A Summer of traffic hell...

[Jonny69]

Stop moaning Fox. You don't even know what traffic is until you've lived in London

 

[Conscript]

Am I the only one thinking that we need to stop hailing buses as the saviour of all inner city transport problems and giving them priority over everything?

We went through similar disruption in my hometown a couple of years ago when the local authorities dreamt up the FasTrack idea. What this basicallly meant was months of inconvenience whilst they dug up a lot of the main traffic routes between Dartford, Gravesend and Bluewater Shopping Centre to widen the roads for dedicated bus lanes on main routes, and whole new roads built for the exclusive use of buses in some area.

The end result is that we now have the same size roads widened to incorporate bus lanes along either side that are pretty much empty a lot of the time. The route doesnt attract many passengers from what I can see, so when a bus does come along, it's usually empty. However, the buses have an electronic tag, so each time it needs to cross the carrigeway of normal traffic, the lights give it priority. Which means all the traffic has to come to a halt, and usually back up to the main roundabouts, just to allow an empty bus to get from Dartford to Bluewater 5 minutes earlier

 

[jegz]

Nope, there was apparently going to be a final say on it just before the election but its gone all quiet now.

Probably won't happen now.

I can tell you that they havent had the answer yet but it is not looking likely

 

[Justintime]

Well i'm in for 6 months of Road works on the North Circular in Bounds green, exactly where i go through daily to work. 4 Lanes (3 + slip road) went into 2 when it was normal (horrible even on a good day), now its 4 lanes into 1 (great, just great).

 

[Lethagized]

All the dual carriage ways round here are being turned into single lanes with the use of painted chevrons and road markings. All you need is some pensioner cruising along at 20mph and i usually end up behind them

 

[Django x2]

Bournemouth and Poole had this last year too, it was chaos. I moved......

We also have one major trunk in and out of the town (A338) which is fairly free flowing at the best of times bar its 50mph limit given that no houses or any populated area of any kind are remotely near it. That aside, roadworks, or any sort of accident on this road severs the main artery from the A31 (M27) and Bournemouth resulting in, well, chaos!

 

[Steedie]

Err surely you mean A34 SOUTH (North is TOWARDS Oxford)
The only way to join the A34 going South (away from Oxford) is via Marcham road, which goes right though the centre


And traffic in all the major Urban areas sucks in this country

Yeah that's what I mean

 

[Cosimo]

Stop moaning Fox. You don't even know what traffic is until you've lived in London

Exactly, these country boys don’t know how lucky they are.

 

[starfighter]

I really do wonder what goes through the councils mind when they think up these crazy expensive useless schemes.

Luckily, living quite far out in the sticks I don't have any bus lanes, or speed bumps and even only 1 speed camera on the way to work now!

Recently they decided to hatch a lane and make it turn left only just in front, previously 2 normal lanes. (dual carriageway)

There is nothing there and I have honestly literally never seen anyone turn left in my 6 years of commuting.

So now everyone who is in the left lane at the roundabout has to move over to the right and then back over to the left.

Seen several near misses as some people ignore it and others switch lanes without looking, not to mention the traffic caused by a massive dual carriage way and roundabout essentially now a single lane just because of this little arrow.

Alos near me there is a grim crap hole called Nelson and also Colne, it is grim as hell but even worse are the number of mini roundabouts.


I have just given up tbh. I have a job that doesn't require driving in rush hour and live reasonably close to work. I would rather kill myself than commute over an hour again at 8am and 5pm twice a day.

 

[Freefaller]

I really don't find London that bad tbh - but maybe I'm just lucky.

That does look horrendous and the timing is clearly bonkers.

 

[Haggisman]

Looks like Bath, traffic gridlock all for some bus routes!

Hehe, yeah it's terrible, I love what they've done at the top of Wellsway - bus lane up until 2m before a roundabout, where you need to be in that lane if you want to go right or straight on...

 

[Nodiggidy123]

Bournemouth and Poole had this last year too, it was chaos. I moved......

We also have one major trunk in and out of the town (A338) which is fairly free flowing at the best of times bar its 50mph limit given that no houses or any populated area of any kind are remotely near it. That aside, roadworks, or any sort of accident on this road severs the main artery from the A31 (M27) and Bournemouth resulting in, well, chaos!

it was bad today. queing from the m27 onto the a31 from cadnam all the way to ringwood. you try going through lyndhurst and thats just as bad.

 

[Hunders]

It seems as though since the mall was opened every road that's reasonably busy is being given a completely pointless makeover. I used to quite like driving around the city because it was hassle free and fast but now, on almost any journey I make, there seems to be some ridiculous hassle that needn't be there.

Instead of spending huge amounts of money where it isn't necessary I think they should have resurfaced 50% of the roads around the city that are in a god awful state rather than just putting a blob of unflattened tarmac in the pot holes.

Don't even get me started on what they've done to the bottom of town. What they've done there is beyond words....

 

[Third Opinion]

looks like a set used in Billy Elliot. Think I will take the advice and give it a miss. Plenty of other places to visit.

 

[matthew2456]

If coming from the Enbankment you can turn right toward Mount Gould and cut through that way, or go right earlier through Efford toward Mutley.

The main reason for all the work is the Sherford development where they are going to be building lots of new houses which will cause a lot more traffic coming across Laira bridge in a few years time!

 

[[TW]Fox]

The main reason for all the work is the Sherford development where they are going to be building lots of new houses which will cause a lot more traffic coming across Laira bridge in a few years time!

No, thats the council spin. This new development adds nil traffic capacity once its completed. It doesnt increase the available road space at all.

Infact it actually REDUCES the total road space from the previous 2 lanes inbound and 2 lanes outbound to 3 lanes, 2 in and 1 out in the morning and 1 in and 2 out in the evening.

 

[marin]

No, thats the council spin. This new development adds nil traffic capacity once its completed. It doesnt increase the available road space at all.

Infact it actually REDUCES the total road space from the previous 2 lanes inbound and 2 lanes outbound to 3 lanes, 2 in and 1 out in the morning and 1 in and 2 out in the evening.

Agreed.

The council are doing the same thing where I work in Stockton-on-Tees, starting next Monday, reducing two lanes down to one, we received notification that they were putting in a bus route due to congestion. We wrote back to them that there is no congestion and that they were going to cause congestion by doing this, they wrote back to us and said they know better as they are the Council.

We have been here for over fifteen years now and the only time there is a problem, is when the A19 is closed due to an accident, this happens once or twice a year.

Maybe I will put in a request to the council, if they open their books, to see how much tax payers money they are wasting on this project.

 

[tiresmokindad]

I really don't find London that bad tbh - but maybe I'm just lucky.

That does look horrendous and the timing is clearly bonkers.

I think that you are truly lucky! It is hard to get out with the summer traffic but I think you should find another one.