World's Steepest Street

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Euan
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World's Steepest Street

Post by Euan »

Some official measurements are to be taken and verified to determine whether Ffordd Pen Llech in Harlech in Gwynedd is the world's steepest street:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-46796588

To be recognised as the steepest street in the world it has to be steeper than Baldwin Street in Dunedin in the Otago region of the South Island of New Zealand.
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Re: World's Steepest Street

Post by Burns »

By publicising their street, more people will want to try driving up it. They'll need to prepare themselves for an influx of Jukes and Quashquis trapped on that hairpin.
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Re: World's Steepest Street

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Burns wrote: Sun Jan 13, 2019 19:09 By publicising their street, more people will want to try driving up it. They'll need to prepare themselves for an influx of Jukes and Quashquis trapped on that hairpin.
I think the street is one-way and is down only. No wonder, it would be almost impossible for most vehicles to attempt to drive up the hill. Even if it may soon no longer be the world's steepest street, Baldwin Street in Dunedin will surely still be the steepest one that can be driven up legally. Notice that there are no hairpin bends on the way up Baldwin Street and instead it is completely straight unlike Ffordd Pen Llech in Harlech.
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Re: World's Steepest Street

Post by eifion »

I drove down Ffordd Pen Llech a few years ago and it was an interesting experience. At the steepest point I couldn't see the road in front of the car and had to look out of the driver's window to see where to drive. It's the only 1 in 2 1/2 gradient sign I've ever seen, although it's since been replaced with one that says 40%.
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Re: World's Steepest Street

Post by ForestChav »

How does *that* section of Lombard Street measure up in comparison? Though you can only drive down, and it's snaked down the road. It's pretty steep... I walked down it (lol thankfully not up - walking up Nob Hill - yes that is a name - to the cathedral was bad enough) when I was over there. (And of course, it was always on Midtown Madness 2 and GTA SA)
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Re: World's Steepest Street

Post by Bryn666 »

ForestChav wrote: Sun Jan 13, 2019 22:02 How does *that* section of Lombard Street measure up in comparison? Though you can only drive down, and it's snaked down the road. It's pretty steep... I walked down it (lol thankfully not up - walking up Nob Hill - yes that is a name - to the cathedral was bad enough) when I was over there. (And of course, it was always on Midtown Madness 2 and GTA SA)
Lombard Street, if not designed with the switchbacks, apparently would clock in at 1 in 2 as well. But because of the trafficked section being redesigned it can't compete.
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Re: World's Steepest Street

Post by KeithW »

eifion wrote: Sun Jan 13, 2019 21:30 I drove down Ffordd Pen Llech a few years ago and it was an interesting experience. At the steepest point I couldn't see the road in front of the car and had to look out of the driver's window to see where to drive. It's the only 1 in 2 1/2 gradient sign I've ever seen, although it's since been replaced with one that says 40%.
Church Lane in Whitby aka The Donkey Road runs alongside the steps to the Abbey and as I recall was supposed to have a gradient of 1 in 2.4. It is now closed to all motorised traffic except for access after a number of motorists got stuck at the bottom. As I recall the main problem is that at the bottom the change in gradient is very pronounced and ordinary cars ground out.

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Re: World's Steepest Street

Post by jgharston »

Euan wrote: Sun Jan 13, 2019 18:42 Some official measurements are to be taken and verified to determine whether Ffordd Pen Llech in Harlech in Gwynedd is the world's steepest street:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-46796588
I'd argue that's not a street, that's a lane. This is a street:
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Re: World's Steepest Street

Post by jgharston »

KeithW wrote: Tue Jan 15, 2019 18:47
eifion wrote: Sun Jan 13, 2019 21:30 I drove down Ffordd Pen Llech a few years ago and it was an interesting experience. At the steepest point I couldn't see the road in front of the car and had to look out of the driver's window to see where to drive. It's the only 1 in 2 1/2 gradient sign I've ever seen, although it's since been replaced with one that says 40%.
Church Lane in Whitby aka The Donkey Road runs alongside the steps to the Abbey and as I recall was supposed to have a gradient of 1 in 2.4. It is now closed to all motorised traffic except for access after a number of motorists got stuck at the bottom. As I recall the main problem is that at the bottom the change in gradient is very pronounced and ordinary cars ground out.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@54.48898 ... 6656?hl=en
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Euan
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Re: World's Steepest Street

Post by Euan »

jgharston wrote: Thu Jan 17, 2019 02:05
Euan wrote: Sun Jan 13, 2019 18:42 Some official measurements are to be taken and verified to determine whether Ffordd Pen Llech in Harlech in Gwynedd is the world's steepest street:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-46796588
I'd argue that's not a street, that's a lane. This is a street:
Image

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The terminology of "street" is quite vague, the record books are probably only looking for a legally drivable piece of tarmac whether it is a main road, a side lane, something in between or even something rural.
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Re: World's Steepest Street

Post by Vierwielen »

How the whole street have to be steep, or just portions of it? This bit of the Hardknott Pass has some very steep bits. The warning signs say 30%.
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Re: World's Steepest Street

Post by vlad »

Vierwielen wrote: Thu Jan 17, 2019 15:32 How the whole street have to be steep, or just portions of it? This bit of the Hardknott Pass has some very steep bits. The warning signs say 30%.
It can't just be portions of it or you could say, for example, that Porlock Hill gets steeper than 1 in 3 on some of the corners.
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Re: World's Steepest Street

Post by owen b »

vlad wrote: Thu Jan 17, 2019 16:06
Vierwielen wrote: Thu Jan 17, 2019 15:32 How the whole street have to be steep, or just portions of it? This bit of the Hardknott Pass has some very steep bits. The warning signs say 30%.
It can't just be portions of it or you could say, for example, that Porlock Hill gets steeper than 1 in 3 on some of the corners.
The BBC report in the first post in this thread states that "Guinness World Records sets out a definition for the steepest street....
It is based on its maximum gradient over a ten metre span".
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Re: World's Steepest Street

Post by Sulzer:1999 »

The west end of Mary Street in Stonehaven, where it meets the A957 Slug Road springs to mind, I may perceive here to be very steep mainly by the virtue that it has been closed off for at least the last 40 years.
Interesting attempt in the past to impose the traditional Scottish town ‘grid’ street plan, despite the challenging contours of the area.

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Re: World's Steepest Street

Post by Chris Bertram »

Sulzer:1999 wrote: Thu Jan 17, 2019 21:49 The west end of Mary Street in Stonehaven, where it meets the A957 Slug Road springs to mind, I may perceive here to be very steep mainly by the virtue that it has been closed off for at least the last 40 years.
Interesting attempt in the past to impose the traditional Scottish town ‘grid’ street plan, despite the challenging contours of the area.

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Only in the central part of town. Further out is much less regular.

Grid plans typically take little account of terrain, as any visitor to a North American city can tell you. So you get the same approach applied to relatively flat Portland as you do to distinctly hilly San Francisco. This is how you find out that one size really doesn't fit all, but American street planning ignored that, and with a blank sheet to start with just got the ruler and the set square out...
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Re: World's Steepest Street

Post by jgharston »

Sulzer:1999 wrote: Thu Jan 17, 2019 21:49 The west end of Mary Street in Stonehaven, where it meets the A957 Slug Road springs to mind, I may perceive here to be very steep mainly by the virtue that it has been closed off for at least the last 40 years.
When driving that way it always amazed me the the way to get from the A90 to Slug Road was via a housing estate. Why was there never a junction at Redcloak bridge?

Ooo, Aberdeen Bypass has appeared on Google Aerial View, and A92 has been resurrected. Seems a right bodge of a junction with the Stonehaven bypass though. Turn off and disappear to Stay On?
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Re: World's Steepest Street

Post by Berk »

Bryn666 wrote: Mon Jan 14, 2019 12:02
ForestChav wrote: Sun Jan 13, 2019 22:02 How does *that* section of Lombard Street measure up in comparison? Though you can only drive down, and it's snaked down the road. It's pretty steep... I walked down it (lol thankfully not up - walking up Nob Hill - yes that is a name - to the cathedral was bad enough) when I was over there. (And of course, it was always on Midtown Madness 2 and GTA SA)
Lombard Street, if not designed with the switchbacks, apparently would clock in at 1 in 2 as well. But because of the trafficked section being redesigned it can't compete.
Apparently that’s why Baldwin Street was designed the way it was. The individual (land) allotments were just 10’, so not wide enough to allow for switchbacks. That’s why it goes straight up.

Where is Lombard Street??
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Re: World's Steepest Street

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Re: World's Steepest Street

Post by Berk »

Thanks. I could’ve visited Baldwin Street when I was in the area. But I would’ve felt a bit of a gawker. It’s in a residential area, off the beaten track, after all.
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Re: World's Steepest Street

Post by sydneynick »

Berk wrote: Sun Jan 20, 2019 02:22 Thanks. I could’ve visited Baldwin Street when I was in the area. But I would’ve felt a bit of a gawker. It’s in a residential area, off the beaten track, after all.
They must be used to gawkers. In December I took a cruise around NZ that stopped in Dunedin, and all the shore tours stopped at Baldwin Street. The idiot tourists were wandering around in the street, greatly surprised when a car wanted to use it. Muppets.
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