Unbuilt Roads that would be useful today.

[Ianno87]

..... and its as flat as a pancake.

*Cough* E-Bikes *Cough*

(Cheaper than owning a car)

 

[PTR 444]

A complete dual carriageway bypass of the Bournemouth Christchurch and Poole conurbation.

Starting from the Mannings Heath roundabout on the A3049 then looping round Bearwood, Kinson and Bournemouth Airport before linking up with the existing A35 Christchurch bypass.

 

[GrimsbyPacer]

Once read a plan about an East Coast Motorway from the Humber Bridge to the M11, that might of been useful for freight,

 

[Acfb]

An A6 High Lane and Disley bypass would be very useful but I doubt that will ever happen.

 

[Bletchleyite]

The Bletchley Southern Bypass. Traffic on the A421 (H8 Standing Way) in MK is getting awful.

Real shame the MK plan didn't include grade-separated dual carriageways for the A421 and 422 as per the A5 - too late now!

Nothing like that where I come from in the countryside. There are some cyclepaths here in Birmingham, but I haven't been able to try them as there's nowhere to store a bike where I currently live (plus my bike was stolen from my university accommodation last year! )

Considered a Brompton?

An A6 High Lane and Disley bypass would be very useful but I doubt that will ever happen.

Round those parts (ish), the Mottram-in-Longdendale Bypass continues to be needed as it has been for 30+ years. I half recall there's been some progress there, finally.

I would personally would have found it useful if the M58 was completed to meet the M61 near Bolton as was originally planned.

The extensions on both ends of the M57 (for which the continuation stub is still visible) would also be useful, though the Switch Island end has now been built as a substantially downgraded, mostly single carriageway A road.

 

[Alfonso]

Wouldn't that force some to drive several miles further to reach their destinations? I'm not sure that would reduce climate change or road maintenance.

Might well do, and might make some local journeys more attractive by bike/ebike/on foot. It won't reduce climate change but might be part of adaptation if bridges need to be rebuilt to allow for more peaky river flows

 

[ABB125]

Considered a Brompton?

To be perfectly honest, I don't really need a bike up here. If I'm going to the city centre, I take the train; otherwise I walk. The main benefit of me having a bike would be speed, but ultimately that's not the most important consideration in the world.

The extensions on both ends of the M57 (for which the continuation stub is still visible) would also be useful, though the Switch Island end has now been built as a substantially downgraded, mostly single carriageway A road.

A Switch Island bypass would be quite useful. It's a brilliant example of everything wrong with British traffic planning.

 

[Mikey C]

The East London river crossing, connecting the A406 North Circular with the A2

I can understand why it didn't happen - to connect with the A2 would have required unacceptable damage to Oxleas Wood, and stopping short would have dumped all the traffic on local roads - but it would have been an incredibly useful connection, removing a lot of through traffic from the Blackwall tunnels and from the Bow area and removing the need for the Silvertown tunnels.

 

[ABB125]

The East London river crossing, connecting the A406 North Circular with the A2

I can understand why it didn't happen - to connect with the A2 would have required unacceptable damage to Oxleas Wood, and stopping short would have dumped all the traffic on local roads - but it would have been an incredibly useful connection, removing a lot of through traffic from the Blackwall tunnels and from the Bow area and removing the need for the Silvertown tunnels.

Surely they could still build it but connect to the A205 instead?


Apparently, there is a map in existence which shows the M40 being extended all the way to Warrington via the Birmingham Western Orbital and then running roughly parallel to the M6. If only!

 

[Dai Corner]

The East London river crossing, connecting the A406 North Circular with the A2

I can understand why it didn't happen - to connect with the A2 would have required unacceptable damage to Oxleas Wood, and stopping short would have dumped all the traffic on local roads - but it would have been an incredibly useful connection, removing a lot of through traffic from the Blackwall tunnels and from the Bow area and removing the need for the Silvertown tunnels.

Surely they could still build it but connect to the A205 instead?

Even though it is pretty long and is called the South Circular Road the A205 is really just a lot of local roads given a common name/number. Were there ever plans to make it a limited-access grade-separated dual carriageway like the A2 and A406?

 

[ABB125]

Even though it is pretty long and is called the South Circular Road the A205 is really just a lot of local roads given a common name/number. Were there ever plans to make it a limited-access grade-separated dual carriageway like the A2 and A406?

I don't think so - according to roads.org.uk the authorities decided it was "beyond help" and needed a completely new-build road for the southern section of Ringway 2, unlike the North Circular which was adapted to form the northern part of Ringway 2. https://roads.org.uk/ringways/ringway2/southern-section

 

[341o2]

New roads just exacerbate the problems of too much traffic. They never solve it.

Newbury bypass?

Bournemouth has an atrocious road network, a direct link between Purewell and Cooper Dean would take much traffic off Barrack Rd and Iford, but the council propose to make matters worse by narrowing the existing road to create a cyclepath on either side

 

[Grumpy Git]

Apparently, there is a map in existence which shows the M40 being extended all the way to Warrington via the Birmingham Western Orbital and then running roughly parallel to the M6. If only!

This is something the Germans excel at with (for example) the A5 / A67 parallel routes south of Frankfurt.

 

[ABB125]

Newbury bypass?

Mmmm, just look at all that lovely car-dependent new housing and retail parks etc that were built to "make use" of the capacity freed up by the bypass!

(For the avoidance of doubt, I'm being sarcastic - we shouldn't be building car-dependent development to fill up capacity released on old roads when a new one is built (or indeed building a new road specifically to "unlock" car-dependent development (cough cough Norwich Northern Development Road cough cough)).

This is something the Germans excel at with (for example) the A5 / A67 parallel routes south of Frankfurt.

Exactly (though in that specific case, the fact that both A5 and A67 turn onto each other at both ends annoys me! )

 

[EssexGonzo]

The “M12” from the M25 north would be rather useful to increase the through capacity of the congested A12 and relieve the M11 / A11.

 

[ABB125]

The “M12” from the M25 north would be rather useful to increase the through capacity of the congested A12 and relieve the M11 / A11.

It would. Though interestingly, once the missing bit of the A120 between Braintree and somewhere near Kelvedon on the A12 is built, it's likely that a good amount of traffic from Colchester and beyond will use that route to the M11 instead of the A12, especially of they're heading for (for example) the M4.

 

[Mikey C]

The “M12” from the M25 north would be rather useful to increase the through capacity of the congested A12 and relieve the M11 / A11.

I don't think it's massively missed, as the M11 and A13 both provide excellent alternatives from the A406 to the M25

As ever the problems are caused by inadequate junctions, such as the M25/A12 one which should be free flowing

 

[ABB125]

As ever the problems are caused by inadequate junctions, such as the M25/A12 one which should be free flowing

You'd have though by now that National Highways would know that. Oh wait, that assumes NH is a logical organisation which learns from best practice etc...

A prime example of this is the M25/A3 junction. Currently a 3-level roundabout with traffic lights, the preferred upgrade is... a slightly bigger 3-level roundabout with traffic lights. What an imaginative idea! It'll definitely solve all the problems...

 

[Mikey C]

You'd have though by now that National Highways would know that. Oh wait, that assumes NH is a logical organisation which learns from best practice etc...

A prime example of this is the M25/A3 junction. Currently a 3-level roundabout with traffic lights, the preferred upgrade is... a slightly bigger 3-level roundabout with traffic lights. What an imaginative idea! It'll definitely solve all the problems...

Given a massive pot on money to spend on roads, rebuilding junctions would be my priority, as there are so many bottlenecks in this country caused by terrible junctions, such as overloaded signalised roundabouts

 

[S&CLER]

To be perfectly honest, I don't really need a bike up here. If I'm going to the city centre, I take the train; otherwise I walk. The main benefit of me having a bike would be speed, but ultimately that's not the most important consideration in the world.

A Switch Island bypass would be quite useful. It's a brilliant example of everything wrong with British traffic planning.

A model of the proposed ultimate state of Switch Island went on show in Maghull library and others in the area back in the late 1960s or early 1970s. I saw it and remember that it was practically entirely segregated with flyovers, not the botched job we have ended up with. It took years to get the Brooms Cross Road link to Thornton built. Nowadays I can hardly believe that my friends and I occasionally braved the traffic to play in the old island on the A59 in the 1950s.
There was a scheme for an M59 to Preston, but I never saw a map of the planned route.

 

[snowball]

This map of a once-proposed ultimate layout at Switch Island was posted on SABRE by Steven:

File:Maghull interchange.jpg - Roader's Digest: The SABRE Wiki

www.sabre-roads.org.uk

 

[Busaholic]

I don't think so - according to roads.org.uk the authorities decided it was "beyond help" and needed a completely new-build road for the southern section of Ringway 2, unlike the North Circular which was adapted to form the northern part of Ringway 2. https://roads.org.uk/ringways/ringway2/southern-section

I lived very close to it for 18 years, including travelling a way along it everyday by bus for 7 years to school, which sat right on it. I remember no plans to do anything radical about it during that time or subsequently.

By the way, I think you made a typo in the first post. I lived in a few places in unsalubrious South Bristol for short periods, but most of them were a bit nearer to the M5 than the M6.

 

[NoRoute]

It was a shame they didn't build the M64 Stoke-Derby motorway, or do a better job of building the A50 to incorporate some of the better design elements from that scheme, like avoiding several roundabouts along the route which slow everything down and avoiding the awful design of how the A50 ends on the outskirts of Stoke, with the A500 then cutting through the conurbation to meet the M6 heading north.

Driving along that stretch of the A500 it feels like it's the last gasp of those road engineers who still believed the future was major roads cutting through every town and city, this huge monstrosity carving its way through the conurbation like a sort of road equivalent of a Berlin wall, cutting the area in two. I can't imagine it would ever get permission today but of course unfortunately it did and worse, they actually built it.

Details of the M64 Stoke to Derby Motorway which was never built

 

[Grumpy Git]

It was a shame they didn't build the M64 Stoke-Derby motorway, or do a better job of building the A50 to incorporate some of the better design elements from that scheme, like avoiding several roundabouts along the route which slow everything down and avoiding the awful design of how the A50 ends on the outskirts of Stoke, with the A500 then cutting through the conurbation to meet the M6 heading north.

Driving along that stretch of the A500 it feels like it's the last gasp of those road engineers who still believed the future was major roads cutting through every town and city, this huge monstrosity carving its way through the conurbation like a sort of road equivalent of a Berlin wall, cutting the area in two. I can't imagine it would ever get permission today but of course unfortunately it did and worse, they actually built it.

Details of the M64 Stoke to Derby Motorway which was never built

As a regular user I agree 100%. Heading west on any afternoon sees a queue approaching a mile long for the Sudbury roundabout, a total joke, much like the A14 being only 2 lanes.

 

[vlad]

The A500 was less carved through the conurbation than threaded through open fields and industrial dereliction - the only large-scale demolition was between what are now the A5007 and A52 - and given it runs parallel to the canal and the railway line there was always a barrier there anyway.

It's the A50 that was built by knocking down everything in its path - and that was in the 1990s when you'd think planners would have known better!

 

[Grumpy Git]

Is it only the North West which has its "bypasses" running right through the middle of towns? Macclesfield being another example?

 

[Bletchleyite]

Is it only the North West which has its "bypasses" running right through the middle of towns? Macclesfield being another example?

The Mancunian Way another? I think it's classic 1970s-1980s design, isn't it - modern Birmingham was basically designed that way.

 

[Ianno87]

The Mancunian Way another? I think it's classic 1970s-1980s design, isn't it - modern Birmingham was basically designed that way.

Newcastle's Central Motorway too.

 

[NoRoute]

The A500 was less carved through the conurbation than threaded through open fields and industrial dereliction - the only large-scale demolition was between what are now the A5007 and A52 - and given it runs parallel to the canal and the railway line there was always a barrier there anyway.

Personally I would say it is a rather worse barrier than a canal and a railway, canals are typically silent and if they've been restored are both pleasant and attractive, an asset. Railways can be noisy, but if they're electrified at least they aren't too polluting and there's not the continuous noisy of traffic.

An arterial dual-carriageway carrying lots of freight and cars to and from the M6 is unpleasant, unattractive, noisy and polluting. It may be necessary, but I can't think of a worse place to put it than straight through a conurbation. And worse, design the network so that it carries not only local traffic, but a lot of the regional traffic from the A50, taking all that through the centre.

Give me a ring road anyday.

 

[Bald Rick]

Is it only the North West which has its "bypasses" running right through the middle of towns? Macclesfield being another example?

Guildford bypass....