One Junction, 73 Sets of Traffic Lights

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Tue 6 Jan 2004 13:32
One Junction, 73 Sets of Traffic Lights - pdc {P}
Bought the Daily Mail today, as it's running a diet that sounds interesting, and there is an article, with a photo, about a roundabout at the end of the M27 in Portsmouth that has been replaced with an intersection with 73 sets of traffic lights. A spokesperson said that there were only two accidents on the first day of operation.

Oh, and the leader of the council, who is defending the £5 million project, doesn't have a driving license, just a push bike.
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Tue 6 Jan 2004 14:19
One Junction, 73 Sets of Traffic Lights - patently
"Only" two accidents a day. That'll be fine then.

I'm heading that way next week. Please keep me in your thoughts in case I end up at that junction. I usually gravitate towards nightmares like that when I get lost.
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Tue 6 Jan 2004 14:26
One Junction, 73 Sets of Traffic Lights - A Dent{P}
I know this junction. It used to be a large roundabout.
As a roundabout it worked fine. Then round 10 years ago someone went mad with a new set of quite stupid road markings, demarcating new lanes and then added nice confusing dotted white lines to show where you could change lane. Confusing because no other road layout had them and there was nothing wrong with the original set up. This roundabout was not an accident black spot but could be very busy with fast traffic at peak time.
The only problem I could see was that the traffic coming from the IBM HQ used western road to get onto the M27/M275 and that could be heavily tailed back at peak time.
Now it has been turned into a humungous set of lights, but it seems to work ok at the times I have used them.
I don?t have to use them at peak times so they could be a headache for some, especially if you don?t know the layout.
Incidentally SHMBO now avoids that route, lest she finds herself in the wrong lane.
I suppose the planners thought something had to be done as a lot of redevelopment is going on in the area and that must attract even more traffic. Time will tell whether it works.
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Tue 6 Jan 2004 17:20
One Junction, 73 Sets of Traffic Lights - AdrianM
I used to use this roundabout every day for over 5 years. I remember the odd prang and an elderly cyclist hurt during that time. The traffic moved fast but it was a big roundabout and (IMHO) no more dangerous than many other stretches of road in Portsmouth. The junction is a farce and from my (limited) experience it has not decreased queueing time at all.

Have to disagree about the lines on the roundabout. If you have good lane discipline they guide you logically around the roundabout - they only made it confusing for those who drift/cut across lanes. However, they should not be needed. Anyone who has passed their test can navigate a roundabout, right?
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Tue 6 Jan 2004 14:32
One Junction, 73 Sets of Traffic Lights - Andrew-T
Leader of council should be able to make a totally unbiased judgment then? :-)
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Tue 6 Jan 2004 17:29
One Junction, 73 Sets of Traffic Lights - CM
Bought the Daily Mail today, as it's running a diet that
sounds interesting,


:-} best reason I've ever heard to buy this rag!!!!!!!



and there is an article, with a photo, about
a roundabout at the end of the M27 in Portsmouth that
has been replaced with an intersection with 73 sets of traffic
lights. A spokesperson said that there were only two accidents on
the first day of operation.

Oh, and the leader of the council, who is defending the
£5 million project, doesn't have a driving license, just a push
bike.



Only £5m. Think I might move there so that they can waste my council tax on useless bits of road garbage. Makes the £1m for a 1/4 mile bus lane (which only has one of those small hoppa buses running on it) look not quite as bad as I thought.
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Tue 6 Jan 2004 19:16
One Junction, 73 Sets of Traffic Lights - BazzaBear {P}
Only £5m. Think I might move there so that they can
waste my council tax on useless bits of road garbage. Makes
the £1m for a 1/4 mile bus lane (which only has
one of those small hoppa buses running on it) look not
quite as bad as I thought.

How do they come up with such unfeasibly large costs? God knows they must waste so much. Could you imagine a private building company, say a housing company, coming up with such huge costs?
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