Road Infrastructure Things Worth Visiting

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Rambo
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Re: Road Infrastructure Things Worth Visiting

Post by Rambo »

fras wrote: Sat Dec 26, 2020 10:56
PeterA5145 wrote: Mon Jul 20, 2020 12:08 The M60 running through Stockport town centre and under the arches of the railway viaduct must be one of the most memorable sights on the network.

Plus, while you're in Stockport, Wellington Road North and South, the current course of the A6, which was one of the first bypasses in Britain, and has a long multi-arch brick viaduct over the valley of the Mersey.

Barton Bridge carrying the M60 over the Manchester Ship Canal, and the adjacent new lift bridge, are also well worth a look.
Any of the swing bridges over the MSC are worth a look. I'm not sure if it is still the case, but these were all operated hydraulically with an hydraulic accumulator in a tower nearby to provide for quick opening. Of course it is very rare to see one of these opened as the canal is almost devoid of ships now. There was a coaster based in Arklow, RoI, that used to go up to Salford regularly. I have seen it both on the canal and at Arklow !
What you probably saw was one of the Arklow Fleet which have various names all prefixed with 'Arklow'. Could have been 'Arklow Rover' or Arklow Ruler' which are all regulars along the canal. Although not as busy as it used to be you can still find the bridges opening regularly sometimes 2 or three times a day. I agree thought that the various bridges along the ship canal are worth a look if you are into that.
Here are a few pics of mine. Two in Warrington and one at Wigg Island Runcorn which gives you good views of the two Mersey crossings and swing bridge. Perhaps post covid this could form part of a Sabre trip.
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roadtester
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Re: Road Infrastructure Things Worth Visiting

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Wow - thanks for the great photos - I had no idea the MSC still had such big/modern ships using it.
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Re: Road Infrastructure Things Worth Visiting

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Rambo wrote: Sat Dec 26, 2020 11:46
What you probably saw was one of the Arklow Fleet which have various names all prefixed with 'Arklow'. Could have been 'Arklow Rover' or Arklow Ruler' which are all regulars along the canal. Although not as busy as it used to be you can still find the bridges opening regularly sometimes 2 or three times a day. I agree thought that the various bridges along the ship canal are worth a look if you are into that.
Here are a few pics of mine. Two in Warrington and one at Wigg Island Runcorn which gives you good views of the two Mersey crossings and swing bridge. Perhaps post covid this could form part of a Sabre trip.
My partner lives a few hundred yards from one of the MSC swing bridges and we regularly see the small coaster delivering grain tied up but in two and a half years never seen a ship moving on the canal, nor been caught the wrong side of the bridge - and we do a walk around the community park regularly :(

Peel Holdings aren't very forthcoming about when there are movements on the canal but then they aren't very forthcoming about anything and are viewed in the region with a degree of suspicion. It would be simple for them to published ship movements - Warrington Council do have a app to warn you when the bridges are likely to be closed not so for the Runcorn bridge.
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Re: Road Infrastructure Things Worth Visiting

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Rambo wrote: Sat Dec 26, 2020 11:46 .... Two in Warrington and one at Wigg Island Runcorn which gives you good views of the two Mersey crossings and swing bridge. Perhaps post covid this could form part of a Sabre trip.
I'd be interested in that, especially if we could time it for a ship passing through so I can see a big swing bridge on the move :wink: :D

Last year I drove into Warrington over the London Road bridge and the signal box puzzled me which led to a lot of fun research. I must have crossed the Manchester Ship Canal at least 100 times in my life but nearly all of them would have been via the Thelwall Viaduct. I've used the Runcorn Silver Jubilee road bridge twice, taken the train on the WCML 5 times, M60 once that I know of, Salford Quays footbridge (to the IWM) twice.
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Re: Road Infrastructure Things Worth Visiting

Post by M19 »

I have a small collection I took of the Humber Bridge when I was working in Hull. Instead coming straight home I’d often detour on the way back home and explore.

https://flic.kr/p/5ofsvm

A more recent trip to North Queensferry provided some good opportunities to capture all of the crossings around the Forth Road Bridge.

https://flic.kr/p/28ApDhL

I stopped at the North Queensferry Hilton in May 2019 and was able to get to the train station to catch the train to Edinburgh - brilliant opportunity to experience the Forth Bridge on the train. The next morning I walked on the Forth Road Bridge foot/cycleway then drive across the Queensferry Crossing. Not a bad way to bag all three in 24 hours.
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Re: Road Infrastructure Things Worth Visiting

Post by avtur »

Big Nick wrote: Sun Dec 27, 2020 10:44
Rambo wrote: Sat Dec 26, 2020 11:46 .... Two in Warrington and one at Wigg Island Runcorn which gives you good views of the two Mersey crossings and swing bridge. Perhaps post covid this could form part of a Sabre trip.
I'd be interested in that, especially if we could time it for a ship passing through so I can see a big swing bridge on the move :wink: :D

Last year I drove into Warrington over the London Road bridge and the signal box puzzled me which led to a lot of fun research. I must have crossed the Manchester Ship Canal at least 100 times in my life but nearly all of them would have been via the Thelwall Viaduct. I've used the Runcorn Silver Jubilee road bridge twice, taken the train on the WCML 5 times, M60 once that I know of, Salford Quays footbridge (to the IWM) twice.
As a short-term fix there is some good content on Youtube showing the canal, the bridges (in operation), and vessels sailing by. :thumbsup:
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Re: Road Infrastructure Things Worth Visiting

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Barkstar wrote: Sun Dec 27, 2020 02:34
Rambo wrote: Sat Dec 26, 2020 11:46
What you probably saw was one of the Arklow Fleet which have various names all prefixed with 'Arklow'. Could have been 'Arklow Rover' or Arklow Ruler' which are all regulars along the canal. Although not as busy as it used to be you can still find the bridges opening regularly sometimes 2 or three times a day. I agree thought that the various bridges along the ship canal are worth a look if you are into that.
Here are a few pics of mine. Two in Warrington and one at Wigg Island Runcorn which gives you good views of the two Mersey crossings and swing bridge. Perhaps post covid this could form part of a Sabre trip.
My partner lives a few hundred yards from one of the MSC swing bridges and we regularly see the small coaster delivering grain tied up but in two and a half years never seen a ship moving on the canal, nor been caught the wrong side of the bridge - and we do a walk around the community park regularly :(

Peel Holdings aren't very forthcoming about when there are movements on the canal but then they aren't very forthcoming about anything and are viewed in the region with a degree of suspicion. It would be simple for them to published ship movements - Warrington Council do have a app to warn you when the bridges are likely to be closed not so for the Runcorn bridge.
Yes swing bridge alerts APP is handy. I take it the bridge you are referring to is Old Quay. The grain barge 'Loach' discharges grain there at the old Guinness wharf. She normally makes 1 or 2 trips a week to Liverpool.
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Re: Road Infrastructure Things Worth Visiting

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Big Nick wrote: Sun Dec 27, 2020 10:44
Rambo wrote: Sat Dec 26, 2020 11:46 .... Two in Warrington and one at Wigg Island Runcorn which gives you good views of the two Mersey crossings and swing bridge. Perhaps post covid this could form part of a Sabre trip.
I'd be interested in that, especially if we could time it for a ship passing through so I can see a big swing bridge on the move :wink: :D

Last year I drove into Warrington over the London Road bridge and the signal box puzzled me which led to a lot of fun research. I must have crossed the Manchester Ship Canal at least 100 times in my life but nearly all of them would have been via the Thelwall Viaduct. I've used the Runcorn Silver Jubilee road bridge twice, taken the train on the WCML 5 times, M60 once that I know of, Salford Quays footbridge (to the IWM) twice.
The swing bridges in Warrington cause a lot of grief for motorists in the town when there are 'spurts' of traffic using the canal in the upper reaches. What people don't realise is that the canal used to be far busier and the traffic problems were therefore far worse even in the 50's & 60's.
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Barkstar
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Re: Road Infrastructure Things Worth Visiting

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Rambo wrote: Mon Dec 28, 2020 12:51 Yes swing bridge alerts APP is handy. I take it the bridge you are referring to is Old Quay. The grain barge 'Loach' discharges grain there at the old Guinness wharf. She normally makes 1 or 2 trips a week to Liverpool.
That's the one. Why Peel aren't made to be more forthcoming about the bridge openings is a bit of puzzle. The Old Quay bridge only gives access to Wigg Island, so traffic is light unless Ineos are using their industrial waste landfill site, but you can be 'caught' on the island of course. In Warrington it's a different matter and much more inconvenient when the bridges open.
Last edited by Barkstar on Mon Dec 28, 2020 14:27, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Road Infrastructure Things Worth Visiting

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The former A12 dual carriageway near Copdock is an interesting walk if nothing else. I've also tried and failed to figure out exactly how the old A12 connected to the A45 before the modern D2 was built.
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Re: Road Infrastructure Things Worth Visiting

Post by IAN »

If you've got a bit of time on your hands, leave the M5 at J19, take the B3124 from Portishead to Clevedon and get an interesting view of the M5 terraced section, then rejoin at J20.
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Re: Road Infrastructure Things Worth Visiting

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JohnA14J50 wrote: Mon Dec 28, 2020 14:07 The former A12 dual carriageway near Copdock is an interesting walk if nothing else. I've also tried and failed to figure out exactly how the old A12 connected to the A45 before the modern D2 was built.
Short answer is that Copdock had little to do with it. The A12 went on into the centre of Ipswich. The original road is the carriageway closest to the houses, I think it was dualled in the 1960s. In 1935 they built Yarmouth Road for the A12 ring road (now the A1214) which met the A45 at Norwich Road junction.

To avoid going into Ipswich you'd have gone left here: https://goo.gl/maps/HoYjwnZ7qQKGQix97 to go through Washbrook and up the old A1100 (B1113) to Great Blakenham.

If you are in the area then the Orwell Bridge is the thing to look at. If tis raining try the Ipswich Transport Museum for a few hours. They have a wall of old road signs :thumbsup:
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Re: Road Infrastructure Things Worth Visiting

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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?
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Re: Road Infrastructure Things Worth Visiting

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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.
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Big Nick
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Re: Road Infrastructure Things Worth Visiting

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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?
Follow that bit of road and the first building you notice is Copdock Primary School, after that are most of the homes in the village. The Street also appears and feels narrower than the parts out in the open country.
I wonder when it was cut off because the fencing at the end looks like 1960s pipework to me, concurrent with the dualling.
I'm pretty sure that when most of the traffic through Copdock was removed the villagers were pleased. At the other end Chapel Lane is a short wide road and passes no houses. It's a no-brainer for a permanent diversion.

The real oddity for many of us is that they kept both carriageways when they could have closed off one side entirely.
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Re: Road Infrastructure Things Worth Visiting

Post by igro49 »

J35 on M62 with M18 has been mentioned, but I think J32A with A1(M) looks even more spectacular!
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Re: Road Infrastructure Things Worth Visiting

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The mills at Bridge Foot on the A517 are interesting: https://www.sabre-roads.org.uk/wiki/ind ... t_(Belper)
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From the SABRE Wiki: Bridge Foot %28Belper%29 :


Bridge Foot is a road that forms part of the A517 at the north end of Belper. Above the road is an enclosed arched stone footbridge which links two former textile mills (the North Mill to the now-demolished West Mill).

The bridge was listed at grade 2* in 1966, but by 2020 appeared on English Heritage's Heritage at Risk Register as roof maintenance on the structure is urgently required. The entry also notes historical damage from repeated vehicle impacts which has mainly been

... Read More
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Re: Road Infrastructure Things Worth Visiting

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IAN said,
If you've got a bit of time on your hands, leave the M5 at J19, take the B3124 from Portishead to Clevedon and get an interesting view of the M5 terraced section, then rejoin at J20.
As I did on August 2 2016, while returning from a Thornbury holiday overspill on to the A38. Trouble was the M5 was solid down to at least WSM so some rat-running was required. Here, the view from that B3124.
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Re: Road Infrastructure Things Worth Visiting

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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.
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Re: Road Infrastructure Things Worth Visiting

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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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