Unfinished roads Europe

[owen b]

I was cycling alongside the River Mosel in the autumn and was surprised and impressed to come across construction of the Hochmosel Bridge which I wasn't previously aware of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hochmosel_Bridge The Hochmosel Bridge (German: Hochmoselbrücke or High Moselle Bridge) is a highway bridge under construction that traverses the Moselle valley near Ürzig and Zeltingen-Rachtig in Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany. The bridge is part of a new highway connection, the "Hochmoselübergang" or Federal Highway 50 (Bundesstrasse 50), to facilitate traffic between Belgian and Dutch harbors and the greater Frankfurt area.

[Was92now625]

There is of course the obviously missing part of the A93

I note that this thread was bumped but phrase above looks like something topical closer to home.

[Owain]

The Google Street View car has driven down a road it ought not to have driven down here (left fork),

And I think I once wrongly drove down this one (again, left fork).

This one (right fork) is not much use either.

There's quite a mess here too.

I was told that the grossly exaggerated road systems in this area (the white road, SP17) were built in the '70s where the Italian govt was investing heavily in southern Italy (of which Sardinia is usually considered to be). They put down far more tarmac than they needed to serve the factories they were building and odd bits were never finished off. Add to this that only a half-hearted effort was made to ensure that people (like the Google car and me) didn't accidentally drive on any of it, and you have a little piece of road chaos.

[B1018 A120 M11]

I was cycling alongside the River Mosel in the autumn and was surprised and impressed to come across construction of the Hochmosel Bridge which I wasn't previously aware of

I can vouch for this one. I'm in Frankfurt for an exhibition at the moment, having driven here from Cambridge via the Moselle region, and I really wish they'd get a move on and finish this! The fact that it's missing makes my journey through the Hunsrück region - and, doubtless, lots of other people's too - quite long-winded. The B50 isn't great, passing right through the pretty riverside town of Bernkastel-Kues and the much duller, and also very small, village of Longkamp (although if you're not in a hurry, it's very pleasantly scenic around the Moselle), and even when the Hochmoselübergang is finished, there's still going to be a missing S2 section in the middle between the two D2 'ends', which isn't even in planning yet, let alone going through approvals.

This thread could have been written for me, as my route from the UK also took in the unfinished A19 in Belgium, mentioned above! If I've understood the pages on the net about that correctly (my Dutch is awful, but I can just about read it thanks to speaking German), there are no longer any plans to finish it — it's doomed to remain forever an unfinished prong of motorway that gives up the ghost at an M23 Junction 7-like 'bridge to nowhere'.

I use the N8 to do the last bit to the Belgian border on the way to Calais (or, the other way around, to get me from the Belgian A18 to the 'bridge to nowhere' that marks the start of the A19 as it is today). It's a duff A-road style route through Flanders, but it's only 17 miles or so between the motorways, and there are a couple of villages with nice bakeries on the N8, which is sometimes useful after leaving Eurotunnel behind and starting out on my way through Europe.

My route is described in more detail in this thread from a year ago, when I last drove to Frankfurt.

[Chris56000]

Don't forget the A51 Grenoble – Gap – Sisteron section in S.E. France – the two ends of this aren't even obviously pointing towards each other!

Chris Williams

[wallmeerkat]

The Google Street View car has driven down a road it ought not to have driven down here (left fork),

And I think I once wrongly drove down this one (again, left fork).

This one (right fork) is not much use either.

This is incredible, I'm amazed at how the actual junction nearby to the NorthEast is a half hearted set of LILOs in comparison to this large freeflowing junction that has been stopped up!

[Chris5156]

The Google Street View car has driven down a road it ought not to have driven down here (left fork),

And I think I once wrongly drove down this one (again, left fork).

This one (right fork) is not much use either.

This is incredible, I'm amazed at how the actual junction nearby to the NorthEast is a half hearted set of LILOs in comparison to this large freeflowing junction that has been stopped up!

The whole road has been stopped up - the entire bypass is closed off at every entrance point. It's not clear whether it was ever open.

[c2R]

The Google Street View car has driven down a road it ought not to have driven down here (left fork),

And I think I once wrongly drove down this one (again, left fork).

This one (right fork) is not much use either.

This is incredible, I'm amazed at how the actual junction nearby to the NorthEast is a half hearted set of LILOs in comparison to this large freeflowing junction that has been stopped up!

The whole road has been stopped up - the entire bypass is closed off at every entrance point. It's not clear whether it was ever open.

Yes, that's really very strange and begs the question as to what on earth has gone on here!

[Bryn666]

This is incredible, I'm amazed at how the actual junction nearby to the NorthEast is a half hearted set of LILOs in comparison to this large freeflowing junction that has been stopped up!

The whole road has been stopped up - the entire bypass is closed off at every entrance point. It's not clear whether it was ever open.

Yes, that's really very strange and begs the question as to what on earth has gone on here!

It's not "family" related is it, there have been a few major projects in Italy tainted by mafia connections - the biggest being the old A3.

[Owain]

The whole road has been stopped up - the entire bypass is closed off at every entrance point. It's not clear whether it was ever open.

Yes, that's really very strange and begs the question as to what on earth has gone on here!

It's not "family" related is it, there have been a few major projects in Italy tainted by mafia connections - the biggest being the old A3.

There is no mafia in Sardinia, so while that would have been a feasible explanation in Sicily or certain parts of southern Italy, it is unlikely to be the case here!

What is much more likely is that the central government awarded a large sum of money to a generous public works project, which got built almost to the state of completion, only for an administrative error, some kind of institutional dispute, or an obscure legal obstacle to pop up and prevent completion. That kind of thing happens quite a lot, and there are buildings (e.g. hospitals, schools, leisure centres) in similar states of near-completion all over Italy that have never been opened.

I used to watch a feature on a regular primetime evening show where a reporter went to a different one each day. The explanations were almost always bureaucratic nonsense.

According to this page on the regional government's website, it was built 30 years ago by the then Consortium for the Industrial Development of Central Sardinia (today the Nuoro Provincial Industrial Consortium), using money from Italy's infamous Cassa per il Mezzogiorno - the gigantic pot of money allocated for the development of the South between the 1950s and 1990s. This road was, however, never opened to the public.

According to the page, in 2019 the Region of Sardinia reached an understanding with the Province of Nuoro, the Municipality of Ottana, the Industrial Consortium, and Anas (the Italian roads guys!) to finally complete the dormant project. This involves the assignment of a €200k grant, which appears to be for consultation rather than the actual works.

The resolution of the regional government "positively closes a process of confrontation with the interested bodies that has been initiated and carried out in recent years by the Department of Public Works with the desire to respond definitively to the report by the Municipality of Ottana on the need to secure the section of the SS131dcn that affects the town centre, and in particular the slips entering and exiting this road, thus resolving a dangerous situation that has existed for some time. To achieve this, it was necessary to involve all the bodies concerned and establish their respective competences".

If you look a little to the north on Google Maps, you'll see a whole load of completely overblown GSJs on the SP17, which is effectively a B-road! I couldn't believe it that day I drove it...

[Bryn666]

Yes, that's really very strange and begs the question as to what on earth has gone on here!

It's not "family" related is it, there have been a few major projects in Italy tainted by mafia connections - the biggest being the old A3.

There is no mafia in Sardinia, so while that would have been a feasible explanation in Sicily or certain parts of southern Italy, it is unlikely to be the case here!

What is much more likely is that the central government awarded a large sum of money to a generous public works project, which got built almost to the state of completion, only for an administrative error, some kind of institutional dispute, or an obscure legal obstacle to pop up and prevent completion. That kind of thing happens quite a lot, and there are buildings (e.g. hospitals, schools, leisure centres) in similar states of near-completion all over Italy that have never been opened.

I used to watch a feature on a regular primetime evening show where a reporter went to a different one each day. The explanations were almost always bureaucratic nonsense.

According to this page on the regional government's website, it was built 30 years ago by the then Consortium for the Industrial Development of Central Sardinia (today the Nuoro Provincial Industrial Consortium), using money from Italy's infamous Cassa per il Mezzogiorno - the gigantic pot of money allocated for the development of the South between the 1950s and 1990s. This road was, however, never opened to the public.

According to the page, in 2019 the Region of Sardinia reached an understanding with the Province of Nuoro, the Municipality of Ottana, the Industrial Consortium, and Anas (the Italian roads guys!) to finally complete the dormant project. This involves the assignment of a €200k grant, which appears to be for consultation rather than the actual works.

The resolution of the regional government "positively closes a process of confrontation with the interested bodies that has been initiated and carried out in recent years by the Department of Public Works with the desire to respond definitively to the report by the Municipality of Ottana on the need to secure the section of the SS131dcn that affects the town centre, and in particular the slips entering and exiting this road, thus resolving a dangerous situation that has existed for some time. To achieve this, it was necessary to involve all the bodies concerned and establish their respective competences".

If you look a little to the north on Google Maps, you'll see a whole load of completely overblown GSJs on the SP17, which is effectively a B-road! I couldn't believe it that day I drove it...

It does seem quite easy in other countries to get very advanced works that are just rug-pulled. We barely even get chance to start before the rug goes out.

A classic example of this is the PA-23 "Goatway" in Lancaster County, PA: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pennsylva ... _proposals most of the right of way was graded and bridges built, then the project was canned.

[Owain]

It does seem quite easy in other countries to get very advanced works that are just rug-pulled. We barely even get chance to start before the rug goes out.

A classic example of this is the PA-23 "Goatway" in Lancaster County, PA: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pennsylva ... _proposals most of the right of way was graded and bridges built, then the project was canned.

You'll no doubt be familiar with the Foreshore Freeway Bridge (or half-bridge) in Cape Town.

I chanced upon it in an episode of Abandoned Engineering, but a search suggests it has received only a couple of mentions on SABRE.

[RichardA626]

Wasn't Sarah Palin responsible for a road to nowhere when she was the governor of Alaska?

[Big Nick]

Wasn't Sarah Palin responsible for a road to nowhere when she was the governor of Alaska?

You're talking about the Gravina Island Bridges to Ketchikan. Palin supported it to get elected and then decided that the State wouldn't pay up the promised $185m the bridge needed.
But they still spent $25m of Federal money on the road to the bridge they wouldn't build.
https://www.google.com/maps/@55.3208003 ... !1e3?hl=en

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravina_Island_Bridge

[RichardA626]

Wasn't Sarah Palin responsible for a road to nowhere when she was the governor of Alaska?

You're talking about the Gravina Island Bridges to Ketchikan. Palin supported it to get elected and then decided that the State wouldn't pay up the promised $185m the bridge needed.
But they still spent $25m of Federal money on the road to the bridge they wouldn't build.
https://www.google.com/maps/@55.3208003 ... !1e3?hl=en

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravina_Island_Bridge

Yes that's what I was thinking of.

[Owain]

Wasn't Sarah Palin responsible for a road to nowhere when she was the governor of Alaska?

You're talking about the Gravina Island Bridges to Ketchikan. Palin supported it to get elected and then decided that the State wouldn't pay up the promised $185m the bridge needed.
But they still spent $25m of Federal money on the road to the bridge they wouldn't build.
https://www.google.com/maps/@55.3208003 ... !1e3?hl=en

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravina_Island_Bridge

Yes that's what I was thinking of.

I like the way they've put a turning head where the bridge is supposed to be .... makes you wonder what would be driving down a road to nowhere that's been built on a sparsely-populated island!

[Big Nick]

You're talking about the Gravina Island Bridges to Ketchikan. Palin supported it to get elected and then decided that the State wouldn't pay up the promised $185m the bridge needed.
But they still spent $25m of Federal money on the road to the bridge they wouldn't build.
https://www.google.com/maps/@55.3208003 ... !1e3?hl=en

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravina_Island_Bridge

Yes that's what I was thinking of.

I like the way they've put a turning head where the bridge is supposed to be .... makes you wonder what would be driving down a road to nowhere that's been built on a sparsely-populated island!

It's not the journey, it's what you do when you get there...

[c2R]

Yes that's what I was thinking of.

I like the way they've put a turning head where the bridge is supposed to be .... makes you wonder what would be driving down a road to nowhere that's been built on a sparsely-populated island!

It's not the journey, it's what you do when you get there...

On the approach road - do you reckon that local authorities in England would get away with this: https://www.google.com/maps/@55.3560556 ... 6656?hl=en

[Big Nick]

I like the way they've put a turning head where the bridge is supposed to be .... makes you wonder what would be driving down a road to nowhere that's been built on a sparsely-populated island!

It's not the journey, it's what you do when you get there...

On the approach road - do you reckon that local authorities in England would get away with this: https://www.google.com/maps/@55.3560556 ... 6656?hl=en

They do already, it'd be more honest of them if they actually put such a sign up!

[swissferry]

I like the way they've put a turning head where the bridge is supposed to be .... makes you wonder what would be driving down a road to nowhere that's been built on a sparsely-populated island!

It's not the journey, it's what you do when you get there...

On the approach road - do you reckon that local authorities in England would get away with this: https://www.google.com/maps/@55.3560556 ... 6656?hl=en

We do have a number of signs about a lack of winter maintenance:
A821 Dukes Pass
Loch Tay to Bridge of Balgie
General Wade's Road from Dalwhinnie to Crubenbeg

The Duke's Pass one says "may not be treated". In my experience it does get both ploughed and gritted a number of days after heavy snowfall. Been very impressed by the skill of the plough drivers as the road twists and turns and goes up and down with walls of snow on either side.

Whereas the Bridge of Balgie road can still be challenging with frozen snow ruts that are like driving on rails into the Spring.