Hi all.
All these night closures for roadworks are really starting to get out of hand.Pretty soon the whole road network at night will be closed.
Does the Highways Agency not realise how busy the motorway network is at night and the majority of parcel freight,food deliveries etc run at night.
Runs are planned down to the last minute to make use of the quiet time on the motorways.
The use of double deck trailers are for the motorway network not struggling down tree lined country roads with the possibility of low bridges because of some ill thought out diversion.
Its about time the HA were bought to account.Its costing a fortune in lost time,extra fuel etc.Who will pick up the tab?
This never happened years ago.It was usually a contraflow or 1 lane done at a time.
I might start up an online petition but i doubt that the transport dept in government would listen.
Rich The Stag:
Hi all.
All these night closures for roadworks are really starting to get out of hand.Pretty soon the whole road network at night will be closed.
Does the Highways Agency not realise how busy the motorway network is at night and the majority of parcel freight,food deliveries etc run at night.
Runs are planned down to the last minute to make use of the quiet time on the motorways.
The use of double deck trailers are for the motorway network not struggling down tree lined country roads with the possibility of low bridges because of some ill thought out diversion.
Its about time the HA were bought to account.Its costing a fortune in lost time,extra fuel etc.Who will pick up the tab?
This never happened years ago.It was usually a contraflow or 1 lane done at a time.
I might start up an online petition but i doubt that the transport dept in government would listen.
Regards…
Have to agree, most nights I do Northfleet to Bournemouth and never know exactly where the M3 is going to be shut.
The other night matrix said M25 jct5 closed…no it wasn’t. Next one said M3 jct 2-3 closed, then M3 jct 2-4 closed, then M3 jct 4-6 closed, then M3 jct8 closed.
Also said A3 south was closed so went down A30 instead heading for M3 jct 3 only to find it was 2-4 closed after all.
There was a sign on M25 saying Fleet MSA 14 miles in 17 minutes, took be bloody lot longer than that.
The M5 J7 closure sends you onto the Worcester Southern Link Road which has road works on it. If i know its shut I want go anywhere near it! Problem is i’m loosing track of whats closing when and where, when you go past the little yellow signs its hard to read it all at 50mph? I’v even checked whats closing before I set off but to find the information is wrong, that’s really annoying. M5 J4 a real git to, gone that way thinking its open to find they closed it early!
From April 1st, when Highways Agency becomes a Gov Co, Highways England, they will be accountable, not only to Government, but to two transport groups so you will be able to complain to an independent body.
extrucker:
From April 1st, when Highways Agency becomes a Gov Co, Highways England, they will be accountable, not only to Government, but to two transport groups so you will be able to complain to an independent body.
I’m sure that will make all the difference I take it the start date is just a coincidence then is it?
Just had a look at Highways England strategic business plan, it appears we’re going to get another 400 miles of hard shoulder running
I suspect this problem isn’t going to show signs of improving for a good few years yet, all these smart motorway & concrete barrier installations are major projects. Then of course we have the ongoing upgrading of street lighting to LED’s etc., all happening at once.
Unfortunately, the behaviour of motorists over the years not paying attention, going too fast through the works, crashing through cones etc. & the resulting accidents means that the Highways Agency just plump for closing the road. In many ways it’s a self inflicted issue, can’t expect the HA to put road workers at undue risk. They don’t trust us to drive past them in a safe manner & lets face it, given the amount of tools about can we blame them?
Tell me about it!!! It now takes me longer to do a certain journey in the evening than during the day now. Got kicked off a road 1 minute into journey; then cant divert through Pool/ Bradford (closed both ways); kicked off in Leeds; back around from Hudds god knows how long later, and a massive traffic jam on M62 ( this was at 11:45pm!!), so took myself off at Brighouse and went long way round
I had one the other night that took the biscuit. A605 Peterborough roundabout. Fletton Parkway exit closed. Ok, I’ve seen this before. Diversion takes you north onto A1. As expected, as before, diversion points traffic onto A47. Truck in front goes up, I go up, car behind goes up. We all get to the top and do a grind to a halt when that exit towards Peterborough closed too. A new diversion sign, taking you back into northbound A1 again. So we all head back down on our way. No signs, keep going, still no signs. Well as we know, Stamford next, no go. Realise they’re probably planning on putting a sign at Grantham. I get off way before at Colsterworth and do my own.
I think they put some diversions in (A47 exit) to have a chuckle at the traffic.
Driving from Oxford to East Yorkshire last week, the matrix signs on the M40 told me not to use a mobile phone whilst driving, to take my litter home and I shouldn’t drive whilst tired. What I really wanted them to tell me was that the M42 was closed!
Captain Caveman 76:
Driving from Oxford to East Yorkshire last week, the matrix signs on the M40 told me not to use a mobile phone whilst driving, to take my litter home and I shouldn’t drive whilst tired. What I really wanted them to tell me was that the M42 was closed!
You don’t want much!! M4 w/b was closed tonight from (I think) j10 to 11 ( may have been from 8/9, that was the plan)… I know the diversion is relatively straight forward but once you’d rejoin at j11, steam on up to j12 where it’s shut up to 14!! You’d have thought they could’ve worked that a bit better!
its worse when they close off the alternatives at the same time quite often the a50, m42, m69 all have closures at the same time. why not keep one of the 3 open so you can cut across country without stupid diversions which add extra time onto your journey.
I’m fortunate enough not to have to worry about Tacho’s and to be paid by the hour, so I love it! My nightly trip from Lancashire to Bristol or Luton then back again to Lancashire is taking an extra hour every night so I’m about 5 hrs up each week. It is a joke though, why they can’t concentrate the workforce on doing one bit at a time I don’t know. The roadworks/closures I encounter on a Luton run for example are:
-M60 down to 50mph (and will be until 2017)
-M6 down to 50mph for a brief stretch near Sandbach
-M6 down to 50mph J13-J10
-M6 down to 50mph J9-8
-M6 & M1 down to 50mph Catthorpe to Northampton
Then all the same on the way back but throw in a couple of closures for good measure (M1 J18-19 & M6 J7-9, frequently J11A-13).
steelgoon:
M1 northbound tonight J16-J18 closed. No problem with that, bit why not do the filter from 3-1 more gradually instead of right at the junction??
Doesn’t excuse the Royal Mail and Circle Express arctics from being in Lane 3. Muppets
Travelling from Luton back upto the north west, this cost me well over 1 hour, there was approx 1 mile queue to leave at J16 then when i did get off the motorway the diversion through Flore just cannot handle the volume of traffic. A few tips for the muppets at the Highways Agency:
If there’s a delay of over 1 hour due to a closure, how about letting us know via either the gantry signs or via your useless app which had no details of the delays whatsoever. That way we can seek a simple alternative route (in this case the A5).
Adjust the phasing of the lights on the diversion to enable the diversion to better cope with the volume of traffic. In the case of M1 J16-18 the lights at Weedon (A45/a5 crossroads) could have easily been adjusted to allow much more diversionary traffic through rather than letting loads of fresh air through whilst we’re all sat there like idiots.
Tuesday night Howden to Brackmills at Northampton.
Turns off M1 at J15 to see a road closed sign for the A45 but nothing on the matrixes. Even though the road was supposed to be closed at 8pm and I hit it at 9pm and they were just about to get rolling and closing it so dodged a bullet.
Back on the M1 heading home, M1 closed at J23-23A, M6 closed at J1-2. I went up the A46 to Newark praying the A1 northbound wasn’t closed at Elkesley.
The poor sods are the ones who do what we call the triangle run - Howden to Northampton to Runcorn to Howden. M6 closed J7-9/10, A50 closed westbound and A5 has been closed recently at Cannock. Diversions on the diversions.
Do you remember the Jokes about closed Lines and sleeping highway Maintenance Workers? Not anymore. Now they can sleep in Peace
My issue isn’t with the motorway being closed, it’s the fact the Highways Agency could mitigate the effects of the closures if they actually provided more information (eg gantry signs saying something like “M1 closed J16-18, long delays”. Then people could have gone via the A5 for example. There used to be a searchable database on the HA website of all the planned closures for roadworks, but it is no longer updated so it’s a lottery every night not knowing what’s going to be closed.
Bacon Sandwich:
OK brainiacs, when exactly should the Highways Agency (or whatever they’re called) fix the roads?
In the daytime and cause untold chaos to millions,? or at night when it will only cause disruption to a few thousand?
The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.
Half these closure’s are probably unnecessary
Dont close so many at once. I ran from Holyhead to Dover the other day and ended up on four diversions and a half hour traffic jam at 1am. The number of closures has reached a ridiculous amount.
Stop ■■■■■■■ about with the roads. The UK is a sea of never ending roadworks while they ‘improve’ them. One day I dream of being able to do a simple 4 hour journey without hitting any roadworks. I’m starting to think I’ll never see this in my lifetime. They built the M1 to Watford gap in 18 months in the fifties. Now it takes them a couple of years just to improve a single junction, let alone the rest. If they built the M1 at current speeds they’d probably be still building it now, over 50 years later.
Got to agree, here a post I put on My facebook last autumn
Is there a road thats not closed for roadworks this morning. Crack off from Blyth at 0140 hrs, head south along A1, closed at newark head east along A17, closed at Sleaford sth A15, then east on A52 back on to A17, A10 sth from Kings lynn, to A134 closed at Shouldham, A10 sth to A1122 east, back onto A134 sth, back on track not quite, thetford to elveden, then the link road for HGV’s A11 to A134 closed AHHH !
B1106 to Bury, then onto A14 phew, bloody nightmare, arrive FXT 0530. Now its breakfast smile emoticon
A14 at Cambridge seems to be My bug bear at the moment but its a bloody lottery. Picked up a pamphlet at Felixstowe this week, showing planned A14 Huntingdon Southern bypass, will be a god send if ever carried out, but will be a nightmare during the construction
