M3 Nightmare Continues!
Discussion
Had the misfortune to use the M3 M25 on Friday early evening, joining at Bagshot at around 19.00. All went well, albeit at 50 MPH, until around the Longcross section where traffic came to a standstill or crawl.
This continued up to about1/2 mile short of the junction with M25 and added about 50 minutes to the journey.
I was expecting to see an accident, or evidence of one but nothing.
It appeared that people switching lanes late caused the traffic to back up. Better signage, or forcing lanes earlier might avoid this.
This continued up to about1/2 mile short of the junction with M25 and added about 50 minutes to the journey.
I was expecting to see an accident, or evidence of one but nothing.
It appeared that people switching lanes late caused the traffic to back up. Better signage, or forcing lanes earlier might avoid this.
In the M25 at Terminal 4, coming home to Sandhurst. Passed the A30, in heavy traffic, signs at M3 showing M3 closed 2-3, by which time I was committed to the slip road for the M3, had no choice but to head north and turn around at Sunbury. Back down the M3, expecting to leave at the M25 and come home via Weybridge, but no need. It was open. Phoned the HA, apparently, I was "unlucky" as they put the closure signs up between me to passing the A30 and reaching the M3.
One piece of good news though. I'm told that tonight's closure is to remove the roadworks!
One piece of good news though. I'm told that tonight's closure is to remove the roadworks!
Trevatanus said:
In the M25 at Terminal 4, coming home to Sandhurst. Passed the A30, in heavy traffic, signs at M3 showing M3 closed 2-3, by which time I was committed to the slip road for the M3, had no choice but to head north and turn around at Sunbury. Back down the M3, expecting to leave at the M25 and come home via Weybridge, but no need. It was open. Phoned the HA, apparently, I was "unlucky" as they put the closure signs up between me to passing the A30 and reaching the M3.
One piece of good news though. I'm told that tonight's closure is to remove the roadworks!
Oh how I hope it is! One piece of good news though. I'm told that tonight's closure is to remove the roadworks!
I've lived in Sandhurst 6 years and 8 days, and the M3 has been a mess for more than half that time!
Anyway I'll find out tomorrow as I'll be heading towards Reigate in the afternoon and coming back on the A3 from New Malden in the evening - what are the odds on it being open, I wonder?
Yep all good now there are two lanes to LHR. Real test will be when schools go back.
Still too many last minute lane changes though. Maybe the drivers can be texted the lane details as they approach the interchange. That way they might receive the necessary information without having to put the phone down.
And perhaps the overhead signs could read 'KEEP THE F@#$ LEFT'.
Still too many last minute lane changes though. Maybe the drivers can be texted the lane details as they approach the interchange. That way they might receive the necessary information without having to put the phone down.
And perhaps the overhead signs could read 'KEEP THE F@#$ LEFT'.
I would like to know who authorised and paid for the temp average speed camera between Jn2 and Jn1 which has sat there in its cube of concrete since the project started many years ago with a sign stating camera not in use.
Plus all the plastic cable ducting etc that was put into place for it.
Wasted money and it still has to be removed under more expensive TM
(That's Traffic management, see note below)
Oh I forgot that will be us - the Tax Payer
(note I did not say Road Tax or RFL just so you sharp eyed numbskulls could slag me off Ha Ha)
Well It was open this morning at 04:45 so I could rumble along in my work wagon at a good 60mph
Supprising how many gormless nuggets were still day dreaming at 50mph in lane 2 and 3
Plus all the plastic cable ducting etc that was put into place for it.
Wasted money and it still has to be removed under more expensive TM
(That's Traffic management, see note below)
Oh I forgot that will be us - the Tax Payer
(note I did not say Road Tax or RFL just so you sharp eyed numbskulls could slag me off Ha Ha)
Well It was open this morning at 04:45 so I could rumble along in my work wagon at a good 60mph
Supprising how many gormless nuggets were still day dreaming at 50mph in lane 2 and 3
Got to create a queue somewhere after all! 
Not the M3, I know, but I had the misfortune to use the A30 yesterday between Farnborough and Egham.
Absolute chaos in places. I counted FIVE!!! sets of temporary traffic lights in that short journey. Fortunately for me, I wasn't in a hurry, just a jolly out with my wife to The Savill Garden for lunch and a stroll.
Getting back through Sunningdale was probably the worst of the delays. Only a handful of cars were getting through at each green light from the Virginia Water direction. Add in the additional problem of the level crossing and it must be a nightmare for a regular commuter through there.
The local paper was full of guff about the A331 Cycle Way too. Trumpeting it's official opening, and a 'letter to the editor' imploring people to "give it a chance".
I think people would be prepared to give it more of a chance if they hadn't simply replaced the roadworks on the M3 and A331 with a scheme to begin shortly to alter the Meadows Roundabout. More chaos, more misery, more delays, all in the same area. As for the Cycle Way? I tried using it, on my bike. It's fine, as it goes. But other than for people who work in the business parks alongside the A331, or who are heading to Sainsburys for a small amount of shopping, it's useless. It doesn't actually go anywhere beyond Sainsburys. OK, you can cross at the lights to the Blackwater Valley path, but that's muddy and not really suitable for a commuter-type bicycle other than during an extended dry spell. Apparently based on an outdated 20+ year old local travel plan, and I think it shows. It won't even take many bicycles off that road, because not many cyclists are brave/stupid enough to ride down the A331 anyway.
Back to the M3? Well, I sincerely hope it doesn't happen, but I'm waiting for the first tell-tale sign of a serious collision on the new "smart" stretch. Usually sirens for a while, followed by the unmistakable sound of the air ambulance landing either on the carriageway, or on a field near the northbound side of the 4a junction. I predict it'll occur at or slightly before the southbound 4a slip road, where the new 'Lane 1' peters out as the slip road. There'll be a lot of idiots who cannot read lane signage chopping and changing lanes at the last possible moment. There was a big smash there during the roadworks, and given how willfully stupid, or selfish, some drivers are, it'll only be a matter of time before there's a serious crash there again...
Absolute chaos in places. I counted FIVE!!! sets of temporary traffic lights in that short journey. Fortunately for me, I wasn't in a hurry, just a jolly out with my wife to The Savill Garden for lunch and a stroll.
Getting back through Sunningdale was probably the worst of the delays. Only a handful of cars were getting through at each green light from the Virginia Water direction. Add in the additional problem of the level crossing and it must be a nightmare for a regular commuter through there.
The local paper was full of guff about the A331 Cycle Way too. Trumpeting it's official opening, and a 'letter to the editor' imploring people to "give it a chance".
I think people would be prepared to give it more of a chance if they hadn't simply replaced the roadworks on the M3 and A331 with a scheme to begin shortly to alter the Meadows Roundabout. More chaos, more misery, more delays, all in the same area. As for the Cycle Way? I tried using it, on my bike. It's fine, as it goes. But other than for people who work in the business parks alongside the A331, or who are heading to Sainsburys for a small amount of shopping, it's useless. It doesn't actually go anywhere beyond Sainsburys. OK, you can cross at the lights to the Blackwater Valley path, but that's muddy and not really suitable for a commuter-type bicycle other than during an extended dry spell. Apparently based on an outdated 20+ year old local travel plan, and I think it shows. It won't even take many bicycles off that road, because not many cyclists are brave/stupid enough to ride down the A331 anyway.
Back to the M3? Well, I sincerely hope it doesn't happen, but I'm waiting for the first tell-tale sign of a serious collision on the new "smart" stretch. Usually sirens for a while, followed by the unmistakable sound of the air ambulance landing either on the carriageway, or on a field near the northbound side of the 4a junction. I predict it'll occur at or slightly before the southbound 4a slip road, where the new 'Lane 1' peters out as the slip road. There'll be a lot of idiots who cannot read lane signage chopping and changing lanes at the last possible moment. There was a big smash there during the roadworks, and given how willfully stupid, or selfish, some drivers are, it'll only be a matter of time before there's a serious crash there again...
DJT said:
Not going well so far. 2 lanes closed South at J3 due to a rolled van. How?
Given that everyone is heading the same way, at roughly the same speed, you'd think it would be a difficult thing to do. Sadly, surprisingly common though.My guess?
Cruising along in lane 1, simultaneously drinking coffee, vaping, phoning a client, and using a laptop to keep the appointments book up to date, when he wandered off up the embankment. Previously, the rumble strip as he wandered into the hard shoulder would have been enough to prompt him to straighten up (at least for a short while) without rolling the van.
Predictably there'll be an excuse though. Possibly a deer that suddenly ran out in front of him, or it'll be someone else's fault for swerving into his lane. That someone else will have driven off without stopping too. Always happens....
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