A601(M) Carnforth Link Road Downgrading

[wrinkly]

By mid-1965 the M6 was continuous from J13 to J35, and D3M except for 29-32 and 33-35. I can remember people complaining that it was criminal that those sections had only two lanes. Ideas of what counted as a busy motorway were very different then from now.

[rileyrob]

I can't think of any other stretches of motorway in the UK being built with a wide central reservation with provision for future widening.

I think the M5 between Clevedon and Weston is another example. Part of the reasoning was to accommodate the extra traffic from the (unbuilt) South Bristol Road joining at Clevedon, and the (unbuilt) Weston Spur departing six miles later at J21. Changes to the sliproads at J21 have seen the loss of some of the central reservation in that area.

[owen b]

I can't think of any other stretches of motorway in the UK being built with a wide central reservation with provision for future widening.

I think the M5 between Clevedon and Weston is another example. Part of the reasoning was to accommodate the extra traffic from the (unbuilt) South Bristol Road joining at Clevedon, and the (unbuilt) Weston Spur departing six miles later at J21. Changes to the sliproads at J21 have seen the loss of some of the central reservation in that area.

I have an idea part of the M25 (south west or maybe Heathrow section?) was also built with a similar kind of provision which was fairly soon used.

[solocle]

Signs are still there

[Bryn666]

Signs are still there
4FBF3451-DB3E-4479-A375-06619138E1EC.jpeg8A649ADD-CC77-4985-B1BD-F207E747CF28.jpeg

Those will be for a while as National Highways will be responsible for replacing them and that requires them and LCC to engage in what I can guarantee will be extremely protracted and expensive negotiating episodes instead of someone JFDI and putting in replacement signs.

NH still haven't agreed to have Bolton replace the signs pointing to the Macron Stadium, despite it changing sponsors 2 years ago and about to change sponsors again.

[Chris5156]

Those will be for a while as National Highways will be responsible for replacing them and that requires them and LCC to engage in what I can guarantee will be extremely protracted and expensive negotiating episodes instead of someone JFDI and putting in replacement signs.

NH still haven't agreed to have Bolton replace the signs pointing to the Macron Stadium, despite it changing sponsors 2 years ago and about to change sponsors again.

ISTR the M56 still has no indication that the A555 exists, despite it linking to the airport Spur some years ago now, and probably for the same reason.

[Phil]

Those will be for a while as National Highways will be responsible for replacing them and that requires them and LCC to engage in what I can guarantee will be extremely protracted and expensive negotiating episodes instead of someone JFDI and putting in replacement signs.

NH still haven't agreed to have Bolton replace the signs pointing to the Macron Stadium, despite it changing sponsors 2 years ago and about to change sponsors again.

ISTR the M56 still has no indication that the A555 exists, despite it linking to the airport Spur some years ago now, and probably for the same reason.

Might that not be deliberate?

IIRC the A55 was sold as an airport access road and local distributor and not a way for people to skip the M56 / M60 to get to or from Stockport say.

[Big L]

…
NH still haven't agreed to have Bolton replace the signs pointing to the Macron Stadium, despite it changing sponsors 2 years ago and about to change sponsors again.

They want new signs? Tough Sheet!

[AAndy]

I've just put a video up of the A6070 (A601M) filmed in April. see: https://youtu.be/4XbD2SPDKzk

[Nathan_A_RF]

Christ the signage is appallingly mismatched

[Berk]

Has anyone not noticed the mismatch between LCC’s position that the A6070 must be open to non-motorised users, and its equal insistence that the B6601 must also be TRO’d to exclude peds and cyclists.

Surely they’ve got this completely the wrong way round?? Shouldn’t peds and cyclists be using the A6 northbound?? And if the southbound road needs an exclusion on it because it connects to a motorway, shouldn’t it have been classified as an A-road when it was downgraded??

Not that that makes a material difference, but it sends a message of sorts.

[Bryn666]

Has anyone not noticed the mismatch between LCC’s position that the A6070 must be open to non-motorised users, and its equal insistence that the B6601 must also be TRO’d to exclude peds and cyclists.

Surely they’ve got this completely the wrong way round?? Shouldn’t peds and cyclists be using the A6 northbound?? And if the southbound road needs an exclusion on it because it connects to a motorway, shouldn’t it have been classified as an A-road when it was downgraded??

Not that that makes a material difference, but it sends a message of sorts.

The southern section has a parallel cycle route that serves the Porsche development, therefore there is no need to cycle on the main carriageway. The northern section is badly signed but if the hard shoulders etc are to be removed and not replaced with active travel infrastructure then there will be a TRO applied to that before long as a safety audit will hit the roof.

[roadphotos]

The former A601(M) is now shown as the A6070 on the latest OS online mapping although it also shows the road between the M6 and Lancaster as the A683 when it's actually the A589.

[solocle]

Has anyone not noticed the mismatch between LCC’s position that the A6070 must be open to non-motorised users, and its equal insistence that the B6601 must also be TRO’d to exclude peds and cyclists.

Surely they’ve got this completely the wrong way round?? Shouldn’t peds and cyclists be using the A6 northbound?? And if the southbound road needs an exclusion on it because it connects to a motorway, shouldn’t it have been classified as an A-road when it was downgraded??

Not that that makes a material difference, but it sends a message of sorts.

I did actually question it when they made that TRO permanent, the maps didn't show the cycle route, and then there was the A6070 in the wings.

Basically their position with the B6601 was that it made no sense to allow cyclists onto it when it led to a roundabout with two motorways, and the only legal route to go back the way you came.

Although Leicestershire seem to take a different view with the A5460: