D1 Motorways

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danfw194
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D1 Motorways

Post by danfw194 »

I randomly came across the A645 Autoroute in France whilst perusing Google Maps, a fully D1 autoroute, opened in 2004. I know (anecdotally at least) that the French do have a few D1's knocking about, but I never knew they'd actually built/classified one as an autoroute. Anyone else find that a bit strange? The road is essentially a bypass for a couple of small towns, it doesn't seem like a particularly important link in the overall network to be deserving of Autoroute status. I also find it a bit strange that they didn't allow for it to be accessed from the D817 where it intersects.

Are there any other stretches of D1 Motorway around? I find it hard to believe that there'll be many, if any, fully D1 from start-to-finish motorways like this, but I stand to be corrected.
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Re: D1 Motorways

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danfw194 wrote: Thu Jul 21, 2022 14:48 I randomly came across the A645 Autoroute in France whilst perusing Google Maps, a fully D1 autoroute, opened in 2004. I know (anecdotally at least) that the French do have a few D1's knocking about, but I never knew they'd actually built/classified one as an autoroute. Anyone else find that a bit strange? The road is essentially a bypass for a couple of small towns, it doesn't seem like a particularly important link in the overall network to be deserving of Autoroute status. I also find it a bit strange that they didn't allow for it to be accessed from the D817 where it intersects.

Are there any other stretches of D1 Motorway around? I find it hard to believe that there'll be many, if any, fully D1 from start-to-finish motorways like this, but I stand to be corrected.
Historically it would've just been built as an S2 motorway. France has done this numerous times when traffic flows are low and widened the roads later. The most egregious example was the A660 which originally was S2 with flat roundabouts, but going even further back the eastern end of the A8 was originally single carriageway.
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exiled
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Re: D1 Motorways

Post by exiled »

Bryn666 wrote: Thu Jul 21, 2022 14:53
danfw194 wrote: Thu Jul 21, 2022 14:48 I randomly came across the A645 Autoroute in France whilst perusing Google Maps, a fully D1 autoroute, opened in 2004. I know (anecdotally at least) that the French do have a few D1's knocking about, but I never knew they'd actually built/classified one as an autoroute. Anyone else find that a bit strange? The road is essentially a bypass for a couple of small towns, it doesn't seem like a particularly important link in the overall network to be deserving of Autoroute status. I also find it a bit strange that they didn't allow for it to be accessed from the D817 where it intersects.

Are there any other stretches of D1 Motorway around? I find it hard to believe that there'll be many, if any, fully D1 from start-to-finish motorways like this, but I stand to be corrected.
Historically it would've just been built as an S2 motorway. France has done this numerous times when traffic flows are low and widened the roads later. The most egregious example was the A660 which originally was S2 with flat roundabouts, but going even further back the eastern end of the A8 was originally single carriageway.
That section also feels like a glorified sliproad, in that it only serves the A64 to connect it to the local roads. This section is numbered the A13 but is the same, a S2 motorway to ling the local roads to the A13 'Normandie' proper https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@49.34984 ... 384!8i8192
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Re: D1 Motorways

Post by Bryn666 »

exiled wrote: Thu Jul 21, 2022 19:56
Bryn666 wrote: Thu Jul 21, 2022 14:53
danfw194 wrote: Thu Jul 21, 2022 14:48 I randomly came across the A645 Autoroute in France whilst perusing Google Maps, a fully D1 autoroute, opened in 2004. I know (anecdotally at least) that the French do have a few D1's knocking about, but I never knew they'd actually built/classified one as an autoroute. Anyone else find that a bit strange? The road is essentially a bypass for a couple of small towns, it doesn't seem like a particularly important link in the overall network to be deserving of Autoroute status. I also find it a bit strange that they didn't allow for it to be accessed from the D817 where it intersects.

Are there any other stretches of D1 Motorway around? I find it hard to believe that there'll be many, if any, fully D1 from start-to-finish motorways like this, but I stand to be corrected.
Historically it would've just been built as an S2 motorway. France has done this numerous times when traffic flows are low and widened the roads later. The most egregious example was the A660 which originally was S2 with flat roundabouts, but going even further back the eastern end of the A8 was originally single carriageway.
That section also feels like a glorified sliproad, in that it only serves the A64 to connect it to the local roads. This section is numbered the A13 but is the same, a S2 motorway to ling the local roads to the A13 'Normandie' proper https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@49.34984 ... 384!8i8192
Further east down the A13 is the delightful A13b, which opened as an S3 motorway and was only repainted in 2008.
Bryn
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Re: D1 Motorways

Post by exiled »

Bryn666 wrote: Thu Jul 21, 2022 20:52
exiled wrote: Thu Jul 21, 2022 19:56
Bryn666 wrote: Thu Jul 21, 2022 14:53

Historically it would've just been built as an S2 motorway. France has done this numerous times when traffic flows are low and widened the roads later. The most egregious example was the A660 which originally was S2 with flat roundabouts, but going even further back the eastern end of the A8 was originally single carriageway.
That section also feels like a glorified sliproad, in that it only serves the A64 to connect it to the local roads. This section is numbered the A13 but is the same, a S2 motorway to ling the local roads to the A13 'Normandie' proper https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@49.34984 ... 384!8i8192
Further east down the A13 is the delightful A13b, which opened as an S3 motorway and was only repainted in 2008.
Yup. Aren't there also S2 motorways in Switzerland as well?
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Re: D1 Motorways

Post by Bryn666 »

exiled wrote: Thu Jul 21, 2022 21:17
Bryn666 wrote: Thu Jul 21, 2022 20:52
exiled wrote: Thu Jul 21, 2022 19:56

That section also feels like a glorified sliproad, in that it only serves the A64 to connect it to the local roads. This section is numbered the A13 but is the same, a S2 motorway to ling the local roads to the A13 'Normandie' proper https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@49.34984 ... 384!8i8192
Further east down the A13 is the delightful A13b, which opened as an S3 motorway and was only repainted in 2008.
Yup. Aren't there also S2 motorways in Switzerland as well?
Yes, mainly driven by topography concerns.
Bryn
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Re: D1 Motorways

Post by crazyknightsfan »

Sunshine Motorway in QLD, Australia, was opened in the 1990s as S2 with some D1 sections. Most of it has been widened and duplicated but there are still sections of D1 and S2 with wide centreline treatment.
https://goo.gl/maps/wmd9jF8WXt2tDzYW8
https://goo.gl/maps/YNsawqjvf6hgpRfL8
bart
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Re: D1 Motorways

Post by bart »

I-93/US-3 multiplex through Franconia Notch in northern New Hampshire.

https://goo.gl/maps/dGnRtxGvuZ9MUvHy5
Bristol
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Re: D1 Motorways

Post by Bristol »

In Switzerland, the S2 "motorways" are mostly "motorroads" (Autostrassen), they have the happy car sign instead of the chopsticks one and speed limits are slightly different.

The St Gotthard tunnel for example changes from motorway to motorroad for the tunnel itself, as the tunnel is S2, as does the San Bernadino.

This, however, is a Swiss D1 motorway at least until around Esslingen: https://www.google.com/maps/@47.3272076 ... 384!8i8192
WHBM
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Re: D1 Motorways

Post by WHBM »

In the USA, a very substantial length of Interstate 70 across the southern Utah desert, where there had been no road before, was built in the 1960s as S2. It was about 30 years later that it was finally dualled. When originally done traffic volumes were very low, the road was pretty straight and level, and although the Federal government paid for much of the Interstate cost, they didn't pay for it all, and Utah, notably poor in those times, made a significant saving. The land the road runs through is free range desert, essentially free.
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Re: D1 Motorways

Post by Peter Freeman »

crazyknightsfan wrote: Mon Jul 25, 2022 04:47 Sunshine Motorway in QLD, Australia, was opened in the 1990s as S2 with some D1 sections. Most of it has been widened and duplicated but there are still sections of D1 and S2 with wide centreline treatment.
https://goo.gl/maps/wmd9jF8WXt2tDzYW8
https://goo.gl/maps/YNsawqjvf6hgpRfL8
Conversion to decent motorway standard is now imminent, though I suspect the most northerly part towards Noosa will remain S2 for a while longer. Where the eastbound D1 part receives an on-ramp, widening to D2 shortly before an exit, there's a very unusual 'weaving' sign -
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@-26.6972 ... 384!8i8192
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Re: D1 Motorways

Post by Chris5156 »

Bristol wrote: Wed Jul 27, 2022 13:10 In Switzerland, the S2 "motorways" are mostly "motorroads" (Autostrassen), they have the happy car sign instead of the chopsticks one and speed limits are slightly different.

The St Gotthard tunnel for example changes from motorway to motorroad for the tunnel itself, as the tunnel is S2, as does the San Bernadino.

This, however, is a Swiss D1 motorway at least until around Esslingen: https://www.google.com/maps/@47.3272076 ... 384!8i8192
Switzerland is notable for the fact that its autostrassen are considered part of the motorway network, and appear as such on road signs and maps. Other countries that have both motorways and motor roads tend to group motor roads separately - eg in France where they are N or D roads with non-motorway sign colours, or Spain, Austria and Poland where they have different letter prefixes on road numbers.
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Re: D1 Motorways

Post by Chris56000 »

This, however, is a Swiss D1 motorway at least until around Esslingen:

https://www.google.com/maps/@47.3272076 ... 384!8i8192
It's signed as "Happy car Expressway" and not as "Autobahnen".

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