Except for Access

[surveyor]

Normally these signs are pretty clear, in that they lead to a dead-end road. This one leads to a housing estate, which seems much harder to enforce and actually almost impossible to enforce. In fact, I'm surprised it exists.

https://www.google.com/maps/@53.3957012,-2.2249177...

Any opinions? It's a rather useful rat run, that I was told about by locals...

[Drumroll]

We had a road similar to this near where I used to work, every few weeks a police car would park halfway down the road as it was straight he could see both ends. They would randomly stop cars and did issue a few fines, But if you knew the road you could just claim you were going to the shop just off the restricted road.

[Doofus]

I suspect it exists because people use it as a rat run, and drive (usually at excessive speed) through residential streets rather than using the A34, because they're too important to get held up by other traffic.

[mw88]

surveyor said:

In fact, I'm surprised it exists....

It's a rather useful rat run

You answered your own question!

If people are using it to dodge traffic, the people who live there probably complained.

[dundarach]

Where are you trying to get to, the other side of the A34?

[surveyor]

dundarach said:

Where are you trying to get to, the other side of the A34?

Might be

[IJWS15]

I used to live on one.

You would be surprised how much the traffic on it dropped after a letter with a list of registration numbers, dates and times was sent to the police, and local councillor, by one of our neighbours.

[GreatGranny]

Signs are clear to me and probably most of us here but then again we aren't trying to justify ignoring them to complete our journey a few minutes quicker.

[Griffith4ever]

I'm all for a cunning shortcut but that's a fairly sketchy one - through a small road lined with dense houses when you only have a short hop down the main road to the next exit where you can turn around instead (when your aim is to change directions on the A34). I'd certainly be unhappy if I lived there.

Red arrows - the cunning/stty route.
Purple arrows - the nice / hardly-a-hardship route. Unless of course that road gets nose to tail jammed frequently, in which case.... :-O

[Silenoz]

There isn't actually a way to get to the A34 heading towards Manchester without using that right lane, unless you either come off the M60 2 junctions earlier and go through Cheadle Heath and Cheadle Village or go left, go all the way up to Cheadle Royal and go round the roundabout and back down the A34. A bit crap if you are trying to get to Didsbury.

[Griffith4ever]

Silenoz said:

There isn't actually a way to get to the A34 heading towards Manchester without using that right lane, unless you either come off the M60 2 junctions earlier and go through Cheadle Heath and Cheadle Village or go left, go all the way up to Cheadle Royal and go round the roundabout and back down the A34. A bit crap if you are trying to get to Didsbury.

See amazing drawing, above, unless I've gto the wrong end of the stick? It'sa 1.2m drive to get back on teh A34 Northbound.

[surveyor]

IJWS15 said:

I used to live on one.

You would be surprised how much the traffic on it dropped after a letter with a list of registration numbers, dates and times was sent to the police, and local councillor, by one of our neighbours.

The residents here can't tell who took the no access strip, or who came from the A34.

Griffith4ever said:

Silenoz said:

There isn't actually a way to get to the A34 heading towards Manchester without using that right lane, unless you either come off the M60 2 junctions earlier and go through Cheadle Heath and Cheadle Village or go left, go all the way up to Cheadle Royal and go round the roundabout and back down the A34. A bit crap if you are trying to get to Didsbury.

See amazing drawing, above, unless I've gto the wrong end of the stick? It'sa 1.2m drive to get back on teh A34 Northbound.

If I'm doing that (which is what I will likely do because it's the law) I would go down the M56 and turn around at the next junction. But last time I did that the exit to the A34 was closed and essentially I spent ten minutes queuing to turn around and spend another ten minutes queuing and still have to go through more st urban traffic. It made me grumpy.

When I'm leaving I do use the same shortcut, but off the A34 end, which is not access only, but involves the same urban roads. It's all a bit odd.

[No ideas for a name]

surveyor said:

The residents here can't tell who took the no access strip, or who came from the A34.
...
When I'm leaving I do use the same shortcut, but off the A34 end, which is not access only, but involves the same urban roads. It's all a bit odd.

Have I missed something... isn't it no motor vehicles except for access from the A34 too?

https://goo.gl/maps/uMqZBx8tT1a7YkmB8

[surveyor]

No ideas for a name said:

surveyor said:

The residents here can't tell who took the no access strip, or who came from the A34.
...
When I'm leaving I do use the same shortcut, but off the A34 end, which is not access only, but involves the same urban roads. It's all a bit odd.

Have I missed something... isn't it no motor vehicles except for access from the A34 too?

https://goo.gl/maps/uMqZBx8tT1a7YkmB8

Ha. In the half dozen times I've done that I've never noticed! If you look from a bit further down you can see the plethora of signs, on a very busy junction. Should have noticed mind you (but the local who showed me this route should also have pointed it out!)

[Silenoz]

Griffith4ever said:

Silenoz said:

There isn't actually a way to get to the A34 heading towards Manchester without using that right lane, unless you either come off the M60 2 junctions earlier and go through Cheadle Heath and Cheadle Village or go left, go all the way up to Cheadle Royal and go round the roundabout and back down the A34. A bit crap if you are trying to get to Didsbury.

See amazing drawing, above, unless I've gto the wrong end of the stick? It'sa 1.2m drive to get back on teh A34 Northbound.

No, you just missed your own caveat of "if it gets jammed..." - which it does. A lot.

[anonymous-user]

These things piss me right off. The locals expect the tax payers to fund the maintenance of the roads, but want them exclusively for their own use.

Then there are the residents who find the time to take down registration numbers and send them to the police. What heroes.

[Bennet]

surveyor said:

Normally these signs are pretty clear, in that they lead to a dead-end road. This one leads to a housing estate, which seems much harder to enforce and actually almost impossible to enforce. In fact, I'm surprised it exists.

https://www.google.com/maps/@53.3957012,-2.2249177...

Any opinions? It's a rather useful rat run, that I was told about by locals...

Living locally to this junction I can tell you that the reason for the signage is that if it were used and abused freely, the entire road would become unusable at rush hour every day. The turn back on to the A34 requires waiting a long while for a gap, and is often poorly sighted due to parked cars in the adjacent layby. Thankfully, I don't think it's all that well known.

I use the road regularly (I have friends who live on the estate) and I would estimate that at least 80% of the people using it are doing so "illegitimately". Probably more.

Make occasional use in the late evening if you must, but, if you are planning to make this a part of a regular commute, the honourable thing to do would be to plan your journey differently.

[Tribal Chestnut]

MrBig said:

These things piss me right off. The locals expect the tax payers to fund the maintenance of the roads, but want them exclusively for their own use.

Then there are the residents who find the time to take down registration numbers and send them to the police. What heroes.

Absolutely, these are the same cretins who’d happily grumble about ‘nimbys’ in other circumstances.

[Drumroll]

MrBig said:

These things piss me right off. The locals expect the tax payers to fund the maintenance of the roads, but want them exclusively for their own use.

Then there are the residents who find the time to take down registration numbers and send them to the police. What heroes.

I suspect if you lived on one of these "rat runs" your view may be very different,

[Tribal Chestnut]

Drumroll said:

MrBig said:

These things piss me right off. The locals expect the tax payers to fund the maintenance of the roads, but want them exclusively for their own use.

Then there are the residents who find the time to take down registration numbers and send them to the police. What heroes.

I suspect if you lived on one of these "rat runs" your view may be very different,

Maybe he’d just accept that folk using roads is just one of those things…