Longest distance by road between two adjacent residential roads?

[wallmeerkat]

There's a housing development built on a former industrial site outside Lydney that is only accessible via the bypass. See here.

It is geographically close to the urban area, but to drive between the estate and the town centre you need to use the bypass to access the town from one end or the other.

The roundabout is an aberration in itself. When it first opened it had no signage of any description on it; no "new road layout" sign, no "roundabout" sign, no directional signage, and the speed limit was still NSL.... which gave me an interesting experience one night when I drove the road I'd driven many times before without knowing they'd changed it since my last visit.

Did they close off Cambourne Place? GSV slightly confusing as it just ends at an industrial unit. Satellite seems to show that there is a 'priority' traffic calming measure. At the very least there is a bus stop on the boulevard so buses should be able to access the road?

[Owain]

There's a housing development built on a former industrial site outside Lydney that is only accessible via the bypass. See here.

It is geographically close to the urban area, but to drive between the estate and the town centre you need to use the bypass to access the town from one end or the other.

The roundabout is an aberration in itself. When it first opened it had no signage of any description on it; no "new road layout" sign, no "roundabout" sign, no directional signage, and the speed limit was still NSL.... which gave me an interesting experience one night when I drove the road I'd driven many times before without knowing they'd changed it since my last visit.

Did they close off Cambourne Place? GSV slightly confusing as it just ends at an industrial unit. Satellite seems to show that there is a 'priority' traffic calming measure. At the very least there is a bus stop on the boulevard so buses should be able to access the road?

I assume you're referring to to this. It doesn't look driveable to me, although I haven't actually tried....

[wallmeerkat]

There's a housing development built on a former industrial site outside Lydney that is only accessible via the bypass. See here.

It is geographically close to the urban area, but to drive between the estate and the town centre you need to use the bypass to access the town from one end or the other.

The roundabout is an aberration in itself. When it first opened it had no signage of any description on it; no "new road layout" sign, no "roundabout" sign, no directional signage, and the speed limit was still NSL.... which gave me an interesting experience one night when I drove the road I'd driven many times before without knowing they'd changed it since my last visit.

Did they close off Cambourne Place? GSV slightly confusing as it just ends at an industrial unit. Satellite seems to show that there is a 'priority' traffic calming measure. At the very least there is a bus stop on the boulevard so buses should be able to access the road?

I assume you're referring to to this. It doesn't look driveable to me, although I haven't actually tried....

Google Earth 2018 shows 'Bus and cycle only' markings on the road, and a bus gate at the pinch point. You can see the 2021 imagery where this was removed from the road https://www.google.com/maps/place/Lydne ... ?entry=ttu presumably because access is still required to the industrial unit.

Google Earth 2020 shows it removed but there isn't as much foliage you can still make out 'Bus Gate'

The confusion arose as Cambourne Place up to about 2009ish was just an access lane to a factory, as is shown in old Street View from that end. https://www.google.com/maps/@51.7196808 ... ?entry=ttu

TL;DR bus gate, Owain is right in that the development would need to use the bypass

[Owain]

Did they close off Cambourne Place? GSV slightly confusing as it just ends at an industrial unit. Satellite seems to show that there is a 'priority' traffic calming measure. At the very least there is a bus stop on the boulevard so buses should be able to access the road?

I assume you're referring to to this. It doesn't look driveable to me, although I haven't actually tried....

Google Earth 2018 shows 'Bus and cycle only' markings on the road, and a bus gate at the pinch point. You can see the 2021 imagery where this was removed from the road https://www.google.com/maps/place/Lydne ... ?entry=ttu presumably because access is still required to the industrial unit.

Google Earth 2020 shows it removed but there isn't as much foliage you can still make out 'Bus Gate'

The confusion arose as Cambourne Place up to about 2009ish was just an access lane to a factory, as is shown in old Street View from that end. https://www.google.com/maps/@51.7196808 ... ?entry=ttu

TL;DR bus gate, Owain is right in that the development would need to use the bypass

To be fair, from childhood (pre-bypass) I'd always wondered where that road from the town centre went, and the industrial unit turns out to be the answer!

When they built the bypass, the industrial unit was given access to that road via a T-junction of which you can see the remnants on the satellite images - it's just west of the new (and awful) roundabout, which was built much later when the new-build houses went up.

For those who like unused future-proofing, pan west further to the roundabout by the railway station, and you'll see an arm that was built with that original bypass, but never connected to anything. I think this was intended to provide more direct access to the town centre, but there was a lot of opposition due to the location of the rugby ground and boating lake.

[wallmeerkat]

I assume you're referring to to this. It doesn't look driveable to me, although I haven't actually tried....

Google Earth 2018 shows 'Bus and cycle only' markings on the road, and a bus gate at the pinch point. You can see the 2021 imagery where this was removed from the road https://www.google.com/maps/place/Lydne ... ?entry=ttu presumably because access is still required to the industrial unit.

Google Earth 2020 shows it removed but there isn't as much foliage you can still make out 'Bus Gate'

The confusion arose as Cambourne Place up to about 2009ish was just an access lane to a factory, as is shown in old Street View from that end. https://www.google.com/maps/@51.7196808 ... ?entry=ttu

TL;DR bus gate, Owain is right in that the development would need to use the bypass

To be fair, from childhood (pre-bypass) I'd always wondered where that road from the town centre went, and the industrial unit turns out to be the answer!

When they built the bypass, the industrial unit was given access to that road via a T-junction of which you can see the remnants on the satellite images - it's just west of the new (and awful) roundabout, which was built much later when the new-build houses went up.

For those who like unused future-proofing, pan west further to the roundabout by the railway station, and you'll see an arm that was built with that original bypass, but never connected to anything. I think this was intended to provide more direct access to the town centre, but there was a lot of opposition due to the location of the rugby ground and boating lake.

I also like how either side of the town there are pointlessly brief 100 metre stretches of dualling

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Lydne ... ?entry=ttu

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Lydne ... ?entry=ttu

[Owain]

Google Earth 2018 shows 'Bus and cycle only' markings on the road, and a bus gate at the pinch point. You can see the 2021 imagery where this was removed from the road https://www.google.com/maps/place/Lydne ... ?entry=ttu presumably because access is still required to the industrial unit.

Google Earth 2020 shows it removed but there isn't as much foliage you can still make out 'Bus Gate'

The confusion arose as Cambourne Place up to about 2009ish was just an access lane to a factory, as is shown in old Street View from that end. https://www.google.com/maps/@51.7196808 ... ?entry=ttu

TL;DR bus gate, Owain is right in that the development would need to use the bypass

To be fair, from childhood (pre-bypass) I'd always wondered where that road from the town centre went, and the industrial unit turns out to be the answer!

When they built the bypass, the industrial unit was given access to that road via a T-junction of which you can see the remnants on the satellite images - it's just west of the new (and awful) roundabout, which was built much later when the new-build houses went up.

For those who like unused future-proofing, pan west further to the roundabout by the railway station, and you'll see an arm that was built with that original bypass, but never connected to anything. I think this was intended to provide more direct access to the town centre, but there was a lot of opposition due to the location of the rugby ground and boating lake.

I also like how either side of the town there are pointlessly brief 100 metre stretches of dualling

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Lydne ... ?entry=ttu

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Lydne ... ?entry=ttu

I'm not sure those are the right links!

The A48 does have eight stretches of dual carriageway between Gloucester and Chepstow, some more useful than others!

They are very old stretches of road, and the shortest have had at least one side hatched out.

[6637]

If we're allowing bus gates then this less than 100m gap requires a 4.4km/2.7mi diversion by all other motor vehicles (and I don't think there are actually any buses that use this route at the moment).

At the Claydon bus gate on the other side of Ipswich it's 3.8mls from one side to the other for non-buses.

In Bedford, Greenkeepers Road to Old Ford End Road is 4.9 miles for non-buses.

[Vierwielen]

I noticed today that near Farnborough, Darby Close and Warbler Road (GU17 9FF) run onto each other, separated only by a fence, and it is possible to walk from one to the other in seconds, but by road the shortest journey from one to the other comes out at 2.9 miles.

Is there anywhere that tops that?

Was Darby Road originally a residential road? I know that the site was occupied by Sun Microsystems who have since moved on, probably making a mint by selling the site for housing.

[M19]

Luke’s Lane, Hebburn - a peripheral local authority built “radburn” in the 70s which, linked by a footpath cycleway across a watercourse from the 1930s geometrically planned Primrose estate in Jarrow.

It’s over two miles by car. You’d be brave to take a car into Luke’s Lane in the first place - it’s an anthropologists Safari park.

[Kinitawowi]

Tennyson Avenue in Kings Lynn is currently closed for roadworks. The distance between the residential Gaywood Road and Tennyson Road along it is about a third of a mile; Norfolk County Council's preferred diversion route is more than ten.

[wallmeerkat]

Tennyson Avenue in Kings Lynn is currently closed for roadworks. The distance between the residential Gaywood Road and Tennyson Road along it is about a third of a mile; Norfolk County Council's preferred diversion route is more than ten.

Not quite as bad as that but in NI the Ballygowan Road has been closed between Moneyreagh and Maryland, about a mile - https://www.google.com/maps/dir/54.5366 ... ?entry=ttu

Diversion is 7 miles https://www.google.com/maps/dir/54.5327 ... ?entry=ttu

[Vierwielen]

I noticed today that near Farnborough, Darby Close and Warbler Road (GU17 9FF) run onto each other, separated only by a fence, and it is possible to walk from one to the other in seconds, but by road the shortest journey from one to the other comes out at 2.9 miles.

Is there anywhere that tops that?

The distance between 15 Dartford Rise and Wright Avenue on the same estate is about 200 metres longer! The footpath in the middle distance of this picture links the two. Nearby this footpath must take the cake for shortness of footpath in relation to the road.

[6637]

I wonder how many extra emissions are caused by vehicles having to drive miles longer along circuitous routes whenever people living in areas like that return to their homes.

[FosseWay]

I wonder how many extra emissions are caused by vehicles having to drive miles longer along circuitous routes whenever people living in areas like that return to their homes.

In practice, (a) not much and (b) lost in other noise, I suspect.

I looked into this for where I live just as a point of interest relating to how quickly the fire brigade could get to me, compared to my neighbours on a different road 50 metres away. If they drove from the fire station to the neighbours and then down a fictional extension to my road, they would cover 8.3 km in 11 minutes (according to Google Maps, which presumes they'd keep to the speed limit). In reality they'd have to drive the same way I would in my own car, which would involve 10.3 km in 12 minutes.

That difference of 2 km but only 1 minute applies to all journeys to mine from anywhere north or east of here. From the south, the obvious current route would still be the shortest distance even if you could drive between cul-de-sacs. (Just in case anyone's wondering why I didn't bother with the west - from there you'd need a boat.) Anywhere I'm likely to drive to is going to be at least as far away as the fire station, and generally further. Even for the fire station, the difference in time taken is within the margin of difference caused by other things - my driving style, whether I have to wait at junctions, whether there happens to be a person on a particular crossing, whatever. Likewise how much petrol I use - again, driving style, but also ambient temperature and what I'm carrying.

As I mentioned earlier in this thread, it's about 50 metres up the path from mine to my neighbour's, but 4.5 km driving all the way round. Yes, the emissions from doing the latter compared to driving 50 metres would be notably higher. But at no point am I going to need to do this, so it's an irrelevant observation. And for well-designed LTNs, the recommended/only possible route for vehicles will specifically route people along larger roads with higher average speeds and less stop-start, which tends to promote better fuel consumption, with only the bare minimum of driving at sub-20 mph over humps.

[6637]

Found one in Peterborough, 5.7 miles including a motorway! https://www.google.co.uk/maps/dir/52.52 ... ?entry=ttu

[BigBazz]

Found one in Peterborough, 5.7 miles including a motorway! https://www.google.co.uk/maps/dir/52.52 ... ?entry=ttu

Doesn't meet the OP's criteria, as only one of the two is residential. The other is in an industrial estate.

[Vierwielen]

This footbridge over a railway line links two rsidential areas which arfe about 1.7 km by car. IWould this count as a contender (albeit a poor contender because thre are already a number of examples with much longer distances).

[multiraider2]

I didn't post here previously and it won't win this overall, but thinking about my birth town and a new development on the site of the St Charles Centre, means the neighbours can shake hands over the fence but it's 1.4 miles by shortest route if they want to take the car.