Most underrated and most overrated roads

[Clygro]

For the most underrated, it would be the A228 with a decent chunk with A D2M ,and no one uses the road. What are your choices?

[Glenn A]

I'd say the A696 and A68 to Edinburgh, generally quiet north of Ponteland and faster and less stressful than using the A1.

[KeithW]

For the most underrated, it would be the A228 with a decent chunk with A D2M ,and no one uses the road. What are your choices?

I am confused. As I recall the A228 is not D2M and is only partly D2. From memory the D2 sections are the M20 to Kingshill, Bainbridge Road and the Pembury bypass. A decent enough road to be sure. In that part of the world my vital road has always been the A229. Linking the M20 and M2 its my number 1 route from the west of Kent to the Dartford crossing.

As for underated roads in Kent I would have to choose the A299 Thanet Way/Hengist Way from Canterbury to Ramsgate. It has more roundabouts than I would prefer but other than that its a cracking road.

In the north I have always like driving the A689 from Stanhope across the pennines to Alston and on to Brampton and Carlisle, summer only for this one

The most overrated road in my opinion has to be the A30 from Penzance to Lands End. There is nothing very much wrong with the road but the destination is a collection of tacky third rate attractions designed to rip off the grockles to the maximum extent possible. They even demand payment for taking a photograph at the sign post ! If you want to see the real west Cornish coast head to Cape Cornwall instead and on your way back take a couple of side trips to the Levant Mine and Pendeen lighthouse.

[Glenn A]

Can't really think of any roads that could be called overrated as a good or average road is better than a poor one.

[PhilC]

One of the most underrated roads I know is the A46 between Alcester and Evesham. It is around 8 miles of D2 and carries very little traffic, a real pleasure to drive along. There is a roundabout about half way along it, but this normally causes no problems. As with lots of isolated stretches of dual carriageway the difficulties occur at either end.

At the northern end the A46 turns east at a roundabout towards Stratford upon Avon onto a WS2, whilst the A435 continues north before becoming an S2 through a few villages on its way to Redditch and Birmingham.

At the southern end the A44 from Worcester joins at a roundabout, the A44 having priority. To add to the mix there is a small service area and a garden centre/country park which also join at the same roundabout. As a result large peak hour queues often build up. The A44 and A46 then multiplex along a WS2 for a couple of miles before the A44 turns off east at another roundbout towards Morton-in-Marsh, the A46 continuing south towards Tewkesbury. At peak times there is slow traffic along the whole length of this section, making joining the roundabout at either end very difficult.

[Glenn A]

The M45, apart from being one of the oldest motorways is one of the quietest and beats the manic M1/6 route to Coventry.

[vlad]

The A54 in the Peak District is surprisingly underrated.

It probably suffers by being inferior to the nearby A537 Cat & Fiddle. If it were anywhere else then a lot more people would know about it.

[Johnathan404]

I'd vote the M45 as the most overrated road. Sure it's quite quiet and interesting if you know the history, but it gets a special status on SABRE even though the experience of driving on it isn't much different to any other old, rural dual carriageway in the country.

[Owain]

From an engineering point of view, the A8 in Northern Ireland is just how a modern D2 should be. It is fast and safe, and there's hardly any traffic on it!

[jimboLL]

under rated

M50 - gives the impression of being shoehorned into M calssification, but virtually traffic free as long as you avoid the doddery locals doing a 1 junction trip at 38mph.

A34 - Newbury bypass hated by Swampyites but superb for access to Southampton and Portsmouth.

over rated
A15 Humber Bridge - an expensive way of going from nowhere in particular to nowhere in particular.

[bothar]

From an engineering point of view, the A8 in Northern Ireland is just how a modern D2 should be. It is fast and safe, and there's hardly any traffic on it!

The A2 between Newry and Warrenpoint is a lovely drive, even if there if a bottleneck at the end.

[Euan]

Whenever me and my family drive to Carlisle (and southward) from Ayrshire we usually use the A71 to reach the M74 from Kilmarnock and then continue south as usual. However we have in the past considered the possibility of taking the A76 to Dumfries and then the A75 to Gretna and joining the motorway there. Maybe we will do that the next time we travel down south, so perhaps the A76 could be considered to be an underrated connection between Ayrshire and the south.

[skiddaw05]

This probably won't be poular....

Overrated - the A1. To be more specific I'm thinking the Nottinghamshire / South Yorkshire area where it seems it is often considered a better alternative to the M1.

Underrated - the M1 for the same reason. Last summer I went up to Harrogate on a Friday afternoon on the A1 and the miserable grind it was becoming ground to a halt just before the M18, so I switched to the M18 to get to the M1 (had I known earlier I'd have used the A57) and the M1 from here was flowing nicely all the way to Hook Moor.

Also IMV it's a more interesting route with great views across Sheffield and the Pennines beyond, which makes the A1 seem somewhat dull in comparison.

[Clygro]

For the most underrated, it would be the A228 with a decent chunk with A D2M ,and no one uses the road. What are your choices?

I am confused. As I recall the A228 is not D2M and is only partly D2. From memory the D2 sections are the M20 to Kingshill, Bainbridge Road and the Pembury bypass. A decent enough road to be sure. In that part of the world my vital road has always been the A229. Linking the M20 and M2 its my number 1 route from the west of Kent to the Dartford crossing.

As for underated roads in Kent I would have to choose the A299 Thanet Way/Hengist Way from Canterbury to Ramsgate. It has more roundabouts than I would prefer but other than that its a cracking road.

In the north I have always like driving the A689 from Stanhope across the pennines to Alston and on to Brampton and Carlisle, summer only for this one

The most overrated road in my opinion has to be the A30 from Penzance to Lands End. There is nothing very much wrong with the road but the destination is a collection of tacky third rate attractions designed to rip off the grockles to the maximum extent possible. They even demand payment for taking a photograph at the sign post ! If you want to see the real west Cornish coast head to Cape Cornwall instead and on your way back take a couple of side trips to the Levant Mine and Pendeen lighthouse.

The A299 is another underrated road too.

[Peter350]

I’d say the most underrated road in my region is the A354 between Salisbury and Puddletown. It’s a spectacular drive, yet hardly anyone ever uses it. Reminds me of one of many rural highways in the American Midwest.

If Salisbury gets a bypass/ring road, I could see it becoming a viable alternative to using the M3/A31 to get between the Home Counties and West Dorset.

[Bryn666]

If you ignore the traffic volumes the M60 is a fascinating motorway with various engineering dodges to achieve more lanes than it was built for in several places. Underrated for the bodge factor alone.

[Owain]

From an engineering point of view, the A8 in Northern Ireland is just how a modern D2 should be. It is fast and safe, and there's hardly any traffic on it!

The A2 between Newry and Warrenpoint is a lovely drive, even if there if a bottleneck at the end.

A D2 with NSL and no crash barriers? Excellent .... I'm going to NI at the end of May!

[nowster]

A D2 with NSL and no crash barriers? Excellent .... I'm going to NI at the end of May!

The A26 Antrim to Ballymena is similar.

[Owain]

A D2 with NSL and no crash barriers? Excellent .... I'm going to NI at the end of May!

The A26 Antrim to Ballymena is similar.

Yes, but it can be quite terrifying, on account of being much busier, and having frequent turning gaps!

[danfw194]

Overrated:
A46: Lots of grand plans mentioned for the A46's potential to be a strategic South West-North East route, but it is flawed in so many ways at so many locations.

A6: Ok it's quite a nice drive in the Peak District, but either side of that it's not very interesting, nor particularly useful or fast.


Underrated:
A43 (M40 J10-Northampton): A few too many flat roundabouts, but aside from that it's a really useful link between M1 and M40.

A50 (Derby-Stoke): Far from perfect, but if I were on a long drive from South East to North West and didn't want to pay the M6 Toll, I'd much rather be using this than the M6 through the West Midlands.

A500: I know some locals on here are not fans, but I like it. I realise Stoke is not a typical city, but having a fully GSJ D2 carve it's way through a big urban area like the A500 does is a novelty.

M69: Let down by the rubbish interchange at M1 J21, but apart from that it's always a decent, clear ride.

under rated

A34 - Newbury bypass hated by Swampyites but superb for access to Southampton and Portsmouth.

Agreed, plus it doesn't get stopped by the M4 at Chieveley either which is a real blessing.

Overrated - the A1. To be more specific I'm thinking the Nottinghamshire / South Yorkshire area where it seems it is often considered a better alternative to the M1.

Agreed, I really dislike the A1, so many miles of sub standard rubbish that is quite frankly dangerous. Add the Bedfordshire stretch to the others you mention.