Is that a good thing, or a bad thing? Are we at peak motorway coverage?
Keyed_ on
What this does ignore is that we’ve built a fair amount of dual carriageways that most people would consider a motorway, it’s just not up to motorway specification.
HotelPuzzleheaded654 on
Highways England have spent most of their time introducing smart motorways only to have to build back in safety areas shortly afterwards.
AcademicIncrease8080 on
If this had happened over a period of mass infrastructure projects in new national railways, new cycle lanes everywhere, trams, metros, mass public transport investment outside of London – then it would be more forgiveable
But that’s not what happened, we haven’t been constructing new motorways **nor** new railways, metros or public transport (well we did put bus fares up from £2 to £3, that’s a change of sorts) – state infrastructure spending in the UK is permanently hamstrung by penny pinching Scrooge’s in the Treasury who think the way to growth is by not investing in anything
China on the other hand built ~27,000 miles of high speed rail in the last 20 years, pretty much from scratch – luckily for them they don’t have HMT „policy experts“ advising. In contrast the UK has 67 miles (HS1), and HS2 is „on track“ to being probably the most expensive railway in history, when it is eventually completed.
Major_Alps_5597 on
we’re pretty well covered to be honest. other than a motorway crossing the pennines to connect manchester and sheffield i can;’t think of any routes that aren’t already there
Inucroft on
Fuck motorways, we need a restoration of lost rail
spinosaurs70 on
Even as someone who hates cars, that’s almost impressively low.
TheDawiWhisperer on
Because they’ve been busy building and rebuilding the m621 outside Leeds for shits and giggles since 2016
Fox_love_ on
Our government doesn’t have money for new motorways but have enough money to pay landlords to subsidize rent of underpaid workers (aka Housing benefit) or to provide free housing for illegal migrants coming by boats without identity documents 🤔
Positive_Caramel2525 on
They should dig out the plans they had for the M31 that was going to connect the M4 with the M25 at J10 with the A3 and cutting across the M3 at Bagshot/Lightwater (J3 of the M3). They did make a start of it when they built the motorway which now the A329(M), but that stopped at Bracknell and was then abandoned. I wonder if if was because the motorway would have had to cross Crown Estate south of Ascot / Windsor.
Talysn on
so?
The more worrying thing is the lack of public transport investment.
we need better busses, better and more local trains, metro lines and cycle lanes.
paulywauly99 on
Does that include additional dual carriageway or widening of existing motorway?
untruth-social-6666 on
Don’t see the issue, I love nothing more than sitting on an A road for hours on end because of a lane closure (British sarcasm, sorry)
alexvladv on
I know potholes that are far way older than that. They did build a bike path though, that’s something I guess
jaju123 on
Apparently the USA has added 1274 miles in the past decade
adm010 on
Can we just improve what we have? Near me in Cheltenham, its north junction is only one way which causes a lot of traffic having to drive through bits of town to get to the southern 2 way junction. To be fair there is a plan to sort this out, but it’s been going near 5 years and is still in planning g and approval stages. Sorting this type of thing would be of more benefit than more tarmac (in many places not all obvs)
496847257281 on
Need to put some more effort in public transportation and active travel quite honestly. More roads isn’t going to magically solve our problems.
captain_todger on
We don’t necessarily need more. We need to apply our understanding of traffic flow to the roads (which we have not done, and which the smart motorway scheme actively goes against)
BissoumaTequila on
Curious how much we have done post Brexit considering a lot of EU money is given on transport – especially roads.
Teh_yak on
Under the Tories, seeing as they’ve had the most effect on the time in question, what was actually invested in? Road? Rail? Busses? Biking? Walking?
Anything?
scottrobertson on
For context, China added 50,000km of highways in 2024
Soundtones on
Not sure we need more. We need less cars on the road.
Too many people. And public transport is too fuckin expensive.
rolo_mug on
I think they should focus on roads that don’t need extensive courses in evasive driving to navigate
Jeffreys_therapist on
You want to be
• removing choke points
• widening existing routes
• removing poor drivers/driving habits (re-testing every 10 years)
• adding capacity for diversions when closures are required
FibonacciNeuron on
What did you expect with austerity? You cut public funding, you have no roads, no healthcare, no schools. It’s 101.
Princ3Ch4rming on
Are all of those 65 miles of motorway just the Smart Motorway downgrades in the northern half of the M1?
Bennjoon on
Almost like the Conservatives weren’t investing any tax money in things we actually needed and instead funnelling it to their mates.
AlchemyFire on
The UK doesn’t need new motorways, it needs to upgrade existing motorways and A roads.
542Archiya124 on
Thats because we are too busy pretending to be Americans driving suvs around so we had to spend more time widening the roads instead
Skeet_fighter on
It’s taken over 10 years of partial closures to add one lane to half a mile of the A1.
Imagine how much motorway could have been added if there were ever actually poeple working on these sites when you go past them.
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30 Kommentare
Is that a good thing, or a bad thing? Are we at peak motorway coverage?
What this does ignore is that we’ve built a fair amount of dual carriageways that most people would consider a motorway, it’s just not up to motorway specification.
Highways England have spent most of their time introducing smart motorways only to have to build back in safety areas shortly afterwards.
If this had happened over a period of mass infrastructure projects in new national railways, new cycle lanes everywhere, trams, metros, mass public transport investment outside of London – then it would be more forgiveable
But that’s not what happened, we haven’t been constructing new motorways **nor** new railways, metros or public transport (well we did put bus fares up from £2 to £3, that’s a change of sorts) – state infrastructure spending in the UK is permanently hamstrung by penny pinching Scrooge’s in the Treasury who think the way to growth is by not investing in anything
China on the other hand built ~27,000 miles of high speed rail in the last 20 years, pretty much from scratch – luckily for them they don’t have HMT „policy experts“ advising. In contrast the UK has 67 miles (HS1), and HS2 is „on track“ to being probably the most expensive railway in history, when it is eventually completed.
we’re pretty well covered to be honest. other than a motorway crossing the pennines to connect manchester and sheffield i can;’t think of any routes that aren’t already there
Fuck motorways, we need a restoration of lost rail
Even as someone who hates cars, that’s almost impressively low.
Because they’ve been busy building and rebuilding the m621 outside Leeds for shits and giggles since 2016
Our government doesn’t have money for new motorways but have enough money to pay landlords to subsidize rent of underpaid workers (aka Housing benefit) or to provide free housing for illegal migrants coming by boats without identity documents 🤔
They should dig out the plans they had for the M31 that was going to connect the M4 with the M25 at J10 with the A3 and cutting across the M3 at Bagshot/Lightwater (J3 of the M3). They did make a start of it when they built the motorway which now the A329(M), but that stopped at Bracknell and was then abandoned. I wonder if if was because the motorway would have had to cross Crown Estate south of Ascot / Windsor.
so?
The more worrying thing is the lack of public transport investment.
we need better busses, better and more local trains, metro lines and cycle lanes.
Does that include additional dual carriageway or widening of existing motorway?
Don’t see the issue, I love nothing more than sitting on an A road for hours on end because of a lane closure (British sarcasm, sorry)
I know potholes that are far way older than that. They did build a bike path though, that’s something I guess
Apparently the USA has added 1274 miles in the past decade
Can we just improve what we have? Near me in Cheltenham, its north junction is only one way which causes a lot of traffic having to drive through bits of town to get to the southern 2 way junction. To be fair there is a plan to sort this out, but it’s been going near 5 years and is still in planning g and approval stages. Sorting this type of thing would be of more benefit than more tarmac (in many places not all obvs)
Need to put some more effort in public transportation and active travel quite honestly. More roads isn’t going to magically solve our problems.
We don’t necessarily need more. We need to apply our understanding of traffic flow to the roads (which we have not done, and which the smart motorway scheme actively goes against)
Curious how much we have done post Brexit considering a lot of EU money is given on transport – especially roads.
Under the Tories, seeing as they’ve had the most effect on the time in question, what was actually invested in? Road? Rail? Busses? Biking? Walking?
Anything?
For context, China added 50,000km of highways in 2024
Not sure we need more. We need less cars on the road.
Too many people. And public transport is too fuckin expensive.
I think they should focus on roads that don’t need extensive courses in evasive driving to navigate
You want to be
• removing choke points
• widening existing routes
• removing poor drivers/driving habits (re-testing every 10 years)
• adding capacity for diversions when closures are required
What did you expect with austerity? You cut public funding, you have no roads, no healthcare, no schools. It’s 101.
Are all of those 65 miles of motorway just the Smart Motorway downgrades in the northern half of the M1?
Almost like the Conservatives weren’t investing any tax money in things we actually needed and instead funnelling it to their mates.
The UK doesn’t need new motorways, it needs to upgrade existing motorways and A roads.
Thats because we are too busy pretending to be Americans driving suvs around so we had to spend more time widening the roads instead
It’s taken over 10 years of partial closures to add one lane to half a mile of the A1.
Imagine how much motorway could have been added if there were ever actually poeple working on these sites when you go past them.