Most important non-trunk road?

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pjr10th
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Most important non-trunk road?

Post by pjr10th »

What do you think is the most important non-trunk road in the UK and in each country of the UK?
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solocle
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Re: Most important non-trunk road?

Post by solocle »

The A406 North Circular is an obvious candidate.
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jackal
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Re: Most important non-trunk road?

Post by jackal »

Also various radials in London like the A40. The A10 and A127 aren't trunk in or out of London. The A130 is worth a mention.

A weird deadzone with good roads but none trunked is between the M56 and M57 around Runcorn and Widnes.

And we mustn't forget the eastern end of the M65 for Bryn ;)
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Re: Most important non-trunk road?

Post by trickstat »

To be eligible does a route number have to be non-trunk for the whole of it's length?
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Re: Most important non-trunk road?

Post by Bryn666 »

jackal wrote: Wed Apr 21, 2021 22:36 Also various radials in London like the A40. The A10 and A127 aren't trunk in or out of London. The A130 is worth a mention.

A weird deadzone with good roads but none trunked is between the M56 and M57 around Runcorn and Widnes.

And we mustn't forget the eastern end of the M65 for Bryn ;)
Unfortunately the eastern end of the M65 really is just a commuter road. Not much is heading for the Pennines on it. Possibly the greatest motorway dead end in Europe though :lol:
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Re: Most important non-trunk road?

Post by wrinkly »

M62 west of M57?
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Re: Most important non-trunk road?

Post by RichardA35 »

A38(M)
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Re: Most important non-trunk road?

Post by KeithW »

I would suggest the A16 from Peterborough to Grimsby. It is a major route for east Lincolnshire serving Spalding, Boston, Louth, Grimsby and Immingham. Even a modest improvement would greatly benefit Lincolnshire which is very poorly served by roads. It was certainly trunk at one time as its as shown as such on the 7th series OS maps.
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Re: Most important non-trunk road?

Post by jervi »

First two that I can immediately think of is the A17 & A16

The A24 could also be a trunk road along with the A280, however again there is already a trunk alternative

I guess you could include parts of the North Circular, however there is already a trunk route alternative
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Re: Most important non-trunk road?

Post by Scratchwood »

jackal wrote: Wed Apr 21, 2021 22:36 Also various radials in London like the A40. The A10 and A127 aren't trunk in or out of London. The A130 is worth a mention.
Or indeed the A13 (other than the small section between the M25 and Tilbury)

The A41 always struck me as a decent and fairly important road between the M25 and Aylesbury, but was detrunked 20 years ago
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jackal
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Re: Most important non-trunk road?

Post by jackal »

Scratchwood wrote: Thu Apr 22, 2021 10:24
jackal wrote: Wed Apr 21, 2021 22:36 Also various radials in London like the A40. The A10 and A127 aren't trunk in or out of London. The A130 is worth a mention.
Or indeed the A13 (other than the small section between the M25 and Tilbury)

The A41 always struck me as a decent and fairly important road between the M25 and Aylesbury, but was detrunked 20 years ago
Yes, there's a real proliferation of non-trunk grade separated roads in that part of the country.

When the LTC opens the non-trunk A13 and A130 will form a de facto outer bypass of the M25, which will be a bit weird given the local authority could insert development roundabouts, bus lanes or punitive speed limits. Essex tend to be one of the more rational CCs when it comes to roads but a nationally important route shouldn't rely on LA goodwill.

The RIS2 doc mentioned trunking "the A13/A1014 from the end of the trunked A13 through to the recently-opened London Gateway Port", though I've heard nothing since. Maybe there is some small chance that they'll actually extend along the A13 and A130 when the LTC opens.
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Re: Most important non-trunk road?

Post by KeithW »

Scratchwood wrote: Thu Apr 22, 2021 10:24 Or indeed the A13 (other than the small section between the M25 and Tilbury)
The A41 always struck me as a decent and fairly important road between the M25 and Aylesbury, but was detrunked 20 years ago

That is because before the M40 fully opened the A41 was one of the better routes from west London to Oxford and on to Birmingham. I used it many times in the 1980's. I believe it was detrunked to encourage traffic to use the M40.
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Re: Most important non-trunk road?

Post by Chris Bertram »

KeithW wrote: Thu Apr 22, 2021 15:19
Scratchwood wrote: Thu Apr 22, 2021 10:24 Or indeed the A13 (other than the small section between the M25 and Tilbury)
The A41 always struck me as a decent and fairly important road between the M25 and Aylesbury, but was detrunked 20 years ago

That is because before the M40 fully opened the A41 was one of the better routes from west London to Oxford and on to Birmingham. I used it many times in the 1980's. I believe it was detrunked to encourage traffic to use the M40.
I doubt that you'd have used it to Oxford, the M40 to Wheatley/A40 beyond that served that purpose. But as a route to Banbury/Warwick/Solihull and then Birmingham quite possibly, the main bottleneck being Aynho where the road was pretty much S1 and inadequate for the traffic it was expected to take (it's still the same standard but the road is now B4100 and much, much quieter).
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Re: Most important non-trunk road?

Post by Chris5156 »

KeithW wrote: Thu Apr 22, 2021 15:19That is because before the M40 fully opened the A41 was one of the better routes from west London to Oxford and on to Birmingham. I used it many times in the 1980's. I believe it was detrunked to encourage traffic to use the M40.
I'm not sure that was the aim of the detrunking. Its status as trunk or non-trunk is invisible to drivers. There's also the consideration that the expressway from the M25 to Tring was opened in 1993, two years after the M40, and the road then remained trunk until about 1999.
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Re: Most important non-trunk road?

Post by Bryn666 »

Chris5156 wrote: Thu Apr 22, 2021 17:16
KeithW wrote: Thu Apr 22, 2021 15:19That is because before the M40 fully opened the A41 was one of the better routes from west London to Oxford and on to Birmingham. I used it many times in the 1980's. I believe it was detrunked to encourage traffic to use the M40.
I'm not sure that was the aim of the detrunking. Its status as trunk or non-trunk is invisible to drivers. There's also the consideration that the expressway from the M25 to Tring was opened in 1993, two years after the M40, and the road then remained trunk until about 1999.
Detrunking the A41 was purely about making the then Highways Agency's life easier by removing the Aylesbury bypass question. I thought it was detrunked once Aston Clinton was bypassed in 2003, though, as Herts wouldn't take it on without this completed?
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Re: Most important non-trunk road?

Post by Chris5156 »

Bryn666 wrote: Thu Apr 22, 2021 17:21I thought it was detrunked once Aston Clinton was bypassed in 2003, though, as Herts wouldn't take it on without this completed?
You're right, yes. It was on the list of roads to be detrunked as part of the 1998 New Deal for Trunk Roads, but it was one of the small number that was then delayed for several years because the local authority wouldn't accept it. In the A41's case it was the Aston Clinton Bypass that had to be built as a condition of detrunking; the other two I can recall going through similar processes were the A63 (where the Selby Bypass had to be built) and the A500 (with the Hough and Shavington Improvement).
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Re: Most important non-trunk road?

Post by Chris56000 »

Hi!

A299 Thanet Way?

The dualling of this by Kent County Council was certainly a very large and ambitious scheme for a local authority, mostly grade–separated apart from at its eastern end from St. Nicholas–At–Wade onwards to Ramsgate, with one dual–carriageway and one single–carriageway tunnel!

Next most important in my opinion is the A10 from the M25 to Puckeridge, originally Trunk but now under the remit of Herts. County Council.

The third most important and vital non–trunk scheme is the A505 Baldock Bypass, again incorporating a short tunnel and one GSJ!

Fourth has to be the A683 Bay Gateway!

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Re: Most important non-trunk road?

Post by Uncle Buck »

A39 in Cornwall? A811, A977/A91, and A697?

EDIT: or the A350?
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Re: Most important non-trunk road?

Post by Ben302 »

A289 Medway Towns Northern Relief Road, 20 years ago was touted as the biggest non-trunk project in the country by the local media. The same media a few years before were touting it as the biggest white-elephant in the country as the sections either side of the Medway Tunnel had yet to be built. The Tunnel had been built and opened 4 years before the rest of the route. 20 years on the A289 has really benefitted the Medway Towns with industrial estates and new developments springing up along the route and making it easier to get to the A2/M2 corridor.
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Re: Most important non-trunk road?

Post by ForestChav »

Chris Bertram wrote: Thu Apr 22, 2021 17:11
KeithW wrote: Thu Apr 22, 2021 15:19
Scratchwood wrote: Thu Apr 22, 2021 10:24 Or indeed the A13 (other than the small section between the M25 and Tilbury)
The A41 always struck me as a decent and fairly important road between the M25 and Aylesbury, but was detrunked 20 years ago

That is because before the M40 fully opened the A41 was one of the better routes from west London to Oxford and on to Birmingham. I used it many times in the 1980's. I believe it was detrunked to encourage traffic to use the M40.
I doubt that you'd have used it to Oxford, the M40 to Wheatley/A40 beyond that served that purpose. But as a route to Banbury/Warwick/Solihull and then Birmingham quite possibly, the main bottleneck being Aynho where the road was pretty much S1 and inadequate for the traffic it was expected to take (it's still the same standard but the road is now B4100 and much, much quieter).
Yes, I remember that bit is a bit, uh B road ish, went back that way to Banbury and the M40 for a change (because I find the M40 dull) when I'd been to Bicester to look at a digital practice organ (the Viscount showroom is there).

Now the more central bit further West I can understand, as it's more into the village and it's built up and narrowed a fair deal by parking (not significantly different to any road through a decent sized village like the A612 through Southwell), but this bit doesn't make much sense to me; it's straight, but the carriageway has no central markings, and only just appears wide enough to get two cars through let alone it actually being like that as the A41. There does seem to be plenty of space on either side to widen it if they wanted to, but not sure they would need or want to now, which leads me to consider that it might have been narrowed a bit as a form of traffic calming after it was an A-road?

Saying that, the B645 through Kimbolton appears (from GSV, I've never driven it) much hairier, and there's also that little track which was originally the A459...
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