I've altered the map since I first posted it a few months ago. The main problem being all the routes converged on Small Heath Highway. This would have caused serious congestion.
I've now provided a new route for the A435 which goes directly to the Middle Ring Road.
Click here to view the map. Warning file size 460K. This is smallest I can make it without sacrificing quality.
South Birmingham Radials mk II
Moderator: Site Management Team
I think it would have looked something like the A34 at Perry Barr with a series of flyover and underpasses. It would involve the demolishion of all the buildings on one side of the road.
I've had another go at the junction where the A435 meets the Middle Ring Road. I think this attempt is better.
I've had another go at the junction where the A435 meets the Middle Ring Road. I think this attempt is better.
How would you like your grade separations, Sir?
Big and complex.
Big and complex.
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Switch Island
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Well, we all know that Birmingham Highways planners are now so keen to "undo" all the "horrendous" "mistakes" of the 1960s with their flyovers and underpasses they now seem hell bent on ripping all the existing flyovers and underpasses everywhere around the city to pieces and levelling the roads to good old surface level Signal controlled junctions, without a care for even where all the displaced traffic is going to go.... so far so crap eh?
If any schemes like the A34 at Perry Barr were planned now, there'd be absolute mutiny and demands for heads to roll!! Picture the scene..... "NOT IN OUR BACKYARD!" "A FLYOVER?!! PLEASE - NO CUSS WORDS ALLOWED!!"
THAT'S how sensitive these "environmental" issues are - a lot of this is just a trendy "front" to hide behind..... It's almost as if if every council have to be seen to be doing their bit by instigating as many bus lanes and cycle lanes (that often stop in thin air after a while, thus adding to the confusion on the roads anyway), and those wretched mini-roundabouts as possible on their wide main through routes, that NOT to do so would be a heresy.....
It's all about striking the right balance at the end of the day - just steaming headlong and flattening every grade-separated interchange isn't going to automatically cure all the problems of traffic is it?? In fact it often creates MORE congestion. So much for all their trendy schemes. No doubt, ten months from now there's going to be proposals to level out the remainder of the Inner Ring Road (the west side) and allocate at least two bus lanes, two cycle lanes, a pram lane and a wheelchair lane in each direction. Forcing the poor through motorist to circumnavigate using the already congested Middleway with its current inadequate surface level junctions on the whole..... St Chad's Circus is apparently next in line for demolition, you know.
If any schemes like the A34 at Perry Barr were planned now, there'd be absolute mutiny and demands for heads to roll!! Picture the scene..... "NOT IN OUR BACKYARD!" "A FLYOVER?!! PLEASE - NO CUSS WORDS ALLOWED!!"
THAT'S how sensitive these "environmental" issues are - a lot of this is just a trendy "front" to hide behind..... It's almost as if if every council have to be seen to be doing their bit by instigating as many bus lanes and cycle lanes (that often stop in thin air after a while, thus adding to the confusion on the roads anyway), and those wretched mini-roundabouts as possible on their wide main through routes, that NOT to do so would be a heresy.....
It's all about striking the right balance at the end of the day - just steaming headlong and flattening every grade-separated interchange isn't going to automatically cure all the problems of traffic is it?? In fact it often creates MORE congestion. So much for all their trendy schemes. No doubt, ten months from now there's going to be proposals to level out the remainder of the Inner Ring Road (the west side) and allocate at least two bus lanes, two cycle lanes, a pram lane and a wheelchair lane in each direction. Forcing the poor through motorist to circumnavigate using the already congested Middleway with its current inadequate surface level junctions on the whole..... St Chad's Circus is apparently next in line for demolition, you know.
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Switch Island
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Truvelo - as ever, I'm impressed at your technical prowess on these maps - seems like yourself and I cannot get enough of all this revamping business! It also appears like you care less about the impact your radical new interchange designs have on the surrounding environment! (I suppose I could have planned a similarly elaborate layout for M6 J10 where the new Black Country Motorway A463(M) joined) Why else would they be so spectacularly convoluted??!!!
But that's not to say they shouldn't happen - of course they should! The more spaghetti junctions around Brum the better - besides, it always looks great on maps doesn't it? Witness the motorways around Manchester, Glasgow and Leeds for further proof.....
But that's not to say they shouldn't happen - of course they should! The more spaghetti junctions around Brum the better - besides, it always looks great on maps doesn't it? Witness the motorways around Manchester, Glasgow and Leeds for further proof.....