Road Infrastructure Things Worth Visiting

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roadtester
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Re: Road Infrastructure Things Worth Visiting

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Brenley Corner wrote: Mon Jan 11, 2021 10:41
Glenn A wrote: Sat Jan 09, 2021 14:35 I might not be the Dover by pass biggest fan, but I have to admit Jubilee Way is a magnificient way to arrive at Eastern Docks as you can see the docks and the town below you, and on the return journey north, you go over the White Cliffs. The bridge over the docks is an excellent piece of engineering.
It is great piece of engineering - especially when you consider that when built some of it was over water. 1976 Alamy Stock Photo. The port has since reclaimed the land underneath it, but the A2 came first.

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Interesting - didn't realise that change had been made.

I always had in mind that it used to feel more dramatic using the flyover in the past and I couldn't put my finger on why that might be. Perhaps that's it.
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Re: Road Infrastructure Things Worth Visiting

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It's such a Sabristic road. Given an old map and a felt pen, I think most of us would just draw the A2 to fly off the clifftop and spiral down to land right at the docks entrance, just as it has done.
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Re: Road Infrastructure Things Worth Visiting

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owen b wrote: Mon Dec 28, 2020 17:42
JohnA14J50 wrote: Mon Dec 28, 2020 17:35 I wonder why they bothered to close that road off when the old A12 was bypassed, given they didn't seem to touch much else. As for the connection to the A45, all I know is there seemed to be some kind of temporary roundabout until the new A12 was built?
If memory serves me right, what is now the A12 Copdock bypass and A14 junctions J55-58 opened at the same time (end of 1982 I think), or within a short period of each other. The A14 J53-55 was a year or two later as I recall (1984ish). I'm not sure what was the official recommended route for the missing link.
The 1986 landranger appears to show a temporary terminus on the A45 north of Copdock
1.png
1.png (258.4 KiB) Viewed 1429 times
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Re: Road Infrastructure Things Worth Visiting

Post by JohnA14J50 »

c2R wrote: Tue Jan 12, 2021 14:44 The 1986 landranger appears to show a temporary terminus on the A45 north of Copdock

1.png
So was there some kind of roundabout?
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Re: Road Infrastructure Things Worth Visiting

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Yeah, it looks that way - it's kind of difficult for me to see at the scan resolution, but from the map it does look like a smallish roundabout - certainly compared with the much larger Copdock one under construction.
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Re: Road Infrastructure Things Worth Visiting

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c2R wrote: Tue Jan 12, 2021 14:44
owen b wrote: Mon Dec 28, 2020 17:42
JohnA14J50 wrote: Mon Dec 28, 2020 17:35 I wonder why they bothered to close that road off when the old A12 was bypassed, given they didn't seem to touch much else. As for the connection to the A45, all I know is there seemed to be some kind of temporary roundabout until the new A12 was built?
If memory serves me right, what is now the A12 Copdock bypass and A14 junctions J55-58 opened at the same time (end of 1982 I think), or within a short period of each other. The A14 J53-55 was a year or two later as I recall (1984ish). I'm not sure what was the official recommended route for the missing link.
The 1986 landranger appears to show a temporary terminus on the A45 north of Copdock

1.png
Interesting. I'm glad I put in the caveat that A14 J55-58 and the A12 Copdock bypass opened together "or within a short period of each other". But I'm certain (or as near as I can be) that Copdock opened before A14 J53-55. The temporary terminus of the A14 on the A12 is ringing a vague bell now. I was a teenager living in West Suffolk at the time and have a dim recollection of driving into Ipswich over the under construction J53-55 section.
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Re: Road Infrastructure Things Worth Visiting

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SteelCamel wrote: Mon Jul 20, 2020 19:55 Perhaps stretching the definition a little - the turntable ferry to Skye - though it seems they're not going to run this year at all. These ferries used to be everywhere in the highlands, but this is the last one you can still travel on.
Here's a Tom Scott Video on it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2ZBSFiuWIo
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Re: Road Infrastructure Things Worth Visiting

Post by Greg07 »

Hi,

I`ve been reading these forums for years but decided to register to post about this amazing footbridge https://youtu.be/HSX4IWyqTBA over the M5 split level Gordano Valley section.

This is the more familiar view from the Motorway ( Google maps) :

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.45363 ... 8192?hl=en

It is hard to do the footbridge justice on a video but it is on a steep downward slope and has a low feeling Fence. When you stand in the middle where the Motorway level splits, you feel as if the cars on the higher level are coming straight at you and the cars on the lower level are a very long way down. The bridge wobbles a little as well.

There is a higher footbridge a mile or so further West on almost the same footpath but it is nothing like as good to walk over as it has a higher fence and feels much less exciting.

To get there park at Tickenham Village hall ( B3130 ) and turn left out of the car park for the (steep uphill) path to Cadbury Camp hill fort ( 15 Minutes) , leave anyone there who wants to sit and look at the view then carry on ten more minutes to the bridge !
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Re: Road Infrastructure Things Worth Visiting

Post by Glenn A »

I consider the Blaydon Bridge and the junction between the A1 and A695 to be a fantastic piece of infrastructure, scary to the unfamiliar, but a very nice piece of engineering that was built over a former railway line. I don't think a pedestrian can get too close, but you can view it from Armstrong Rd in Scotswood.
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Re: Road Infrastructure Things Worth Visiting

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Greg07 wrote: Wed Aug 04, 2021 20:53 Hi,

I`ve been reading these forums for years but decided to register to post about this amazing footbridge https://youtu.be/HSX4IWyqTBA over the M5 split level Gordano Valley section.

This is the more familiar view from the Motorway ( Google maps) :

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.45363 ... 8192?hl=en

It is hard to do the footbridge justice on a video but it is on a steep downward slope and has a low feeling Fence. When you stand in the middle where the Motorway level splits, you feel as if the cars on the higher level are coming straight at you and the cars on the lower level are a very long way down. The bridge wobbles a little as well.

There is a higher footbridge a mile or so further West on almost the same footpath but it is nothing like as good to walk over as it has a higher fence and feels much less exciting.

To get there park at Tickenham Village hall ( B3130 ) and turn left out of the car park for the (steep uphill) path to Cadbury Camp hill fort ( 15 Minutes) , leave anyone there who wants to sit and look at the view then carry on ten more minutes to the bridge !
It's not as scary as walking across Scammonden Bridge over the M62 used to be. Not the same now as it has a much higher fence due to a recent spate of deaths, it has always sadly been a suicide bridge.
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Re: Road Infrastructure Things Worth Visiting

Post by Glenn A »

Walking the Tyne bridges is a satisfying achievement, crossing five generations of the city's bridges and seeing the city centre from different bridges. While Redheugh is a bit further out, you can see all the way down the Tyne on a fine day and also the toll house remains from the old bridge.
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Re: Road Infrastructure Things Worth Visiting

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Been a lot of mention of bridges so thought I'd throw this on the A689 near Bishop Auckland - https://goo.gl/maps/aBsZpy6yXk3o1Uea9. A boring very uninteresting looking concrete bridge.

Until you go underneath and it's actually an old victorian railway viaduct (Newton Cap) - https://goo.gl/maps/KeZv2jswi1gnS85d6. You'd never know from driving over it. Offers good views of the local area aswell.
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Re: Road Infrastructure Things Worth Visiting

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Glenn A wrote: Sun Aug 08, 2021 19:04 Walking the Tyne bridges is a satisfying achievement, crossing five generations of the city's bridges and seeing the city centre from different bridges. While Redheugh is a bit further out, you can see all the way down the Tyne on a fine day and also the toll house remains from the old bridge.
The Nice - Keith Emerson's band prior to ELP - made an album called Five Bridges after the then five crossings of the Tyne: the Swing Bridge, the High Level Bridge (road and rail), the Tyne Bridge, the King Edward VII Bridge (rail only) and the (old) Redheugh Bridge. Since then, the Redheugh Bridge has been replaced, the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge has been built for the Metro, the Scotswood Bridge now carries the Western Bypass and the Gateshead Millennium Bridge provides a pedestrian crossing. The Tyne must be one of the best-crossed rivers of its size nowadays.
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Re: Road Infrastructure Things Worth Visiting

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DB617 wrote: Mon Jul 20, 2020 23:34 Not only is walking the Severn Bridge cool, there is also a Parkrun there (though currently suspended). Was interested in that one myself.
Is that because it is a 'suspension' bridge? :-)

Meanwhile, though, if you want an unexpected view of the Severn Bridge, you can get one from Rush Hill, at Odd Down on the southern suburbs of Bath, here: https://goo.gl/maps/BpaHd5AwSy3gBxfm7
It's always been my route from Bournemouth to south Wales, via the B3110 through Hinton Charterhouse, but it was only last week that I noticed the bridge there in the distance!
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Re: Road Infrastructure Things Worth Visiting

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Brenley Corner wrote: Mon Jan 11, 2021 10:41
Glenn A wrote: Sat Jan 09, 2021 14:35 I might not be the Dover by pass biggest fan, but I have to admit Jubilee Way is a magnificient way to arrive at Eastern Docks as you can see the docks and the town below you, and on the return journey north, you go over the White Cliffs. The bridge over the docks is an excellent piece of engineering.
It is great piece of engineering - especially when you consider that when built some of it was over water. 1976 Alamy Stock Photo. The port has since reclaimed the land underneath it, but the A2 came first.
Reading through the thread and trying to think of things that hadn't been mentioned, I was going to mention this but I've been beaten to it!
SteveA30 wrote: Mon Jan 11, 2021 11:52 It's such a Sabristic road. Given an old map and a felt pen, I think most of us would just draw the A2 to fly off the clifftop and spiral down to land right at the docks entrance, just as it has done.
The first time I would have travelled on it would have been as a passenger in the late '80s or early '90s. Even so, the first time I drove it myself in 2010, I still couldn't quite believe it. On the descent you really do feel like you're heading out over the sea and back to land again. Spectacular.

For UK roads fans, I do think it's a "Must Drive" experience.
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Re: Road Infrastructure Things Worth Visiting

Post by Owain »

For bridge fans, I don't think any of these have yet been mentioned:

A17

A18

And of course, the best of the lot: upper deck / lower deck
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Re: Road Infrastructure Things Worth Visiting

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Have we had the Whitney-on-Wye toll bridge? Move forward past the toll barrier (this is new since I last crossed, when I think there was a toll collector on duty), and you'll see the wooden slats that form the road surface over the bridge. Just one traffic signal at either end as well.
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Re: Road Infrastructure Things Worth Visiting

Post by Big L »

I had a bit of a drive around the north east on Tuesday, which included the old lift bridge in Middlesbrough, and the Wearmouth, Queen Alexandra and Northern Spire bridges in Sunderland.
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Re: Road Infrastructure Things Worth Visiting

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Owain wrote: Thu Aug 12, 2021 10:36
Brenley Corner wrote: Mon Jan 11, 2021 10:41
Glenn A wrote: Sat Jan 09, 2021 14:35 I might not be the Dover by pass biggest fan, but I have to admit Jubilee Way is a magnificient way to arrive at Eastern Docks as you can see the docks and the town below you, and on the return journey north, you go over the White Cliffs. The bridge over the docks is an excellent piece of engineering.
It is great piece of engineering - especially when you consider that when built some of it was over water. 1976 Alamy Stock Photo. The port has since reclaimed the land underneath it, but the A2 came first.
Reading through the thread and trying to think of things that hadn't been mentioned, I was going to mention this but I've been beaten to it!
SteveA30 wrote: Mon Jan 11, 2021 11:52 It's such a Sabristic road. Given an old map and a felt pen, I think most of us would just draw the A2 to fly off the clifftop and spiral down to land right at the docks entrance, just as it has done.
The first time I would have travelled on it would have been as a passenger in the late '80s or early '90s. Even so, the first time I drove it myself in 2010, I still couldn't quite believe it. On the descent you really do feel like you're heading out over the sea and back to land again. Spectacular.

For UK roads fans, I do think it's a "Must Drive" experience.
Not far from Dover, the tunnel on Royal Harbour Approach at Ramsgate (leading down to the port) is an interesting drive. Not so much because the tunnel itself is unique in any way, but because it's a modern high-spec fairly long tunnel that you will probably have all to yourself, which is an unusual experience in Britain.

And as it doesn't really go anywhere sensible, you can just turn around and drive it again.
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Re: Road Infrastructure Things Worth Visiting

Post by Owain »

JosephA22 wrote: Thu Aug 12, 2021 11:59Not far from Dover, the tunnel on Royal Harbour Approach at Ramsgate (leading down to the port) is an interesting drive. Not so much because the tunnel itself is unique in any way, but because it's a modern high-spec fairly long tunnel that you will probably have all to yourself, which is an unusual experience in Britain.

And as it doesn't really go anywhere sensible, you can just turn around and drive it again.
Anyone for a tunnel under a runway?
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