Roadworks endless roadworks

N9eav

Having just driven to Birmingham and back from Cornwall and also London recently.


Can anyone tell me why is takes so long to do the roadworks? I mean those managed motorway works on the M5 and M3 are taking years and years. Why does it take so long?

bod1467

Try living in the central belt in Scotland ... EVERYWHERE has roadworks; has done for the past (about) 2 years and will be ongoing until at least Spring 2017.

takman

The ones on the M5 are over 10 miles long!. Just putting up the 10+ miles of barriers to allow the motorway to stay open is gonna take some time.

Then when consider they only have a limited amount of resources (people and equipment) I'm not surprised it takes so long.

wongataa

N9eav wrote: »

Having just driven to Birmingham and back from Cornwall and also London recently.


Can anyone tell me why is takes so long to do the roadworks? I mean those managed motorway works on the M5 and M3 are taking years and years. Why does it take so long?

Because it takes a longer time to do the work and keep the road open. There is a lot of works to carry out.

Iceweasel

takman wrote: »

The ones on the M5 are over 10 miles long!. Just putting up the 10+ miles of barriers to allow the motorway to stay open is gonna take some time.

Then when consider they only have a limited amount of resources (people and equipment) I'm not surprised it takes so long.

I swear those damned cones are breeding - I always said they were placed too close together. LOL

As for resources - there doesn't seem to be a shortage when it comes to nuclear weapons.

Perhaps the £350 million a week that we give to the EU could be used to correct our roads seeing as how it isn't going to be given to the NHS.

To those who think that roadworks aren't political - everything is political.

takman

Iceweasel wrote: »

I swear those damned cones are breeding - I always said they were placed too close together. LOL

As for resources - there doesn't seem to be a shortage when it comes to nuclear weapons.

Perhaps the £350 million a week that we give to the EU could be used to correct our roads seeing as how it isn't going to be given to the NHS.

To those who think that roadworks aren't political - everything is political.

That £350 million a week won't be available for at least 3 years when we leave the EU (but that's assuming the money won't be lost due to the uncertainty shrinking the economy).

But in reality let's say they can reduce the roadworks from 2 years to 1 year and it will cost twice as much. Can that be justified?. Yes they may cause an inconvenience by slowing everyone down to 50 but I don't think it's worth putting in more money!.

But once one set has finished they will soon start another so we will never get rid of them completely!.

dannyrst

Managed motorways aren't a solution to our overcrowded roads, just think. You get to go 50mph for 4/5 years whilst they implement them, then sit at 40mph because of an invisible crash or a broken down vehicle that doesn't exist.

AdrianC

takman wrote: »

That £350 million a week won't be available for at least 3 years when we leave the EU (but that's assuming the money won't be lost due to the uncertainty shrinking the economy).

Not that it ever existed in the first place, outside of several fevered imaginations - but that's a separate question...

Still, if only the government thought to make information available...
Oh, hold on :- http://www.highways.gov.uk/roads/road-projects/m5-junctions-4a-to-6/

takman

dannyrst wrote: »

Managed motorways aren't a solution to our overcrowded roads, just think. You get to go 50mph for 4/5 years whilst they implement them, then sit at 40mph because of an invisible crash or a broken down vehicle that doesn't exist.

From my experience they work really well. Firstly they open up the hard shoulder to traffic at peak times so that alone increases the roads capacity by 33% on a three lane motorway

Secondly they manage the speed of traffic which stop people heading into traffic going too fast and then having to brake sharply. Just think how many times your in a queue of traffic on the motorway and then suddenly it starts to clear. This is usually caused by people braking sharply due to them going to fast into traffic the managed motorways help prevent this.

You then also have the safety aspect of them being able to close lanes and direct traffic around broken down cars or debris in the road.

facade

I thought the purpose behind smart motorways is a few high profile deaths per year when people break down and stop on what was the hard shoulder and are immediately shunted by a 40 tonner will put most sane car drivers off going on them, and therefore they will have less traffic

Norman_Castle

takman wrote: »

But in reality let's say they can reduce the roadworks from 2 years to 1 year and it will cost twice as much. Can that be justified?. Yes they may cause an inconvenience by slowing everyone down to 50 but I don't think it's worth putting in more money!.

10 miles of roadworks being slowed from 70 to 50 will only cost a few minutes. When managed motorways are being used as four lanes they are restricted to 60 mph so you're only loosing 10 mph.

I had a very slow journey from Cornwall to Birmingham at the start of the summer. The delays were caused by the amount of traffic rather than the speed restrictions. I used to drive from Devon to Birmingham in the evening quite often. Even with speed restrictions due to roadworks it was a very easy drive with empty motorways.