Road designs that just don't work
Discussion
mgv8 said:
Vauxhall cross London. Too many people needing to change lane so clashing all the time.
Tfl plan to make changes soon but will have to seen, but two way roads will help.
Agreed, although the cycle lanes they put in last time they ripped it up are actually pretty good and don't take up too many (any?) traffic lanes.Tfl plan to make changes soon but will have to seen, but two way roads will help.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_Roundabout_(He...
Must admit I don't visit Hemel Hempstead enough to say the road design does not work. But I wonder about 'magic roundabouts' in general. The Swindon one is obviously well known (never been to Swindon myself). Here's the Hemel one -
Must admit I don't visit Hemel Hempstead enough to say the road design does not work. But I wonder about 'magic roundabouts' in general. The Swindon one is obviously well known (never been to Swindon myself). Here's the Hemel one -
baldy1926 said:
Anything in Norwich and around the a47 in the last 5-10 years.
They seem to employ road planners who are totally incompetent or who have no idea about traffic management and planning.
They have put one way systems in that dont work, cycle lanes with trees in the middle of them the list goes on.
Traffic lights on main junctions that cause gridlock.
My favorite is a road about on the a47 from a village which causes massive delays. The planners apparently didnt know that traffic from the right had priority at a roundabout. So now the main road plays second fiddle to a side road which is heavily used now as a short cut.
Found a similar situation at the back of Poole/Bournemouth some years ago. Massive queue on a DC approaching a roundabout while traffic dribbled endlessly out of a minor road nearby.They seem to employ road planners who are totally incompetent or who have no idea about traffic management and planning.
They have put one way systems in that dont work, cycle lanes with trees in the middle of them the list goes on.
Traffic lights on main junctions that cause gridlock.
My favorite is a road about on the a47 from a village which causes massive delays. The planners apparently didnt know that traffic from the right had priority at a roundabout. So now the main road plays second fiddle to a side road which is heavily used now as a short cut.
MethylatedSpirit said:
Cumbernauld wins
Merge on to dual carriageway is slightly longer than a bus, combined with people merging on to the same road. At 50mph.
Seconded. I was brought up in Cumbernauld and had to use this junction every day. You need your head on a swivel to emerge from that junction onto the main dual carriageway. It's even worse in the dark winter mornings. Traffic coming off the main carriageway up to the roundabout always seem to be travelling at speed too.Merge on to dual carriageway is slightly longer than a bus, combined with people merging on to the same road. At 50mph.
There's a similar but even tighter junction with traffic merging on and off at the other side of the town centre too.
Recently redesigned roundabout in Beverley near me... 42 sets of traffic lights for what used to be a standard roundabout :
From the press (apologies for Daily mail link) : http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3214825/Ju...
From the press (apologies for Daily mail link) : http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3214825/Ju...
The complete penis who put the main entry/ exit road to a super school on the busiest roundabout in the town and then put pelican crossings at each exit to the roundabout and on each exit of the backup entry/exit road from the school which is also shared with a sports centre.
The end result is a bypass which takes longer to navigate than the town centre it was bypassing!
The A4059 which bypasses Aberdare town centre for anyone who's interested.
What the hell are these people thinking when they design these road layouts? f
king Neanderthals!
The end result is a bypass which takes longer to navigate than the town centre it was bypassing!
The A4059 which bypasses Aberdare town centre for anyone who's interested.
What the hell are these people thinking when they design these road layouts? f
king Neanderthals! 
dci said:
The complete penis who put the main entry/ exit road to a super school on the busiest roundabout in the town and then put pelican crossings at each exit to the roundabout and on each exit of the backup entry/exit road from the school which is also shared with a sports centre.
The end result is a bypass which takes longer to navigate than the town centre it was bypassing!
The A4059 which bypasses Aberdare town centre for anyone who's interested.
What the hell are these people thinking when they design these road layouts? fking Neanderthals!
Normal for Abadabadare!The end result is a bypass which takes longer to navigate than the town centre it was bypassing!
The A4059 which bypasses Aberdare town centre for anyone who's interested.
What the hell are these people thinking when they design these road layouts? f
king Neanderthals! andy118run said:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_Roundabout_(He...
Must admit I don't visit Hemel Hempstead enough to say the road design does not work. But I wonder about 'magic roundabouts' in general. The Swindon one is obviously well known (never been to Swindon myself). Here's the Hemel one -
The Swindon has the extra interest of having a fire station right on it. Cue extra carnage when the bells go off and Trumpton come out on blues. Must admit I don't visit Hemel Hempstead enough to say the road design does not work. But I wonder about 'magic roundabouts' in general. The Swindon one is obviously well known (never been to Swindon myself). Here's the Hemel one -
Also near Cumbernauld. Unfortunately I can't find a picture of the road as it was. This was a notorious junction for years until a major upgrade of the A80 to M80.
This picture is during the upgrade. Where the lorry is, the lane marked local. This was a dual purpose slip road. Users on the A80 could exit using this lane to go into the Westfield area of Cumbernauld.
The M73 used to come down the hill on the right of the picture (exit is now re routed), and join the same slip road to either exit into Westfield (local road, exit now rerouted), or exit onto the main A80 (dual carriageway pictured).
So if exiting from the M73 onto the A80,not only had you to merge with the main flow of traffic on the A80, but also look out for traffic exiting the A80 onto the same slip road crossing your path.
If exiting the A80 into Westfield, you had to watch for traffic coming down the M73 behind you on your left, who may want to cross your path onto the A80, or may want to go the same way as you off at the local junction.
It was like this for years, and there were numerous accidents. One of the worst was a bus crossing from the A80 into Westfield. He pulled in behind an HGV that was crossing from the M73 onto the A80 but unfortunately was obscuring the bus drivers view of a broken down tipper on the slip road. The bus had nowhere to go and ploughed into the back of the tipper killing the bus driver.
It was a road I used daily and it was a horrible junction. Even if you were just passing on the main A80, you always felt at risk with all the near misses of traffic crossing over. How it was never replaced years before on safety grounds I'll never know.
andy118run said:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_Roundabout_(He...
Must admit I don't visit Hemel Hempstead enough to say the road design does not work. But I wonder about 'magic roundabouts' in general. The Swindon one is obviously well known (never been to Swindon myself). Here's the Hemel one -
It does work and it's not a bad design to solve the problem of how to have six roads joining. What's ruined it is traffic lights being put just after the exits to block traffic on the roundabout. The flipping thing has underpasses- there's no need for crossings!Must admit I don't visit Hemel Hempstead enough to say the road design does not work. But I wonder about 'magic roundabouts' in general. The Swindon one is obviously well known (never been to Swindon myself). Here's the Hemel one -
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/Central+Way,+C...
Another crossover slip road in Cumbernauld. They were obviously the in thing in the 60s when the place was built
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/Central+Way,+C...
And a slip road with a bus stop on it. Buses on the main road have to cross onto the slip road to use the bus stop. Traffic coming up the slip road has to be a bit careful!
I'll stop posting about Cumbernauld now. So many dodgy junctions in that place.
Another crossover slip road in Cumbernauld. They were obviously the in thing in the 60s when the place was built
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/Central+Way,+C...
And a slip road with a bus stop on it. Buses on the main road have to cross onto the slip road to use the bus stop. Traffic coming up the slip road has to be a bit careful!
I'll stop posting about Cumbernauld now. So many dodgy junctions in that place.
Gav147 said:
Recently redesigned roundabout in Beverley near me... 42 sets of traffic lights for what used to be a standard roundabout :
From the press (apologies for Daily mail link) : http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3214825/Ju...
That's quite incredible.From the press (apologies for Daily mail link) : http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3214825/Ju...
whatmoretyres said:
It does work and it's not a bad design to solve the problem of how to have six roads joining. What's ruined it is traffic lights being put just after the exits to block traffic on the roundabout. The flipping thing has underpasses- there's no need for crossings!
I drive regularly in various New Towns with pedestrian underpasses... the one thing they all have in common is that the shortest route has been given to the cars and the least direct route has been given to pedestrians and cyclists. The majority of humans are stupid and lazy, which means you end up with peds trying to cross roads at ridiculous places just to shorten the walk a bit, whilst the underpasses are used by about 50% of peds at best. Yet if it was the other way around, you wouldn't have people driving their cars over the verges and down paths to shave a whopping 50 feet off their walk to the station/shops/work. If they build any New Towns in future, I reckon they should be designed in such a way that the main pedestrian routes are direct, short, with no change of grade, and the roads go over/under/round. I'd gladly drive an extra 50 feet on my journey home if it means the peds get a shorter/easier route.
This one, by Biggleswade in Bedfordshire.
Apart from the fact it's a longabout at right angles to where a longabout should be and has weird cambers in both directions, and has caught out a few lorry drivers who ended up rolling their lorries on the sharp turn, it should be fine. It looks quite innoccuous in the Google Maps images. However, combined with humans driving at busy periods the following problems are encountered:
1) If heading north up the A1 and into Biggleswade town, one needs to be in the middle lane to turn right. That is fine provided you don't find yourself near a f**king moron who ignores the road markings and gets in the rightmost lane before swooping at you at the last minute to either go straight on up the A1 or head for the left-lane on London Road. I've seen a lot of road rage directed at innocent road users for daring to use the middle lane this way!
2) If heading onto the A1 south from Biggleswade, there is a sliproad to ease the Biggleswade traffic onto the A1. Except the outside lane of the A1 has a bit of a funny bump in it there, which means regular users often keep to the inside lane when coming off the roundabout and leave the outside lane empty. So it is not that rare to see a timid driver stopping on the sliproad until a huge gap opens up.
3) That sliproad in 2) terminates not at some clear surface such as a soft or hard shoulder, but at a kerb and an effing lamp-post. Which means that if one is heading up the sliproad and a car in the outside lane decides to move to the inside lane as one is moving out, then the only option is slamming on. I've seen this happen a fair few times also.
Obviously I'm a driving god so it doesn't affect me
Apart from the fact it's a longabout at right angles to where a longabout should be and has weird cambers in both directions, and has caught out a few lorry drivers who ended up rolling their lorries on the sharp turn, it should be fine. It looks quite innoccuous in the Google Maps images. However, combined with humans driving at busy periods the following problems are encountered:
1) If heading north up the A1 and into Biggleswade town, one needs to be in the middle lane to turn right. That is fine provided you don't find yourself near a f**king moron who ignores the road markings and gets in the rightmost lane before swooping at you at the last minute to either go straight on up the A1 or head for the left-lane on London Road. I've seen a lot of road rage directed at innocent road users for daring to use the middle lane this way!
2) If heading onto the A1 south from Biggleswade, there is a sliproad to ease the Biggleswade traffic onto the A1. Except the outside lane of the A1 has a bit of a funny bump in it there, which means regular users often keep to the inside lane when coming off the roundabout and leave the outside lane empty. So it is not that rare to see a timid driver stopping on the sliproad until a huge gap opens up.
3) That sliproad in 2) terminates not at some clear surface such as a soft or hard shoulder, but at a kerb and an effing lamp-post. Which means that if one is heading up the sliproad and a car in the outside lane decides to move to the inside lane as one is moving out, then the only option is slamming on. I've seen this happen a fair few times also.
Obviously I'm a driving god so it doesn't affect me
whatmoretyres said:
andy118run said:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_Roundabout_(He...
Must admit I don't visit Hemel Hempstead enough to say the road design does not work. But I wonder about 'magic roundabouts' in general. The Swindon one is obviously well known (never been to Swindon myself). Here's the Hemel one -
It does work and it's not a bad design to solve the problem of how to have six roads joining. What's ruined it is traffic lights being put just after the exits to block traffic on the roundabout. The flipping thing has underpasses- there's no need for crossings!Must admit I don't visit Hemel Hempstead enough to say the road design does not work. But I wonder about 'magic roundabouts' in general. The Swindon one is obviously well known (never been to Swindon myself). Here's the Hemel one -
In their infinite wisdom they decided to carve the main A52 straight through the middle of the roundabout in a bid to reduce congestion so that it's not actually a roundabout anymore. Any poor sod from outside the area will get a right shock when he is greeted by this shockingly poor example of modern day road meddling by a certain inexperienced numpty from Nottinghamshire County Council who has been made responsible for road planning, or in this case irresponsible road planning and demented conflicting signs and traffic lights. And this is only one shockingly poor example of what motorists driving into Nottingham now have to put up with. The list is long!
Just remember it looks like a roundabout but it isn't!
This is what motorists are confronted with...
Edited by rich888 on Tuesday 15th November 23:56
andy118run said:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_Roundabout_(He...
Must admit I don't visit Hemel Hempstead enough to say the road design does not work. But I wonder about 'magic roundabouts' in general. The Swindon one is obviously well known (never been to Swindon myself). Here's the Hemel one -
I'm often in Hemel with work and sometimes stay at the Premier Inn overlooking this. The locals are fine with it but you can spot a novice a mile off. Rush hour viewing is quite entertaining.Must admit I don't visit Hemel Hempstead enough to say the road design does not work. But I wonder about 'magic roundabouts' in general. The Swindon one is obviously well known (never been to Swindon myself). Here's the Hemel one -
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