wing-nut:
Having recently been stuck at Dartford tunnel northbound for 2 hours it got me thinking, the Hindhead tunnel is actually longer than Dartford and causes no hold ups, has no speed or height restrictions, or hazardous restrictions that I’m aware of, and it’s free, in fact it’s a pleasure to drive through it. So why should Dartford be so much different, I know there’s more traffic but it’s 4 lanes on approach and 4 lanes through tunnels so the only reason I can see for these constant delays is bad management.
To be fair I think more traffic may be an understatement!
As Luke has said, days of problem free driving in Europe then arrive in England to a problem by HA which is not fit for purpose.
What is the paving slabs for a road surface on the M25 Leatherhead area, cab shaking to bits, it feels like an Aeroflot plane trying to
take off.
wing-nut:
Having recently been stuck at Dartford tunnel northbound for 2 hours it got me thinking, the Hindhead tunnel is actually longer than Dartford and causes no hold ups, has no speed or height restrictions, or hazardous restrictions that I’m aware of, and it’s free, in fact it’s a pleasure to drive through it. So why should Dartford be so much different, I know there’s more traffic but it’s 4 lanes on approach and 4 lanes through tunnels so the only reason I can see for these constant delays is bad management.
To be fair I think more traffic may be an understatement!
wing-nut:
Having recently been stuck at Dartford tunnel northbound for 2 hours it got me thinking, the Hindhead tunnel is actually longer than Dartford and causes no hold ups, has no speed or height restrictions, or hazardous restrictions that I’m aware of, and it’s free, in fact it’s a pleasure to drive through it. So why should Dartford be so much different, I know there’s more traffic but it’s 4 lanes on approach and 4 lanes through tunnels so the only reason I can see for these constant delays is bad management.
Firstly the speed limit in the Darford tunnel is lower and lane widths and amounts are marginal for overtaking.In which case slow running vehicles have less chance of causing bunching and tailbacks in the Hindhead type tunnel than Dartford’s.IE two relatively narrow lanes through two seperate tunnels isn’t the same thing as a fast running multi lane tunnel with decent lane widths.
Although having said that the Hindhead tunnel has obviously just attracted more traffic onto the A3 that probably would have used the M25/M23 or M3 previously.Thereby causing more traffic issues between London and Guildford and on its Northern approach entries and therefore more potential for hold ups and slower journey times than previously.You only need to see the traffic chaos that often occurs in and around New Malden,Tolworth,Esher,Cobham and through Guildford and general traffic volumes and speed difference,since the Hindhead tunnel was opened,to see that the A3 is now taking more than its fair share away from those other London Sussex/Hampshire routes.IE the fact is it was arguably a counter productive waste of money that has created more traffic problems than it solved.
Carryfast, you are a , you do not know what you are talking about, do us all a favour, and shut up with your long winded waffle and utter bull manure ■■■ ■■■.
toby1234abc:
Carryfast, you are a , you do not know what you are talking about, do us all a favour, and shut up with your long winded waffle and utter bull manure ■■■ ■■■.
Let me guess you’re one of the lot who thinks you can drive through the Dartford tunnel as fast as you can the Hindhead one.
While having been a regular user of the A3 at least since the late 1970’s and lived in its northern approaches area since well before that,feel free to tell me which part I’ve got wrong,concerning the traffic levels using it and generated by it now,compared to before the Hindhead tunnel was put in.
wing-nut:
Having recently been stuck at Dartford tunnel northbound for 2 hours it got me thinking, the Hindhead tunnel is actually longer than Dartford and causes no hold ups, has no speed or height restrictions, or hazardous restrictions that I’m aware of, and it’s free, in fact it’s a pleasure to drive through it. So why should Dartford be so much different, I know there’s more traffic but it’s 4 lanes on approach and 4 lanes through tunnels so the only reason I can see for these constant delays is bad management.
That’s mainly due to the many decades that have passed between the building of each of them. Every time an engineering project like that is done the civil engineers learn a little more or create a new technique. In 40 years you’ll think the Hindhead tunnel is old hat compared to the latest newest built tunnel.
toby1234abc:
Carryfast, you are a , you do not know what you are talking about, do us all a favour, and shut up with your long winded waffle and utter bull manure ■■■ ■■■.
I think the restrictions on hazardous freight etc are largely down to the way the Dartford tunnel dips down under the river, meaning that any spillages of liquids or heavier-than-air gas would tend to pool in the tunnel. The Hindhead tunnel slopes gently down from South to North, so such spillages will drain out naturally.
switchlogic:
Hello peeps. I thought I’d share a blog post about the above subject. I’m gonna try hard to make someone listen to me so all your comments would be helpful. It’s become so bad its almost unbelievable.
having looked at your post I can report that the M54 will be shut for a while yet at night as they are re surfacing it between j3- 5 on nights, we have been running to it for the last 2/3 weeks, and we’ve not got to j 4 yet! so that’s sure to over run as we were booked for 42 straight nights, but not over the bank holiday!
Not sure about buggering up the economy though, for that to take place there would have to be shortages, and deliveries not taking place not just a bit late, I don’t know about you but I would rather have smooth roads, more money in my pocket and wait a day longer for my internet bought parcel to arrive !
The shear numbers employed during these works is unbelievable and many firms taking part in these on going works will be doing very well !
yes folk will be inconvenienced by these night time road works but many more would would suffer if the works were done in the day, also how many moan about the state of the roads?
Moose:
Not sure about buggering up the economy though, for that to take place there would have to be shortages, and deliveries not taking place not just a bit late, I don’t know about you but I would rather have smooth roads, more money in my pocket and wait a day longer for my internet bought parcel to arrive !
Not really. That’s a very narrow view of what the economy is. Just because everything arrives doesn’t mean it didn’t cause economic damage down the line. Companies passing penalties for being late, needing more drivers and trucks because what should be easy overnight trunks become impossible, paying drivers more because they can spend an extra two or three hours a shift sat in traffic. Plenty of economic damage. The fact there aren’t shortages just shows the transport industry is pretty ■■■■ good at what it does despite Highways England doing the best to ■■■■ everything up.
If you read the piece I wrote you’d see that I accept the work needs to be done, but is closing the main route (M6), the alternate route (M6 Toll), two lanes before the closed route (M6/A38(M), diverting everything through Wolverhampton, closing the M54 and further along the A5 seem like good planning to you? Because to me it strikes me of a typical government shambles. You may happy to wait for your parcel but lots of us aren’t happy to spend 2/3 hours in traffic and going round the houses in the middle of the night just because a few civil servants don’t know what they are doing.
I love that video about the building of the M1. They mention several times how they built 90 miles in 18 months. If they did it at todays speeds it still wouldn’t be half done.
As for smooth roads… In the UK? Thanks for the chuckle
a while back i had the misfortune of following a diversion route off the M6 at jct 5 and along the fort parkway.
getting around the island at the old bromford steel mill (A4040) was chaotic as i had an artic on tow.
no one would give way to let me take a wide swing and then do a right turn to get towards the tyburn rd as the traffic was stop start near enough stationary.
and all because i was 10 minutes over the closure time of 10pm.
unfortunately these routes don’t take all size vehicles into account,along with the traffic speeds.
Over the last 8 months they’ve been shutting the M1 & M62 near Wakefield. On at least two occasions they’ve managed to shut the south bound M1 (j39-j42 area) & the eastbound M62 (j30-j32) on the same night.
Anyway noticed tonight M1 shut at j41 southbd, thought I’d take dog for a walk at top end of town, A61 area. No trucks. Walks on to A650 junction & instead of turn left for A61 they’re all going straight on into town -narrow-ish, one way system & at a crucial right turn no signage. After,as I’m driving home through town only spots an Eddie here coming from King St on right on to Silver St goo.gl/maps/WWrzg (if link doesn’t work have a gander on googlemap). Drove round one way system,5 mins -thought he might want someone to watch him back- just in time to see his back end disappear & his helpers disappear back to their pubs & drinks. It had to be an Eddie. I am surprised no else did though as no signing. Just rung Highways Eng (HE) up to tell them that their diversion is (zb) & there is a major sign missing at the A61/A650 traffic lights Leeds Rd/Bradford Rd junction, they said they’ll try to sort it - but if anyone else goes down King st & does any damage, send HE the bill.
I’ve been getting the hump of late when they decide to close the A45 east off the M1 J15, The M1 Northbound from Catthorpe J19, and the stretch from J16-J18 all at the same time.
OK, so that latter one might have been due to an accident - but it ain’t a barrel of laughs being tipped off through Weedon (Yeh, I’ve got a weedon alright! ), and up the A5, stop start artic traffic all the way to DIRFT, when you hit another load of bother with southbound M1 traffic being sent through the Dirft estate to clog up the roundabouts there.
Other “Ill-thought-out” bother includes things like Shutting the Fore Street tunnel on the A406 when the M25 has been either shut completely, or put down to one lane - as happens often of late.
I can only assume the people who plan these road closures are not capable of the joined-up-thought of “considering the knock-on effect to relief roads” … GrraaGGH!
Then pottering along on a better night… I too have seen the signs like “A14 closed J34-36” when I’m heading folkstoneward down the M20 FFS…
And what are those “J20 20 miles 20 minutes” signs there for? They only apply to drivers doing exactly 60mph - right?
Wouldn’t it be great if we actually got some worthy data on those gantry signs?
“Queue on Slip Road at J20” - when you are heading actually towards it at the time…
“Long delays J10-J18” on the M25 is also useful - when you are going up Reigate Hill rather than heading towards Gatwick Airport as well.
the maoster:
J20 20 miles 20 minutes tells me that traffic is free flowing, any longer and I know I’m facing a delay of some sort.
It will be a delay if I’m travelling in the opposite direction to start with… Many’s the time I’ve been bollocked by TM’s for being “Off-Route” over the years, but it’s never doing 180 degrees in the wrong direction.
Happy sole:
This is the best can of worms ever opened on trucknet cheers Luke,
All I would like to see happen for maybe one week as a trial switch off all the managed motorway systems especially the M42
Switch of the poxy matrix signs with all the lies they tell us y the [zb] do I need to no if some motorway is apparently shut even if I’m 200mile away crazy
Park up all the highway patrol cars and the muppets who drive them make them pick up the litter and ■■■■ bottles from the lay byes
Let’s go back to basics never seemed to have half the problems as we do now since these systems where put to use on our motorways is easy for someone to shut a motorway down from some nice warm control room for some stupid reason they really do not seem to grasp the effect it has on people’s daily lives and the economy
we wouldn’t have to pick up ■■■■ bottles and litter if Neanderthal drivers learned to use the toilet and bin.
M1 closed southbd at j41 again tonight, but dog missed out on a 2nd walk, I went to the pub. But just had a look on ‘Traffic England’ & you’ve got to laugh. The M1 is shut, if after Tuesdays unsigned diversion debacle you think ‘(zb) to going thru’ Wakefield’ I’ll go M62 Ferrybridge A1,M18 & back to M1, yes you’ve guessed, no access from M62 j32A to A1 south ( I notice the two VMS signs at j32 don’t bother to mention this closure or that j33 is an easy alternative) - & i assume the diversion is up to A1M j42 & back …8 miles. For the icing on the cake the A1M j35 exit southbd is closed. j35 is the M18 junction. You couldn’t make it up. Joined up thinking at it’s best.
A few moths ago I was driving bak to southend from bristol starting at 11.00pm. More of the M4 was down to 50 mph and down to single lane than was not. It was then closed near Reading and a diversion till the next junction, Signs saying M25 North shut so went south. Suddenly, before the M3 signs saying M25 south shut so turned around and went north and was diverted into London on the A10. Got to the A127 which was shut from the M25 so went on to the A13. Halfway to Basildon the A13 was shut and we got diverted back to the A127. Eventually got to Southend.
Have driven across Europe and never experience anything like the UK road closures at night.
), and up the A5, stop start artic traffic all the way to DIRFT, when you hit another load of bother with southbound M1 traffic being sent through the Dirft estate to clog up the roundabouts there. 
