M62 Managed Motorway goodness
Discussion
Fellow PHers who use the M62 where it's now got an extra lane* (aka "the hard shoulder"). What's the verdict?
Personally I have got to say "hats off"
to the Highways agency - I've been commuting from Lancs to Leeds on and off for 20 years now and the improvements are literally life changing. As the years have gone by I've had to set of earlier and earlier to beat the traffic, until finally I was setting off at 6am (and catching up on my sleep in the car park when I arrived). Leaving was time critical too. It's probably the most significant change I've seen in my motoring life.
Now I can have literally two hours extra in bed and be in work at 8.45, far less stressed and having used a lot less fuel. The speed limits being set at 50 and 60 seem to stop people switching lanes too - which should help reduce accidents; this time last year I remember the M62 being an absolute nightmare due to trucks sideswiping cars on an almost daily basis.
Any other PHers using this every day and as impressed with it's excellence as I am?
Personally I have got to say "hats off"
to the Highways agency - I've been commuting from Lancs to Leeds on and off for 20 years now and the improvements are literally life changing. As the years have gone by I've had to set of earlier and earlier to beat the traffic, until finally I was setting off at 6am (and catching up on my sleep in the car park when I arrived). Leaving was time critical too. It's probably the most significant change I've seen in my motoring life.Now I can have literally two hours extra in bed and be in work at 8.45, far less stressed and having used a lot less fuel. The speed limits being set at 50 and 60 seem to stop people switching lanes too - which should help reduce accidents; this time last year I remember the M62 being an absolute nightmare due to trucks sideswiping cars on an almost daily basis.
Any other PHers using this every day and as impressed with it's excellence as I am?
- for those that don't know we now have a "managed motorway" where the hard shoulder becomes an extra lane at peak times - like the M42.
I've found the M42's active management to be pretty good. At times when I suspect without it the road would be doing the infuriating 20-40-15-50-70-0-5-30 speeds, when the hard shoulder's in use traffic does seem to flow at a steady 40-50.
I do have concerns... I've seen people struggle with which lane they should be in when they get to a junction while in use, and if they struggle to comprehend the overhead signs (which I find simple enough) I dread to think how someone unfamiliar with our motorways would find it.
I think the feeling toward active management and using the hard shoulder as an extra lane on PH was pretty negative, but I wonder what the opinion is now?
IMO, I agree, it seems to work.
I do have concerns... I've seen people struggle with which lane they should be in when they get to a junction while in use, and if they struggle to comprehend the overhead signs (which I find simple enough) I dread to think how someone unfamiliar with our motorways would find it.
I think the feeling toward active management and using the hard shoulder as an extra lane on PH was pretty negative, but I wonder what the opinion is now?
IMO, I agree, it seems to work.
Dimski said:
I do have concerns... I've seen people struggle with which lane they should be in when they get to a junction while in use, and if they struggle to comprehend the overhead signs (which I find simple enough) I dread to think how someone unfamiliar with our motorways would find it.
I think the feeling toward active management and using the hard shoulder as an extra lane on PH was pretty negative, but I wonder what the opinion is now?
IMO, I agree, it seems to work.
Foreigners would probably cope better than we would, there's a fair number of managed/odd motorway junctions about on the continent. I think it's something that everyone over here will get used to as well - the M42/M6 sections are all nice and smooth now.I think the feeling toward active management and using the hard shoulder as an extra lane on PH was pretty negative, but I wonder what the opinion is now?
IMO, I agree, it seems to work.
The M5 at Bristol is becoming a managed motorway. The M42 has always frustrated me because it's slower than I wanted to go but thinking about it now, I think that I've only been stuck on it once.
So these managed motorways might be a good idea for the super busy stretches but I really hope that it doesn't stretch to the whole motorway network, which it inevitably will do. There is something hugely satisfying about charging home around 85 at 11pm or midnight on an empty mway and you wouldn't be able to do that with managed ones would you?
So these managed motorways might be a good idea for the super busy stretches but I really hope that it doesn't stretch to the whole motorway network, which it inevitably will do. There is something hugely satisfying about charging home around 85 at 11pm or midnight on an empty mway and you wouldn't be able to do that with managed ones would you?
Steve vRS said:
I don't use that stretch every week but do use it often. It does appear to be much improved, it will be interesting to see if it stays as free moving!
Steve
Well I've always found that September/October is the worst part of the year, and it's straight through now at 50 or 60. The strangest thing is being able to leave work at 5pm (I work right next to one of the M621 junctions (near Bridgewater Place)) and just drive straight onto the M62 and all the way home without a jam or the enormous queue to join the M62; I'd have had to be taking some serious drugs to attempt that previously.Steve
There's a woman just started here a couple of weeks ago sat opposite me, and she comes here from south Manchester. She's been moaning about it because of the limit being 50 or 60 - she has no idea what it was like before, when she'd have been lucky to be seeing 10% of those speeds at 8.30am. Bloody youth of today!
The M62 has really improved since it was fully re-opened – makes my weekly trips from Leeds to Manchester and back much nicer.
But if my experience of the Western M25 (J14-J11) is anything to go by, you’ll only get around 5 years of it being better before the number of cars on the road increases to the point it becomes just as bad as it always was.
Once traffic levels increase the variable limits become useless and you’ll be sat stationary under a 40 sign.
Hopefully the M62 section is used properly – 3 years of road works installing a managed motorway on the lower M1 (Luton to Milton Keynes), and I think I've seen the hardshoulder open on only 2 or 3 occassions since it opened fully earlier this year.
But if my experience of the Western M25 (J14-J11) is anything to go by, you’ll only get around 5 years of it being better before the number of cars on the road increases to the point it becomes just as bad as it always was.
Once traffic levels increase the variable limits become useless and you’ll be sat stationary under a 40 sign.
Hopefully the M62 section is used properly – 3 years of road works installing a managed motorway on the lower M1 (Luton to Milton Keynes), and I think I've seen the hardshoulder open on only 2 or 3 occassions since it opened fully earlier this year.
The M42 works OK for the volume of traffic it carries, but it does need an extra lane both ways at the M40 junction as it defeats the extra lane by having the bulk of traffic bottle necking down to 2 lanes.
I live in Redditch during the week and it makes it an utter pain in the arse if I leave work on time.
I live in Redditch during the week and it makes it an utter pain in the arse if I leave work on time.
Personally I feel the M62 variable limit works well at peak periods however I've driven through the section near the M1 junction early on a Sunday morning and at 10pm on a Tuesday evening, both occasions in fine weather and the limit was set at 50mph, what a joke. All that happened was everyone speeding up and slowing down between the gantries, some of which have cameras, some don't going off the white lines on the road.
On another occasion I found the limit was 50 for a couple of signs, then 60, then 50, then 40, then 60 etc so you find yourself looking at the bloody signs all the time. You get the impression that the controllers can't just leave their new toy alone.
On another occasion I found the limit was 50 for a couple of signs, then 60, then 50, then 40, then 60 etc so you find yourself looking at the bloody signs all the time. You get the impression that the controllers can't just leave their new toy alone.
This time last year I took a job in leeds and commute from Huddersfield. I knew it was going to be a PITA but took it on the premise of things improving when the roadworks went. Absolute nightmare over the winter, there was at least one crash a day. Crawling all the way from 25-26 and vice versa. I couldnt wait for the roadworks to f
k off.
The week before the managed motorway was opened I was made redundant.
k off. The week before the managed motorway was opened I was made redundant.
Leptons said:
This time last year I took a job in leeds and commute from Huddersfield. I knew it was going to be a PITA but took it on the premise of things improving when the roadworks went. Absolute nightmare over the winter, there was at least one crash a day. Crawling all the way from 25-26 and vice versa. I couldnt wait for the roadworks to fk off.
The week before the managed motorway was opened I was made redundant.
Oops! Happened with my boss too; I was liftsharing with him and he got made redundant back in May after six years on the job all all the roadworks misery.k off. The week before the managed motorway was opened I was made redundant.
He's sorted with a shiny new job now - hope you are too, Leptons.
It's that good it's even got it's own facebook page to keep you updated with latest developments 
https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Managed-Motorway...
https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Managed-Motorway...
I had the daunting prospect of facing the M62 at rush-hour on Friday evening in the horrible weather we've been having. For what was once the worst stretch of motorway I use regularly (J25-27) the Managed Motorway seemed to work fantastic. Sure, our speed was forced to drop down to 40mph but the traffic was kept flowing.
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