Longest distance sign to Paris?

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Owain
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Re: Longest distance sign to Paris?

Post by Owain »

Bryn666 wrote: Fri Apr 26, 2019 15:25 Meanwhile the UK thinks such signs are pointless and is removing or not putting them in to begin with in many places... :roll: :evil:

I like the long distance system France uses, it shows that the big roads are for strategic use...
So do I!

Next time I drive down the M1, I'll have a look to see how far down you need to be to get the distance to London shown on a sign. London is shown on directional signage almost from Leeds city centre, and for directional purposes it is shown again on approach to the M62. But I don't think any distance is indicated on any signage until south of the M6/A14. There is this oddity just before the M62, but no distance is shown.

Once south of the M62, there does not appear to be any distance signage at all until this sign, which is south of Wakefield; and even then, travellers to large/largish places like London, Luton, Milton Keynes, Northampton, Leicester, Nottingham or Derby have no idea how much further their journey will last!

Perhaps their rationale is that everybody will be using satnav?
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Re: Longest distance sign to Paris?

Post by trickstat »

Owain wrote: Tue Dec 31, 2019 17:19
Bryn666 wrote: Fri Apr 26, 2019 15:25 Meanwhile the UK thinks such signs are pointless and is removing or not putting them in to begin with in many places... :roll: :evil:

I like the long distance system France uses, it shows that the big roads are for strategic use...
So do I!

Next time I drive down the M1, I'll have a look to see how far down you need to be to get the distance to London shown on a sign. London is shown on directional signage almost from Leeds city centre, and for directional purposes it is shown again on approach to the M62. But I don't think any distance is indicated on any signage until south of the M6/A14. There is this oddity just before the M62, but no distance is shown.

Once south of the M62, there does not appear to be any distance signage at all until this sign, which is south of Wakefield; and even then, travellers to large/largish places like London, Luton, Milton Keynes, Northampton, Leicester, Nottingham or Derby have no idea how much further their journey will last!

Perhaps their rationale is that everybody will be using satnav?
Which is quite frankly ridiculous as who needs a satnav to get from Leeds to London*? I know some people will use them for traffic info but there are plenty of people who quite validly wouldn't see the point of using them for such a journey.

*London in a broad sense. I can understand using one to find a specific location within London that you are not that sure about.
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Re: Longest distance sign to Paris?

Post by Vierwielen »

mikehindsonevans wrote: Fri Apr 05, 2019 01:21
Ruperts Trooper wrote: Wed Apr 03, 2019 11:41 There's probably one at Halley 6 on Antartica!
Pretty certain that there was one on East Falkland around June of 1982.
... but when I last checked, it was a little awkward to drive from the Falklands to France.
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Re: Longest distance sign to Paris?

Post by Vierwielen »

trickstat wrote: Tue Dec 31, 2019 18:08
Owain wrote: Tue Dec 31, 2019 17:19
Bryn666 wrote: Fri Apr 26, 2019 15:25 Meanwhile the UK thinks such signs are pointless and is removing or not putting them in to begin with in many places... :roll: :evil:

I like the long distance system France uses, it shows that the big roads are for strategic use...
So do I!

Next time I drive down the M1, I'll have a look to see how far down you need to be to get the distance to London shown on a sign. London is shown on directional signage almost from Leeds city centre, and for directional purposes it is shown again on approach to the M62. But I don't think any distance is indicated on any signage until south of the M6/A14. There is this oddity just before the M62, but no distance is shown.

Once south of the M62, there does not appear to be any distance signage at all until this sign, which is south of Wakefield; and even then, travellers to large/largish places like London, Luton, Milton Keynes, Northampton, Leicester, Nottingham or Derby have no idea how much further their journey will last!

Perhaps their rationale is that everybody will be using satnav?
Which is quite frankly ridiculous as who needs a satnav to get from Leeds to London*? I know some people will use them for traffic info but there are plenty of people who quite validly wouldn't see the point of using them for such a journey.

*London in a broad sense. I can understand using one to find a specific location within London that you are not that sure about.
I agree that using a satnav is ridiculous, but using the route map here (CRBD) or here (Wikipedia) and driver location signs enables one's passenger to quickly calculate the distance to the next services.
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Re: Longest distance sign to Paris?

Post by Norfolktolancashire »

Found another, further distance this time along the same road 876km near Pamplona

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@42.84864 ... 312!8i6656
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Re: Longest distance sign to Paris?

Post by mikehindsonevans »

Vierwielen wrote: Thu Jan 02, 2020 18:57
mikehindsonevans wrote: Fri Apr 05, 2019 01:21
Ruperts Trooper wrote: Wed Apr 03, 2019 11:41 There's probably one at Halley 6 on Antartica!
Pretty certain that there was one on East Falkland around June of 1982.
... but when I last checked, it was a little awkward to drive from the Falklands to France.
The question in the thread was "distance sign" not drivability :lol:
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Re: Longest distance sign to Paris?

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Norfolktolancashire wrote: Wed Jan 08, 2020 15:51 Found another, further distance this time along the same road 876km near Pamplona

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@42.84864 ... 312!8i6656
Interesting that Bordeaux and Bayonne have their Castillian names on there, but that Toulouse has all but replaced the historic 'Tolosa (de Francia)' and that Paris is spelled the French and not Castilian way (París) though to be fair the difference is in the mark over the 'i'
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Re: Longest distance sign to Paris?

Post by Osthagen »

Bryn666 wrote: Fri Apr 26, 2019 15:25 I like the long distance system France uses, it shows that the big roads are for strategic use...
Likewise. The signage on the M1 Northbound outwards from London is particularly poor and, beyond the very ambiguous ''The NORTH'' (Nantwich? Newcastle? Norway?), is reluctant to sign any town besides Luton. I would have Leicester as the main forward waypoint on the M1 in that area, being the first major urban area heading north.

Apparently London used to appear on an RCS at the western terminus of the M4 at Pont Abraham, but I can't confirm this.

Germane to the topic, there were a few signs to far-flung European destinations (London included) on E-road signs in Poland during the 1980s. Few, if any at all, survive today, but it wouldn't surprise me of Paris was one of them.
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Re: Longest distance sign to Paris?

Post by Bryn666 »

It was the Morriston Bypass that had the London sign. There was footage on YouTube once upon a time.
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Re: Longest distance sign to Paris?

Post by JohnnyMo »

Owain wrote: Tue Dec 31, 2019 17:19 ..There is this oddity just before the M62, but no distance is shown.
And this one
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Re: Longest distance sign to Paris?

Post by Osthagen »

JohnnyMo wrote: Thu May 07, 2020 20:54
Owain wrote: Tue Dec 31, 2019 17:19 ..There is this oddity just before the M62, but no distance is shown.
And this one
Not on topic, but I imagine the lack of distance to the Old Smoke can be attributed to the fact that heading straight down the M1 from Aberford isn't the fastest route there, its A1-M18-M1.
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Re: Longest distance sign to Paris?

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Osthagen wrote: Thu May 07, 2020 19:28 The signage on the M1 Northbound outwards from London is particularly poor and, beyond the very ambiguous ''The NORTH'' (Nantwich? Newcastle? Norway?), is reluctant to sign any town besides Luton. I would have Leicester as the main forward waypoint on the M1 in that area, being the first major urban area heading north.
:o Luton has a population over 210,000 and a major airport. I'd call it a major urban area. Milton Keynes and Northampton are both over 200,000, and I'd count them as major urban areas also.
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Re: Longest distance sign to Paris?

Post by Osthagen »

owen b wrote: Fri May 08, 2020 18:26
Osthagen wrote: Thu May 07, 2020 19:28 The signage on the M1 Northbound outwards from London is particularly poor and, beyond the very ambiguous ''The NORTH'' (Nantwich? Newcastle? Norway?), is reluctant to sign any town besides Luton. I would have Leicester as the main forward waypoint on the M1 in that area, being the first major urban area heading north.
:o Luton has a population over 210,000 and a major airport. I'd call it a major urban area. Milton Keynes and Northampton are both over 200,000, and I'd count them as major urban areas also.
Sorry. I wasn't saying that these locations shouldn't be signed, but Leicester has a population that exceeds 300,000 and is at least 90 miles up the M1 from the M25, and gives drivers a good impression of where the road goes beyond the South East. As such, it would be appropriate to sign Leicester northwards from London.
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Re: Longest distance sign to Paris?

Post by ScottB5411 »

Osthagen wrote: Fri May 08, 2020 19:18
owen b wrote: Fri May 08, 2020 18:26
Osthagen wrote: Thu May 07, 2020 19:28 The signage on the M1 Northbound outwards from London is particularly poor and, beyond the very ambiguous ''The NORTH'' (Nantwich? Newcastle? Norway?), is reluctant to sign any town besides Luton. I would have Leicester as the main forward waypoint on the M1 in that area, being the first major urban area heading north.
:o Luton has a population over 210,000 and a major airport. I'd call it a major urban area. Milton Keynes and Northampton are both over 200,000, and I'd count them as major urban areas also.
Sorry. I wasn't saying that these locations shouldn't be signed, but Leicester has a population that exceeds 300,000 and is at least 90 miles up the M1 from the M25, and gives drivers a good impression of where the road goes beyond the South East. As such, it would be appropriate to sign Leicester northwards from London.
Leicester is signed from the M1/M6 diverge, The NORTH being signed from London is completely appropriate, along with the next primary destination(s) as is the case across the whole network :confused:
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From the SABRE Wiki: Primary Destinations :

Primary Destinations are the key target destinations (technically, "places of major traffic importance") within the United Kingdom that are shown on direction signs along major roads such as Motorways and Primary Routes. These destinations are important key points and are used in combination with local place names that are defined by each local Highway Authority. Primary destinations will appear above local destinations on direction signs due to a furthest first rule in the

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Re: Longest distance sign to Paris?

Post by Vierwielen »

JohnnyMo wrote: Wed Apr 03, 2019 12:37 Or in one of the overseas departments.

One of my favorite RCS used to be just outside Amsterdam, which would have been 500km to Paris and a bit more to London.
I remember that one as well . At some point before the Belgian border, one took an off-ramp to London (bypassing Antwerp via the Schelde tunnels) or one continued straight on ahead skirting the eastern side of Antwerp. Last time that I checked for the signs, they seem to have disappeared.
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Re: Longest distance sign to Paris?

Post by A42_Sparks »

Osthagen wrote: Thu May 07, 2020 19:28Apparently London used to appear on an RCS at the western terminus of the M4 at Pont Abraham, but I can't confirm this.
Bryn666 wrote: Thu May 07, 2020 20:45 It was the Morriston Bypass that had the London sign. There was footage on YouTube once upon a time.
It's still on Youtube.
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Re: Longest distance sign to Paris?

Post by Owain »

owen b wrote: Fri May 08, 2020 18:26
Osthagen wrote: Thu May 07, 2020 19:28 The signage on the M1 Northbound outwards from London is particularly poor and, beyond the very ambiguous ''The NORTH'' (Nantwich? Newcastle? Norway?), is reluctant to sign any town besides Luton. I would have Leicester as the main forward waypoint on the M1 in that area, being the first major urban area heading north.
:o Luton has a population over 210,000 and a major airport. I'd call it a major urban area. Milton Keynes and Northampton are both over 200,000, and I'd count them as major urban areas also.
Like Leicester, Luton, Milton Keynes, and Northampton all have universities too!

Leicester (the city, not the university) might be older and larger, but that doesn't necessarily make it more important. It's also a lot further out from London than any of those other locations.
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Re: Longest distance sign to Paris?

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Owain wrote: Tue May 19, 2020 11:42 Like Leicester, Luton, Milton Keynes, and Northampton all have universities too!

Leicester (the city, not the university) might be older and larger, but that doesn't necessarily make it more important. It's also a lot further out from London than any of those other locations.
True, and I reckon that all 4 should appear on the RCS signage, though Leicester is the slap-bang halfway point between the two termini of the M1, being 100 miles from both London and Leeds.

Milton Keynes or Northampton don't appear on the M1 out of London until you've traveled quite some distance.
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Re: Longest distance sign to Paris?

Post by Owain »

Osthagen wrote: Tue May 19, 2020 12:26
Owain wrote: Tue May 19, 2020 11:42 Like Leicester, Luton, Milton Keynes, and Northampton all have universities too!

Leicester (the city, not the university) might be older and larger, but that doesn't necessarily make it more important. It's also a lot further out from London than any of those other locations.
True, and I reckon that all 4 should appear on the RCS signage, though Leicester is the slap-bang halfway point between the two termini of the M1, being 100 miles from both London and Leeds.

Milton Keynes or Northampton don't appear on the M1 out of London until you've traveled quite some distance.
By that reckoning, Leicester should also be shown on the M1's signage from Leeds, but it isn't.

I agree with the principle that on a route like the M1, larger settlements should be signed from further away - and distances shown for London throughout - but I don't see why Leicester should be singled out for special treatment.

(... even if it does happen to be my own most frequent destination along the M1, after London! For most traffic, it won't be.)
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Re: Longest distance sign to Paris?

Post by KeithW »

Well there is this one at the end of the Alaskan Highway at Delta Junction.
On the other side are distances to European cities

<Edit added explanatory note>
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