The A34
Welcome to the worst maintained road in Britain. The A34 running between Winchester and Bicester must be one of the busiest and most important non-motorways in the country (with the exception of the A1). It carries all the freight traffic to and from the south coast ports to the Midlands and North, via the M40 through Birmingham, or via Northampton to the M1. It is the one of the most rutted, uncomfortable and crowded roads in the country. There are a series of tramlines between Didcot and Oxford where lorries have worn holes in the road surface. There are vast numbers of patches on the road between Hinksey Hill and Botley, and the road north of Pear Tree sounds like several aircraft taking off.
The latter of these is being sorted - the road is being closed for about a year while they resurface. This will just add to the woes of drivers attempting to get into or round Oxford. Abingdon Road, the main route into Oxford centre from the south, is almost permanently dug up for roadworks. It has been dug up for 9 months this time, just a year after it was resurfaced (which took about a year). At least the juction with the M4 has been sorted - this now works quite well. Just another 40 miles to go.
Botley itself is quite ridiculous. The speed limit reduces to 50 mph due to the narrowness and the weakness of the road/bridge, but the traffic levels continue to increase. A blockage on that part of the road (and they are extremely frequent), causes untold losses in people's time, and unmeasurable hold ups.
Once you have successfully negotiated the Oxford ring road, the next obstacle is the several mile queue for the lights at the end of the road, the junction to the M40. While the M40 is generally the fastest road in the country (driving at 85 mph in the inside lane, there is a vast line of cars passing you at speed in both outside lanes), the delay in getting on to it reduces the average speed considerably. The solution is simple - make this junction into a motorway style intersection, exactly the same as the A34/M4 one.
And finally - the Newbury by-pass part of the A34 has the shortest slipways in existence to get onto and off the main carriageway. I often wonder why there are not more serious accidents.
That's enough about a road.
The latter of these is being sorted - the road is being closed for about a year while they resurface. This will just add to the woes of drivers attempting to get into or round Oxford. Abingdon Road, the main route into Oxford centre from the south, is almost permanently dug up for roadworks. It has been dug up for 9 months this time, just a year after it was resurfaced (which took about a year). At least the juction with the M4 has been sorted - this now works quite well. Just another 40 miles to go.
Botley itself is quite ridiculous. The speed limit reduces to 50 mph due to the narrowness and the weakness of the road/bridge, but the traffic levels continue to increase. A blockage on that part of the road (and they are extremely frequent), causes untold losses in people's time, and unmeasurable hold ups.
Once you have successfully negotiated the Oxford ring road, the next obstacle is the several mile queue for the lights at the end of the road, the junction to the M40. While the M40 is generally the fastest road in the country (driving at 85 mph in the inside lane, there is a vast line of cars passing you at speed in both outside lanes), the delay in getting on to it reduces the average speed considerably. The solution is simple - make this junction into a motorway style intersection, exactly the same as the A34/M4 one.
And finally - the Newbury by-pass part of the A34 has the shortest slipways in existence to get onto and off the main carriageway. I often wonder why there are not more serious accidents.
That's enough about a road.
posted by Jonathan | Tuesday, August 30, 2005
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