Happy 40th, Spaghetti Junction
Infamous interchange hits the big four-zero
Opened on this day back in 1972 (by none other than Secretary of State for the environment, Peter Walker - everybody say 'ooohhh'), the Gravelly Hill Interchange as it is officially known, became the keystone of the Midlands Links project to join up the M5, M6 and A38 Aston Expressway into the centre of Birmingham.
Canals, trains Mways - transport archeaology
"This is perhaps the most exciting day in the history of the road system in this country" said Mr Walker, speaking with what today sounds like absurd hyperbole at the official opening of the road. But there was a genuine frisson of excitement surrounding what the Birmingham Evening Mail's Roy Smith coined Spaghetti Junction - in the weeks running up to the opening of the interchange a Burton-on-Trent bus company even ran half-day tours around the new stretch of road, for the heady cost of 65p.
Since then, the heavy traffic across the interchange (and the consequent need for near-constant repairs) has somewhat soured the public's relationship with Spaghetti Junction. Its complex nature has always been a point of worry for nervous drivers, too - as recently as 2009 it was voted Britain's most intimidating road in a survey of 3,225 drivers.
But despite its intimidating nature and the fears that, as with many other elevated concrete roadways such as the A4 Hammersmith Flyover, it may continue to crumble, the Gravelly hill interchange will be with us for a while yet. It's designed to last 120 years, so it's barely a third of the way through its life. Happy birthday, Spaghetti junction...
Ps - if you want to find out more about Spaghetti Junction, check out ITV Central's brilliant "Forty facts for forty years of the Spaghetti Junction"
I mean, £10M then = £90M now? What's that buy you these days? 5 miles of straight motorway? I shudder to think of the cost of building SJ now - hundreds of millions certainly.
This kind of thing always pops into my head when I think of the big numbers bandied about for infrastructure projects. No matter what the cost today the future cost will make it look like a bargain, and you'll have years of use out of it by then aswell.
Let's build!
I mean, £10M then = £90M now? What's that buy you these days? 5 miles of straight motorway? I shudder to think of the cost of building SJ now - hundreds of millions certainly.
If HS2 was built in the 80s (think: TGV) everyone would've baulked at the (today's cost * 0.3) expenditure, but looked at today it would seem a bargain and it would've provided 25 years service and benefit to the ecomony by now.
Similarly, future generations will look back at the £30B+ cost of HS2 and think "bargain!".
Before you think I'm some pro-HS2 zealot, I live in the Chilterns near Amersham and the route passes less than a mile from my house. What I am though is practical.
There is a perfectly reasonable planned junction near me that would involve the demolition of approximately no buildings that would improve traffic massively. It has been on the drawing board forever but will never be built because of the aggro it would cause.
I hope you like the pictures:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/crpr/7195147726/
If you look at the flickr album, there's some shots from the superprix track too.
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