Hindhead Tunnel A3
Discussion
As you may know the A3 Hindhead Tunnel has been under construction for the last few years and is the UK's longest underland road tunnel.
It is finally scheduled for opening during July this year.
On Saturday a walkthrough the tunnel had been arranged. There were 6,000 tickets available in advance, they went very quickly crashing the website and leaving some another 10,000 people disappointed.
You were ferried to the Construction Site by bus from a number of locations around the area.
We were taken to the Southern end of the tunnel and dropped of to walk the 1.2 miles on the Northbound carriageway.
The road through the tunnel climbs, dips and curves so it's not a straight blast, very like some of the tunnels in the alps I've been through. Mind you I need to drive through it!
Once through the tunnel we were picked up by bus and driven back through Southbound tunnel to be taken back to where we had left the car.
There are average speed cameras located on both sides pointing in both directions
So a few pictures.
P1020209.jpg by robertclayson, on Flickr
P1020222.jpg by robertclayson, on Flickr
P1020253.jpg by robertclayson, on Flickr
P1020265.jpg by robertclayson, on Flickr
P1020287.jpg by robertclayson, on Flickr
The average speed cameras in yellow can just be seen in this picture.
P1020298.jpg by robertclayson, on Flickr
There are a few more on my flickr pages
Robert
It is finally scheduled for opening during July this year.
On Saturday a walkthrough the tunnel had been arranged. There were 6,000 tickets available in advance, they went very quickly crashing the website and leaving some another 10,000 people disappointed.
You were ferried to the Construction Site by bus from a number of locations around the area.
We were taken to the Southern end of the tunnel and dropped of to walk the 1.2 miles on the Northbound carriageway.
The road through the tunnel climbs, dips and curves so it's not a straight blast, very like some of the tunnels in the alps I've been through. Mind you I need to drive through it!
Once through the tunnel we were picked up by bus and driven back through Southbound tunnel to be taken back to where we had left the car.
There are average speed cameras located on both sides pointing in both directions
So a few pictures.
P1020209.jpg by robertclayson, on Flickr
P1020222.jpg by robertclayson, on Flickr
P1020253.jpg by robertclayson, on Flickr
P1020265.jpg by robertclayson, on Flickr
P1020287.jpg by robertclayson, on Flickr
The average speed cameras in yellow can just be seen in this picture.
P1020298.jpg by robertclayson, on Flickr
There are a few more on my flickr pages
Robert
Vlad the Imp said:
In what way are cameras going to reduce accidents? Statistical evidence that they do?
Please don't be jumping on the idiot "Speed Kills" bandwagon, otherwise one could easily get the impression that you're an idiot incapable of independant thought.
Similarly, don't fall into the trap of assuming that all speed controls are bad because you read it on here.Please don't be jumping on the idiot "Speed Kills" bandwagon, otherwise one could easily get the impression that you're an idiot incapable of independant thought.
Long tunnels with bends and changes in elevation are fairly high-risk, controlling the speed of vehicles in there helps to control the risk and ensure that should there be an accident, the severity of it is reduced.
One bad aspect of SPECS is that they cause close clumping of traffic behind drivers in each lane too scared/thick to add/lose a couple of mph to ease an overtake. One poorly judged lane change in the tunnel....
The irony with SPECS is that a small blip of 5mph to get past a vehicle in the adjacent lane will not result in a speeding ticket! Until we can educate the great unwashed about this fact, any safety benefits of this enforcement are outweighed somewhat by the increased risk caused by people driving too close to each other.
The irony with SPECS is that a small blip of 5mph to get past a vehicle in the adjacent lane will not result in a speeding ticket! Until we can educate the great unwashed about this fact, any safety benefits of this enforcement are outweighed somewhat by the increased risk caused by people driving too close to each other.
mgroadster said:
What unfortunate event in your life, made you want to walk through a road tunnel?
How was your relationship with your mother?
Now climb on my couch and let us see where we can find the solution and outcome.
Is it you were seeking the light at the end of the tunnel?
nice....How was your relationship with your mother?
Now climb on my couch and let us see where we can find the solution and outcome.
Is it you were seeking the light at the end of the tunnel?
zs said:
Have the speed limits been confirmed yet and is it a definite that the tunnels'll be open by august?
Local paper says 6th July as mentioned a few posts up.There are also road signs up saying 'opening in July', so you'd hope they'd be right.
There are average speed camera position on the run up to the tunnels. What they will be set at is unknown. Some people say 40, some 50, some say variable depending on what the traffic is like.
Landshark said:
The Tunnel is still due to open on July 6th 2011.
The normal operating speed limit will be 70mph. Any problems in the tunnel or the contraflow is in place it will go down to 40mph.
The cameras are home office approved to measure both speeds.
So it'll be a 70 limit through it? That's not so bad then really.The normal operating speed limit will be 70mph. Any problems in the tunnel or the contraflow is in place it will go down to 40mph.
The cameras are home office approved to measure both speeds.
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