180 degree bends

[jaconway88]

A422 Sun Rising Hill up Edge Hill has a 180deg warning sign indicating a not-quite-180deg hairpin, the reverse of some of the examples upthread. Same ridge as one of Truvelo's examples.

[owen b]

A855 Uig (Isle of Skye).

A686 Hartside, and another one by the River Allen.

[Big Nick]

So you're in Glasgow on the M8 going east and want to get onto the M77 going south. Trouble is it's all elevated and there's no direct link.... or is there?!

I think this is the only place you can change directions on a UK motorway so quickly. I'm glad I actually wanted to make this move cos I would have been seriously annoyed otherwise!

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@55.85017 ... 6656?hl=en

[SteveA30]

B3081 Zigzag Hill, has 4 hairpin bends. Just south of Shaftesbury, where there is another on a bypassed bit of A30, now also B3081. 5 Hairpins on one B road, perhaps a record in England. Wales and Scotland no doubt have several like that.

Further west on the A30, just before the A303, is another hairpin, at Yarcombe. With Launceston, 3 hairpins on the A30, before bypassing took 2 of them away.

[haymansafc]

There is indeed, I'd forgotten about that one…! On our trips to Lynton/Lynmouth we normally turn off the A39 (heading east, from Barnstaple), onto the B3234 and then Station Hill. I know there's a couple of other ways in, but what we do is just force of habit more than anything…! I'm not surprised there's been an accident on the one you mention. There were numerous faded skid marks on the immediate approach the last time I used it.

Back in 1994, the A39 example near Arlington (heading back from Lynton/Lynmouth, ironically) saw my father on the complete other side of the road! I don't recall any sharp bend signs (then again, I was only nine at the time), but I just remember my father turning into it as if it was a regular bend, suddenly swearing, turning harder, then slamming on the brakes before turning even harder still to the point it was enough where I, sitting in the back, ended sliding straight across and into the opposite door! Thankfully, nothing was coming in the opposite direction otherwise I have little doubt we'd have been in a head-on collision. Every time we've approached it since, we've always drove along that section rather gingerly - often saying "Is this it?" whenever we reach a bend! Fortunately, there's plenty of signs these days!

[Reading]

https://goo.gl/maps/uDZzagBQuHn above Henley and https://goo.gl/maps/zS6nj3KNrF82 aptly names zig zag road at Box Hill (watched a guy negotiate this on the back wheel of this trials bike in the early 90's)

Also this one on the Devon side of the Tamar at Gunnislake, https://goo.gl/maps/xvCPUN6jtQ52 which can be avoided going uphill by taking a steep straight uphill one way rd

[cmjones01]

This is only a little one but one of my favourite bits of road. Deep in the hills inland from Harlech on a very narrow single-track road.

Here's the Google Streetview link: https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@52.85620 ... 56!6m1!1e1.

It's very steep and a very tight bend, so it's actually quite hard to drive round without a shunt. Good for hill start practice!

Chris

[kit]

Quite a busy cut through from Oxford to M40 j8 unusual in compared to the others there is no signage at all, not even chevrons.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.71633 ... 56!6m1!1e1

The actual junction is on a steep hill as well so when turning left it's full lock in first gear.

[frediculous_biggs]

I have to suggest Jubilee Way on the A2.

(The sign in the port, just visible in the picture, must be one of the very few places where Lanes 1 & 3 both go the same destinations, with Lane 2 heading elsewhere)

[Arcuarius]

...and https://goo.gl/maps/zS6nj3KNrF82 aptly names zig zag road at Box Hill (watched a guy negotiate this on the back wheel of this trials bike in the early 90's)...

Or there's Zig Zag Road in Ventnor, Isle of Wight?

[Jonathan B4027]

Quite a busy cut through from Oxford to M40 j8 unusual in compared to the others there is no signage at all, not even chevrons.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.71633 ... 56!6m1!1e1

The actual junction is on a steep hill as well so when turning left it's full lock in first gear.

Why that is such a rat run when you have to contend with Ladder Hill, High St and Friday Lane in Wheatley I will never know.

[Jonathan B4027]

Do slip roads count? Birmingham International

[vlad]

If we're after tight GSJs I'd give you this. It's only the extra give-way line that confuses things.

[Alderpoint]

Found another, in fact a triple, north of Bridgend and just off the M4. There is a warning sign at the bottom, but none I could see near the top.

[Ritchie333]

If you're in Bridgend, take a spin up the A4061 to Hirwaun, it's got at least 8 hairpins on it.

[A303Chris]

Old A30, Launceston summer 1975. The road still exists as the A388.

I thought the bypass opened before that, but as I was only 5 at the time can not remember if it was open or not.

Anyway back to the topic Hose Hill near Theale Berkshire is one. Not as good as it used to be when two way as in the interests of road safety a footway was put up the hill and the whole hill is singleway controlled by lights, so no more oncoming vehicles on the hairpin.

[zapalniczka]

There's this one just outside of Reading. It comes out of nowhere and was a bit of an accident blackspot until they signalised it a few years ago.

https://goo.gl/maps/oRRSgoZD1Bn

[SteveA30]

Launceston opened on Wed March 31 1976, at 11am.
Photos of construction, news cuttings and pics of the old road, some supplied or taken by moi.

All in www.launcestonthen.co.uk Click on Galleries and then the side menu off A30.

[QuietInRealLife]

Why were hairpin bends so common on the historical road network? Was it simply because most of the routes existed long before fast motorised traffic came along?

[Mark Hewitt]

Why were hairpin bends so common on the historical road network? Was it simply because most of the routes existed long before fast motorised traffic came along?

Hairpins tend to come into play when you want to scale a hill but keeping the gradient low (obviously). In fact historically they haven't been common in the UK even since Roman times our roads tend to attack the hills head on regardless of slope.

In order countries particularly continental Europe road building often includes a 'no more than x%' rule. Usually around 6-7% maximum which I heard was to do with hauling cannon and the likes. Which is why you see far more examples of roads that twist and turn up the hills.