M1 road widening
 

Just heard on the radio the local plod chatting about the widening scheme between 10 and 8 of the M1. Apparently it's going to take 3 years with the added bonus that the cameras that take your average speed between the whole roadworks will be used, which I though was a nice touch. The speed limit for the 3 carriageways on both sides seperated by concrete barriers is a massive 40 mph.

Then when that is done, work will begin on widening from junction 8 to 6a. So all in all it might just be completed in a total of 5 years, great since my commute is junction 10 to junction 6.

Nice :rolleyes: Time to use the now ruined rabbit run (cos of speed cameras, it used to be a good blat in the open sections)

Cheers for the heads up, time to avoid teh M1 like thge plague then.

Brilliant news (several threads on this now).

To be honest, during rush hour, if I could do 40 mph I'd be a happy man!

When it's not rush hour you'll still be doing 40 mph too or you'll be criminalised :) And in five years time when it's all completed you'll be still stuck in a traffic jam.

Wasn't it the norm to have roadworks etc on motorways to have speed limits of 50 and not 40?

What is the point of extra lanes, when all people do is stay in the middle lane?

;)

They have been doing road widening work at junction 34 of the m1(meadowhall turn off) since 2002,Every time you pass the place,there is alway's a couple of workmen changing the completion date on the road sign's,Originally it was sept 2004,needless to say this deadline has been and gone,the last time i saw it was june 2006,Not far off then guy's :nono:

I've seen a report on them roadworks on TV. It's a disgrace that these things should take so long. I doubt that whole freeways in the US and Japan take so long to rebuild after an earthquake, let alone widening the road.

It probably took a shorter amount of time to build a whole motorway in this country years ago than it does to widen one now.

the construction companies make lots of money tho... and the stupid government pay it... no wonder it takes so long.

once again its the people at the top that are to blame

I see no reason why the construction companies cannot work 24/7 on these projects - stopping to ease traffic at Bank Holidays etc. This should be a compulsory element of all m'way contracts. IMHO of course ... but hey, that would be too sensible wouldn't it .... ??

Dave

also why only do one bit then the next why not just do the whole lot in one go?

And if it takes say a month to do a mile why not have 4 teams of people working e.g. each doing their mile so that the whole 4 mile stretch gets done in 1 month? i am sure they can get it to line up they manage to build bridges over rivers that meet in the middle for example.

I think the fundemental thing is that congestion isnt a cost the Government cares about if it was they would dump all the bus lanes and stop widening empty pavements by reducing road lanes.

Makes me glad my commute is a 6 mile back road blast! :)

Day in the life of a person doing this type of work, includes train maintenance etc.....

1. Arrive.

2. Bacon butty.

3. Tea/coffee.

4. Chat

5. Stand, scratching head evaluating task.

6. Tea/coffee.

7. Aimlessly move some equipment about.

8. Lunch.

9. Stand, scratching head evaluating task.

10. Dig a hole or two.

11. Tea/coffee.

12. Sit in van, feet on dashboard, listen to football/cricket etc.

13. Stand, scratching head evaluating task.

14. Go home.

You forgot

13a. Fill in holes dug in step 10.

Actually the Gov. does care about congestion. The more there is the more dosh they get from those caught up in it (more fuel consumption!!). They therefore have zero interest in reducing it. In fact, apparently, when a town/council wants to get a bypass, for example, the costings have to include the loss to the exchequer of petrol tax due to the fact that cars are now using less of it ....

The priority *should* be less congestion as you say AND you can do this without affecting other (more vulnerable, in PC parlance) road users. Instead they cause congestion for various reasons. a) more tax take from fuel b) more *proof* of the need for road tolling to cut congestion which is c) a way to replace fuel tax as vehicles become more efficient and use alternative fuels (they'll have to when oil runs out) and d) a way to thus watch over us/control us even more.

Dave

So why is it that 40mph is becoming the norm for motorway roadworks and not 50mph? The A303 in Wiltshire goes from dual carriageway to single carriageway, dropping from 70mph to 60mph. So, when they have contraflows to clear an entire carriageway, why 50 or 40?

The "more congestion, more money for the government" theory makes a lot of sense.

I can't understand the 40mph limit either, especially as most roadworks now have those heavy steel barriers between the traffic and workforce. I'm all for a bit of safety, but by the time the 'slow down for the speed camera' brigade have hit the brakes, the traffic is down to 35mph - HALF the speed limit a few yards before. More than once I've re-applied some gas on entering a 40 limit for fear of someone rear-ending me!

I work shifts so I do junctions 11 to 5 when it's quiet, but I normally go down the A5 in the mornings and join at 9. Depending how bad it looks, I sometimes go straight on towards Hemel and join at 8 and on the odd occasion I've gone towards St Albans which eventually gets me on at 6.

This obviously also works in reverse on the way home.

Dave.

Don't know where you get that from :confused: 2% to 4% profit would not be unusual on normal construction contracts including roads. I guess there're a lot of IT bods on here for whom 50% profit would be acceptable, and banking, legal types for whom 100% would be minimum.

Poorly rewarded and poorly paid. Annoying thing is that the banks and lawyers don't apply their own values when contracting construction work :mad:

V, I can't believe you haven't seen the signs on the motorway.
I noticed them on Saturday night (near you).

p.s. Isn't this topic a repost?

:p

Apparently the new lane, once it eventually opens, will be a special lane only for vehicles with more than one person.

It gets better :D:D

Nick, Ive known about the widening for ages, its just the specifics of certain aspects I was unaware of, like the 40 limit and the use of time/distance speed cameras

So its going to take 5 years for one extra lane between J10 and J6, by which time traffic would have increased by x factor. Why, oh why do they not just bite the bullet and put two extra lanes on?

That wouldn't be kind to the environment now would it ;)

BTW I've always thought EBC brakes to be pants........give me a free set of race pads (front) for a late 944 Turbo and I'll see if my mind changes :D