ↑Wed Nov 06, 2019 14:30Thinking of things like the A1(M) from Huntingdon to Peterborough that seem far beyond what would normally be built... (Not that I'm complaining! )
Does it still flood every time it rains or did they eventually solve that problem?
Did it ever flood?? It was that just in 1998?? I know they been having problems with the A47 lately, and that’s on the unmodernised bit.
Bryn666 wrote: ↑Wed Nov 06, 2019 15:24
The road level is well below the former spoil tips - this is more understated engineering as you say, you'd never know.
Agreed, but the road is on still well above the village, passing through the site of the slip. My recollection is that the retaining embankments were built much less steep (half?) than would be usual to increase the villagers confidence that it would not slip. (Unfortunately I can't find anything online to confirm this.)
TomJ wrote: ↑Wed Nov 06, 2019 14:30
Hey everyone, long time lurker, first time poster here...
Wondering what people's opinions were for the most over-engineered piece of road in the UK is? Thinking of things like the A1(M) from Huntingdon to Peterborough that seem far beyond what would normally be built... (Not that I'm complaining! )
Wonder if it could serve as an emergency runway... it's straight and wide enough.
I know they did some test landings of the Sepecat Jaguar on motorways - apparently using the M55 (which, according to wikipedia, used fill material obtained from a nearby Fleet Air Arm airfield).
I used to wonder if the M20 needed to be as wide as it is. I regularly commuted from Maidstone to Ashford, and going in that direction (East in the morning, West in the evening) it was almost like having my own personal motorway. Obviously I now know the very good reason why it's that wide - so it can double as a lorry park.
Last edited by Moore_O on Wed Nov 06, 2019 16:25, edited 1 time in total.
In 1976 Rickmansworth got a new bypass - a really over-engineered D3 road that was part of the A412. It had very little traffic. A few years later they extended this piece of road both northwards and southwards and renumbered it. Today it is heavily used.
JohnnyMo wrote: ↑Wed Nov 06, 2019 15:54
I know it is a standard, or maybe even a sub-standard D2M. My point is why? The traffic levels would only justify a S2.
How busy it was before the M6 was extended to Catthorpe I don't know.
No busier than now BUT you have to remember it was built around the same time as the southern section of the M1 between 1958 and 1959. At that time the major route from Felixstowe to the West Midlands was the A45 with the section from the Cambridge to Felixstowe being pretty much on the alignment of the current A14. Between Cambridge and the A1 the A45 ran roughly along the alignment followed by the A428. Between the A1 and Northampton it ran via what are now minor B Roads through Kimbolton.
It was always likely an A1/M1 link would be needed and it was not unreasonable at that time to assume the link would follow an upgraded A45 to the M1 near Northampton and then join the M1 to the M45 junction from where it would head for the Coventry southern bypass. In the end of course the M6 was built and a road following the line of the A604 (now A14) from Huntingdon to Kettering and then a new section of road was built to join the M6 at Catthorpe. There was also a major concern that traffic would go thundering along the M1 and then reach a terminus on 1950's style roads at each end. So the M45 and M10 (now A414) were built to divert traffic off at the West Midlands and Hertfordshire ends.
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