m11 what a great motorway

Iceweasel

The OP may just have a point, but he doesn't say when or why he was on the M11.

A week or so back I was travelling North from Dover to Crewe on a Friday afternoon and my route of choice would have been M20 up to the M25 then onto the M40 and on up the M6 to Junction 16 with the A500

The traffic was extra heavy - more so that usual on a Friday - and as we neared the M25 the Sat-Nav (which has live Traffic News) announced "Standing Traffic ahead - route is being re-calculated."

This was due to a combination of roadworks and accidents.

Anyhow to cut a long story short we were taken by way of the Dartford Tunnel then up the M11 before crossing over to join the M6 at it's Southmost point M6,J1 / M1,J19

It went pretty smoothly, but I doubt I would deliberately choose it rather than my usual route.

It just goes to show that even if one is very familiar with the motorway network - you need a Sat-Nav - not necessarily to blindly follow it's instructions - but to keep abreast of changing conditions.

Cornucopia

I imagine the OP means the Harrow Road flyover (on the A40).

The M74 is a fantastic road, with its red gravel surface and the view of the mountains.

force_ten

Iceweasel wrote: »

The OP may just have a point, but he doesn't say when or why he was on the M11.

A week or so back I was travelling North from Dover to Crewe on a Friday afternoon and my route of choice would have been M20 up to the M25 then onto the M40 and on up the M6 to Junction 16 with the A500

The traffic was extra heavy - more so that usual on a Friday - and as we neared the M25 the Sat-Nav (which has live Traffic News) announced "Standing Traffic ahead - route is being re-calculated."

This was due to a combination of roadworks and accidents.

Anyhow to cut a long story short we were taken by way of the Dartford Tunnel then up the M11 before crossing over to join the M6 at it's Southmost point M6,J1 / M1,J19

It went pretty smoothly, but I doubt I would deliberately choose it rather than my usual route.

It just goes to show that even if one is very familiar with the motorway network - you need a Sat-Nav - not necessarily to blindly follow it's instructions - but to keep abreast of changing conditions.

you were lucky that you didn't get held up along that route

M11 up to the A14 not to bad but when you get to the roadworks at kettering and the long 40mph section it can get really slow, then you have the wonderful catthorpe interchange at junction one of the M6

the interchange was not really fit for purpose when it was upgraded 25 years ago and now that it handles around a hundred thousand vehicles a day it really sucks, and it doesn't take much to bring the whole area to a complete standstill

the roadworks you encountered at catthorpe interchange are costing 150 million pounds and are due to run until sept 2016

every time i seem to catch the national travel news catthorpe often seems to get a mention

londonTiger

I've done two round trips london to cambrdige one leave at 4pm from London and the other leaving at 5:30pm.

Maybe it was just my trip but I was very easily able to jump onto the northbound a12 and jump onto m11 and got to Cambridge surprisingly fast. I decided to be frugal and put cruise control on and drive at 60mph as well!

I am based pretty close to centre of London so I was surprised that I was so easily able to get on the a road and then motorway. Travelling to Birmingham would have cost me 1 hr INSIDE London.

Also, the a12 connects easily to the limehouse link and then embankment so you can get into the city in reasonable time. Reasonable by London standards that is.

There are some 40mph slow parts in the m11, but considering the rush hour it was actually reasonbley. driving at 40mph on a motorway is miles better than being completely still like you do on the m6.

londonTiger

Cornucopia wrote: »

I imagine the OP means the Harrow Road flyover (on the A40).

The M74 is a fantastic road, with its red gravel surface and the view of the mountains.

Yes, i think the road is called westway, and is fantastic, once you get on the westway you can start enjoying the trip as the bumper to bumper traffic is all behind you after that.

I'm not familair with the road names, i just know the routes from memory but hardly remember road names. Sometimes there are signs which frequently refer to the destination it's leading to and not what the current road is called.

JustinR1979

I prefer the M3.

giraffe69

So its turning into a "My favourite motorway" thread. Should be good for another 200 posts or so.

Hezzawithkids

londonTiger wrote: »

Do you think there's a conspiracy between the fact that rich people get all this lovely infrastructure around their towns or is it just a matter of the fact that rich people dont live on top of each other like poor people do.

What a bizarre concept. If that was true then the M25 would be a 56-lane ring road with drive-through massage parlours every 5 miles.

27col

Mr_Mink wrote: »

I invite you to drive in and around Oxford and you'll be in no doubt... Everyone gets terrible roads.

I got stuck on the Oxford Southern bypass for an hour the other day on my way back from my bil funeral. It finished the day off beautifully.
As for the OP,s description of the M11. Well it is not the same M11 that I know. Especially not on Duxford Air Days.

Bollotom

Used to go London to Norwich. Fantastic drive along the M11 and the road through Newmarket, then that bloody roundabout near Mildenhall then Thetford Forest then the A47(?) Seems East Anglia got locked out of discussions when road planning was discussed. :cool: