Anyone been to Heathrow recently?
Anyone been to Heathrow recently?
Author
Discussion

leadfootlydon

Original Poster:

329 posts

259 months

Wednesday 14th February 2007
quotequote all
Good grief! What the hell is going on with that roundabout?

Are they *trying* to cause accidents? It was a perfectly normal roundabout before, doing a grand job. Now it is a bleedin' obstacle of the first order.

There is more paint on the road than in a Dulux factory. What wins the prize is that you have to constantly drive *across* white lines to drive round the roundabout. Changing lanes several times in this busy junction makes me nervous. And, as you can imagine, I am very far from being a nervous driver.

Are there laws about road markings? And who decides in a case like this where there is complete silliness going on?


hairydave

1,801 posts

240 months

Wednesday 14th February 2007
quotequote all
interestingly, before they put the concrete bits in, the traffic flowed better when the lights didnt work... and yes, it is fun, because the 3 lanes to go west from uxbridge feed into 1 lane which later becomes 2...

Richard C

1,685 posts

287 months

Wednesday 14th February 2007
quotequote all
There seems to be various hotspots who have been given some sort of directive to use paint by the bucketful to 'slow down the traffic'

Like Broughton roundabout near Chester. half the drivers drive over the hatchings and green cycle paths that no safty conscious cyclist would ever use

puggit

49,821 posts

278 months

Wednesday 14th February 2007
quotequote all
That roundabout is one of the reasons I changed job recently - used to work in Stockley Park, and most of the journey was spent queuing to get around the monstrosity!

shar2

2,273 posts

243 months

Wednesday 14th February 2007
quotequote all
The Sunbury Cross roundabout has been like that for a while. It's ok once you get used to it, but for vistors it's a nightmare.

Don

28,378 posts

314 months

Wednesday 14th February 2007
quotequote all
I haven't been on the roundabout since they finished doing it up. It was utter chaos during the work (did airport runs several times during it). Is it particularly bad?

hairydave

1,801 posts

240 months

Friday 16th February 2007
quotequote all
bad? its downright dangerous to be honest..

leadfootlydon

Original Poster:

329 posts

259 months

Friday 16th February 2007
quotequote all
Apart from all the misleading paint everywhere, some bright spark has come up with the idea of placing concrete kerbs in the middle of the sea of tarmac.

It really is an obstacle course. Just what you need next to an international airport, eh?



oogieboogie

710 posts

239 months

Friday 16th February 2007
quotequote all
Go through there reasonablty often. gf thinks it should work better for the locals. The problem is it's at the airport where half the traffic only goes there once a year.

hairydave

1,801 posts

240 months

Friday 16th February 2007
quotequote all
oogieboogie said:
gf thinks it should work better for the locals.

nope! it was designed assuming that all traffic out of uxbridge wishes to go to the airport, and not the m25...

leadfootlydon

Original Poster:

329 posts

259 months

Friday 16th February 2007
quotequote all
Going the other way it makes it awkward going towards London from the Airport.

This is one of the world's busiest airports FFS and they are dicking around trying to make road access difficult.

I wonder who might have been behind that little design feature?

oogieboogie

710 posts

239 months

Friday 16th February 2007
quotequote all
hairydave said:
oogieboogie said:
gf thinks it should work better for the locals.

nope! it was designed assuming that all traffic out of uxbridge wishes to go to the airport, and not the m25...

Well I certainly don't agree it's better for anyone - it's a mess and the only ones to benefit are the construction companies who spent forever getting it sorted.

What's the consensus on the new roundabout further up the bypass? I haven't needed to use it during rush hour so it's just a horrid chicane to me.