Weather Closes A1 in East Lothian

[Halmyre]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland- ... s-51007524

First time I can think of that a section of A-road, that isn't a bridge, has been closed due to high winds.

[roadtester]

This was being signalled well in advance yesterday by various official Twitter accounts - picked it up while monitoring the SABRE feed.

I agree it seems to be very unusual.

[haggishunter]

It’s a nonsense and this needs nipped in the bud right here. There is a yellow warning - the forecasts suggested winds could gust 50mph. It warrants an HSV ban on that stretch because it is notorious for overturned HGVs in SW winds due to the topography but a full closure of a modern dual carriageway to all traffic is completely over the top.

If this sets a precedent what of single carriageway roads like the A82 with much narrower lanes? Closed for winter over Rannoch Moor?

[Hdeng16]

It's absolutely crazy - completely over the top. The police car incident was scary, and if ther eis no other option - HSV's could be barred, but a full road closure for a yellow warning? Crazy.

[novaecosse]

The Tyne Bridge sits in the middle of the closed section, which is where the two HGV’s overturned in December squishing the Police car. The A1 East Linton weather station monitors the wind speed and direction on this bridge. I suspect the peak gust at Tyne Bridge has stayed below 50mph all day and so far tonight. It’s still closed as I write this.

The A1 to the south had peak gusts of 68mph I believe at Myreside and around 60mph at Torness with overturned high sided vehicles near both locations. Both of these are outside the pre-emptively closed section.

The weather stations display live data on Traffic Scotland’s website. I only scribbled down a couple of readings when I saw the tweet that 2 high-siders had gone over.

In Scotland, the National guidance is 35mph for High Wind Warning, 50mph for High Sided Vehicle restriction and 75mph for Full Road Closure. The ‘High Wind Strategy and National Wind Management Guidelines’ are published on Transport Scotland website.

Draw your own conclusions...

[Hagbard]

Presumably it's easier to close the road to everyone as otherwise the LGV's just ignore the restrictions.
BBC news

[Fenlander]

I remember driving a hightop Transit minibus over the Humber bridge once empty, you needed a fair bit of steering lock to keep it pointing straight due to the crosswind until you got next to the uprights, at that point it set off in the direction you were steering until you came back out of the protection from the wind where it resumed its crabbing movement again.

[Mark Hewitt]

It's the same every time the A66 is closed to high siders, traffic annoucement on the radio will then say that the road is closed because a lorry has overturned.

[DB617]

Are they using the lorries as canaries?

[Mark Hewitt]

Are they using the lorries as canaries?

I think there may be something in that too!

[vlad]

It's the same every time the A66 is closed to high siders, traffic annoucement on the radio will then say that the road is closed because a lorry has overturned.

I was once driven in a coach along the Pennine section of the A66 when signs were saying that due to high winds it was only open to cars.

We made it in one piece but you could tell the driver was having trouble controlling the vehicle. The wind also kept blowing the vents on the roof open....

[DB617]

I've even seen a front+rear wheel steering double decker coach crabbing at about 5-10 degrees (or at least enough to be very noticeable) about a quarter of the way onto the span of the Prince of Wales Bridge, which is supposedly safe in high wind shear. I passed that one in lane 3, very quickly.

I assume it was crabbing so dramatically because of something to do with the rear wheel steering as well as the strong crosswind. But it does beg the question whether HE are a little overconfident that the POW bridge is safe in all conditions for all vehicles. I wouldn't have wanted to pass a two-level pallet lorry.

[Keiji]

It's the same every time the A66 is closed to high siders, traffic annoucement on the radio will then say that the road is closed because a lorry has overturned.

If there are certain roads with known history of wind related incidents, why not set up automated barriers, like railway crossing barriers but set a certain height above ground (or maybe better something shutter-style mounted on a gantry, that could be set to a variable height), so they can physically enforce a height restriction quickly when needed?

I'm sure this could be financed by levying hefty fines against drivers ignoring the signed restrictions...

[Mark Hewitt]

It's the same every time the A66 is closed to high siders, traffic annoucement on the radio will then say that the road is closed because a lorry has overturned.

If there are certain roads with known history of wind related incidents, why not set up automated barriers, like railway crossing barriers but set a certain height above ground (or maybe better something shutter-style mounted on a gantry, that could be set to a variable height), so they can physically enforce a height restriction quickly when needed?

I'm sure this could be financed by levying hefty fines against drivers ignoring the signed restrictions...

Can't see any problem with that in high winds

[rhyds]

It's the same every time the A66 is closed to high siders, traffic annoucement on the radio will then say that the road is closed because a lorry has overturned.

If there are certain roads with known history of wind related incidents, why not set up automated barriers, like railway crossing barriers but set a certain height above ground (or maybe better something shutter-style mounted on a gantry, that could be set to a variable height), so they can physically enforce a height restriction quickly when needed?

I'm sure this could be financed by levying hefty fines against drivers ignoring the signed restrictions...

Our local trunk roads agency spent a fair bit of money on fitting the A487 with gates to close it during flooding (to avoid having to rescue cars and vans). The downside is that it now takes many hours after the floodwaters have receded before the gates are unlocked

[Keiji]

Can't see any problem with that in high winds

Our local trunk roads agency spent a fair bit of money on fitting the A487 with gates to close it during flooding (to avoid having to rescue cars and vans). The downside is that it now takes many hours after the floodwaters have receded before the gates are unlocked

And this is why you don't listen to dumb suggestions from random people on the internet posting while they're sick