Yes, it will be disruptive because they are not just re-using existing road space. What they are doing there is widening AND converting the hard shoulder at the same time. So I guess it’ll be a five laner at peak times.
Roadworks planning has improved IMO since the “Cones Hotline” days! 
I suppose if it does happen the layby’s every 500m could be used with a h/s closure to prevent this,
nationaltraffic.co.uk/phpBB2 … highlight=
everyone gets home alive and the traffic keeps moving, my main concern is no one takes any notice of vms now, so as one poster states how will the emergency services reach anything? if all the self important nuggets block the only access route?
i think the case for a downgrade with restrictions is gaining favour,i thought there would be some good heads on this site to weigh the pros and cons. well done
Personally I dont think downgrading motorways is an answer . Upgrading existing d/c’s to “not quite” motorway would be better.
I see on the newsletter for widening the M1 J25 to J28 they are NOT using contraflow
The system will only work if car drivers are better educated. The M42 system if anybody has used it works to an extent but you still get a line of potential overtakers still just sitting in the outside lane. The scheme would cost a small fortune to install nationwide. Instead how about some TV advertising by the government on the importance of returning to the left lane after overtaking.
leeb2461:
The system will only work if car drivers are better educated. The M42 system if anybody has used it works to an extent but you still get a line of potential overtakers still just sitting in the outside lane. The scheme would cost a small fortune to install nationwide. Instead how about some TV advertising by the government on the importance of returning to the left lane after overtaking.
This is why i am a proponent of not having an overtaking lane. If they where downgraded to 50mph and any vehicle could use any lane then i believe you would actually be in the lane you needed to be and not the lane you assumd would get you by quicker. I.e if i’m not turning off anytime soon then i could stay over near the centre reservation (lane three) and leave the turners off and oncomers to the nearside lanes. In theory there should be no need for anyone coming onto a motorway to feel they need to get over to lane three to go faster as we would of done away with any fast lanes.
Mike, it is a good idea but it requires some intelligence…can’t see it happening somehow. 
Someone will correct me if i’m wrong but i thought this is the way it worked in America, and maybe a few other places?
Mike-C:
Someone will correct me if i’m wrong but i thought this is the way it worked in America, and maybe a few other places?
Yeah, I’ve been to the US a few years ago and things seemed to flow better. However, it is very difficult to judge such is the space they have and I was in Florida where the traffic wasn’t too manic.
I just can’t see it working in this country. Can you honestly see ‘BMW 3-series Man’ sitting patiently at 50 in the fast lane behind someone driving something as common as a Vauxhall or Toyota? You have to bear in mind being a ■■■■■■ is the major part of their DNA!! 
hammer:
I just can’t see it working in this country. Can you honestly see ‘BMW 3-series Man’ sitting patiently at 50 in the fast lane behind someone driving something as common as a Vauxhall or Toyota?
But thats the thing, there wouldn’t be a fast lane? I mentioned this on here before and one of the guys replied something like ‘yeah but you would get someone going slow in the fast lane and spoil it’ !! I thought thats the whole point !!! We wouldn’t have a fast lane. As such we don’t really have one now, all three of them (at peak times anyway) are just full ?
Hang on a mo arnt the hard shoulders supposed to be kept open in case of accidents?.I think most of us have seen the chaos on the german autobans when theres a shunt,especially on the 2 lane sections.All the traffic has to move over to allow emergency vehicles thro.it takes for ever,to say nothing about the injured lying unattended.With the amount of shunts we have over here i think the hard shoulders should be kept open.
Mike-C:
Someone will correct me if i’m wrong but i thought this is the way it worked in America, and maybe a few other places?
Is it not just in large urban areas ?
Ive some friends who live in LA and i visit quite a bit and they come over here quite a bit.
They get confused when i say on motorways here you keep to the left, they dont understand it, think you can drive in any lane.
In LA tho you can have a 8 lanes going in the one direction but because of the amount of freeways and interchanges say maybe you are wanting the Hollywood Freeway its marked as maybe the outer 4 lanes for 5 miles before it appears so if you were wanting on it you would stay in that lane. Works but there is much more lanes than our standard 3 lane motorways here. In LA you gotta get your lanes right because suddenly find it goes from 8 lanes down to three and its impossible to get across unless you were in the right lane from the start.
Also in LA speed limits lower 55h# nd most people i saw anyways tend to stick to it because a lot more police and they are ■■■■■■■■■ So everyone crusing in different lanes isnt as much as a problem because vehicles typically traveling at the same speed. Here you would get people undertaking you ar 70-80mph. The speed of cars on the motorways here scares the crap outta them espec when its busy.
In Glasgow kinda similar on the M8 its more a get into lane situation than keep to the left. Like near Townhead where you can leave the motorway from the fast lane. Kinda works there but always get people messing about. Like going westbound you have 5 lanes, first two are for the city centre and other three are for staying on the M8. The three lanes for the M8 are allways busy so get people ducking into the first two lanes then trying to cut in at the last moment.
Think its hard to bring in stuff from other coutries to here, we always do it half arsed. Like car pool lanes, bus lanes. Got them in LA but major difference is a city street in LA can be 8 lanes wide so not as much as a problem losing a lane to buses. Here you get a two lane road and you loose one lane to buses and sudddenly all the cars are struggling on one lane and creates congestion.
personally i think its a stupid idea especially when you look up and down the lanes of traffic and see just how many cars have more than 1 person in them, not alot i can tell you why dont people become more social and car share.
If every car with 1 person in shared with someone else then you could almost cut traffic in half 
Hard shoulders should be kept clear for emergancy vehicles and emergancys only.
all those cars you see with one person in them have you thought they are not all going to same place starting and finishing same times, you sound as if you are one of the get freight on rail brigade come on now keep the sensible feed back up