The westbound slip of J3 of the M55 has had one lane closed for a couple of weeks now, due to the most minor of road works.
Each day during rush hour, queues of up to 3/4 of a mile form back onto the motorway.
People wising to leave at J3, keep in lane 3 ?till the last minute; having passed the stationary queue in lanes 1 and 2
This leads to all three lanes being blocked or at best moving very slowly.
Drivers approaching J3 brake, drivers behind over-compensate and a shock wave of stationary traffic is sent back down the M55 towards the 4 lane M6 {the country's major motorway in terms of vehicles per day - more use the M6 in Lancashire than any part of the M25 {London orbital}.
Meanwhile on the slip road, the cause of the hold up for thousands of people, one man works with one pick for 6 hours per day.
On major road like this, why oh why can we not have 24 operations under floodlight and have the job done in a day ???????????
In LA {USA}, after an earthquake a few years ago, they re-built about 6 miles of collapsed elevated highway in as many weeks. About 2 years ago, the Highways Agency all but closed the M6 / M55 junction for 3 months to paint a few flyovers ?pathetic. Several major accidents occurred in these roadworks, the worst I was stuck in, the M6 was closed for about 10 hours ?the whole of the Northwest was in grid lock ? I do not know if lives were lost ? if they were who do you think was to blame, the driver who ?caused? the crash {it could so easily have been you or I} or the Highways Agency?
All to paint a bridge !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I've read that one fatal accident costs the state over £1,000,000. Each year many people die as a result of such roadworks . Yes ultimately a driver has caused the accident by making a mistake, but the actions of the Highways Agency make accidents far more likely.
The highway agency blaming the driver for the accident is a bit like the government blaming everything on foot and mouth. BSE ? blame someone else.
But when will it end, the colour of the government changes nothing.
Such ?penny pinching? roadworks are a false economy and wreck lives.
Sorry to HJ-ers from the SW and Home Counties who do not know of the M6 ? the UK?s first motorway, or the M55, the first purpose built ?holiday motorway?.
Alex.
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The HA spend a fortune on Lane Rental Projects with 24 Hour working and maintain three lanes by using the hard shoulder and narrower lanes 2&3.
People complain about the state of the roads and then complain when they are repaired.
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I have noticed that the gas company (Transco?) seems to have been replacing an awful lot of mains over the last year or so: fair enough, the old iron pipes are worn out, but they seem to dig as many holes as possible, make the coned off area as large as possible, and even store materials such as pipes on coned off road when there is acres of pavement adjacent where they could have been kept.
The major route into London from the north-east, at Tottenham, was subjected to this for four or five months, with a major junction half blocked, when IMHO the job could have been completed in four weeks max.
Is BG being paid a backhander to cause as much disruption as possible? It certainly seems like it.
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