A453 Dualling

Hmmm. Having the M69 terminate at Leicester is quite handy for us, I think the A50 is a great road but is plagued by those bloody roundabouts. Some streamlining would be a great help. I often use that route for Manchester via the M1 but our end of it could certainly be improved. It wouldn't take much in relative terms to improve that stretch.

Hadn't heard about the M42 extension? That would certainly benefit Nottingham and beyond.


BG

The initial route of the M42 was for it to cross the M1 a bit further north of Junction 24, it would've crossed the A52 and terminated near Bilborough on the A609. For reasons unknown, they decided to only go as far as the M1. And even those plans were changed when it all of a sudden stops in deepest Leicestershire.

The M69 does serve as a good link for Leicester and the Midlands but the road is no faster than the A42 is between here and Birmingham. The other problem is-similar to Nottingham, where the M69 finishes by Fosse Park you then have awful traffic as that dual carriageway goes through the built up suburbs towards the City Centre.

The A453 dualling will make a difference but the key sticking point will be as it is already- Clifton. Unless there is some type of bypass around Clifton it'll hit the same kind of problems.

The investments is massively welcome but we also need some long-term planning and thinking- not something the UK is very good at!

pharmj said:

The M69 does serve as a good link for Leicester and the Midlands but the road is no faster than the A42 is between here and Birmingham. The other problem is-similar to Nottingham, where the M69 finishes by Fosse Park you then have awful traffic as that dual carriageway goes through the built up suburbs towards the City Centre.

The A453 dualling will make a difference but the key sticking point will be as it is already- Clifton. Unless there is some type of bypass around Clifton it'll hit the same kind of problems.

The investments is massively welcome but we also need some long-term planning and thinking- not something the UK is very good at!

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The M69 is a great raod and doesn't have nearly a fraction of the issues the M42 / A42 has. The original plans were to take it further but they were ditched way back when.

That's exactly what I was thinking!

BG

I'm not sure I like the sound of the plans, as far as I can understand they intend to create two new roundabouts, one at Ratcliffe on Soar and the other just outside of Clifton at 'Mill Hill'. It's potentially going to make it a nightmare to drive. After a long drive up the M1 there's nothing worse than facing that horrible roundabout at J24 and now there's going to be two more roundabouts. It seems to me that they should be removing roundabouts and replacing them with grade separated junctions or tunnels, not building yet more of them.

I can't see it substantially improving the traffic through Clifton either, there appears to be no plans to improve traffic other than making it into a two lane, single carriageway. All the local obstructions, traffic lights, pedestrian crossings which are at the heart of the problem are to remain as they are it seems.

Well if i'm honest, there will be no way of completely eliminating traffic jams, unless they were to have plans for a 4-5lane motorway to the city centre, even then it will cause a traffic jam as the roads get smaller and will clog up. The problem will never fully go away, it just makes the problem, less of a problem

I don't think there'll be such a big problem - the road will just be as wide as Queen's Drive, and I suspect traffic through Clifton will be very much like that along Queen's drive - 40mph, traffic lights every 200-500 metres, not very fast but not very slow, just what you'd expect on an urban trunk road. The important thing is the single-lane pinchpoint is removed which should see much fewer and shorter queues.

NCT said:

I don't think there'll be such a big problem - the road will just be as wide as Queen's Drive, and I suspect traffic through Clifton will be very much like that along Queen's drive - 40mph, traffic lights every 200-500 metres, not very fast but not very slow, just what you'd expect on an urban trunk road. The important thing is the single-lane pinchpoint is removed which should see much fewer and shorter queues.

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I agree. It's capacity problems that cause the massive traffic jams in the peak periods. With the 2x2 lanes this capacity problem will be improved (although probably not entirely removed given the extra traffic the improved Clifton-J24 section will attract) . The traffic lights etc will mean it won't be much faster in the off-peak, but it's not normally congested then now anyway.

sirstan74 said:

I agree. It's capacity problems that cause the massive traffic jams in the peak periods. With the 2x2 lanes this capacity problem will be improved (although probably not entirely removed given the extra traffic the improved Clifton-J24 section will attract). The traffic lights etc will mean it won't be much faster in the off-peak, but it's not normally congested then now anyway.

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Hopefully the tram and its P&R will absorb the extra traffic volumes.

here we are gents - here's how this road should be built imho, of course it won't.

The A42 is upgraded to Motorway all the way to where it reaches the A50(m) spur shortly after a stretch running jointly with the M1

Notice that the A50 goes straight across the M1 for Nottingham bound traffic, irradicating the need for Nottm bound traffic to go further south over the horrible roundabout at Kegworth. It therefore onwards becomes the A50(m). Stoke bound Traffic from Nottingham does the same. It may even make the Notts-Derby transit quicker than using the A52 for South Nottingham people.

There is a tunnel under Clifton and the motorway finishes at the Wilford/Silverdale flyover and becomes the A453 once again.

Karate_Kev said:

here we are gents - here's how this road should be built imho, of course it won't.

The A42 is upgraded to Motorway all the way to where it reaches the A50(m) spur shortly after a stretch running jointly with the M1

Notice that the A50 goes straight across the M1 for Nottingham bound traffic, irradicating the need for Nottm bound traffic to go further south over the horrible roundabout at Kegworth. It therefore onwards becomes the A50(m). Stoke bound Traffic from Nottingham does the same. It may even make the Notts-Derby transit quicker than using the A52 for South Nottingham people.

There is a tunnel under Clifton and the motorway finishes at the Wilford/Silverdale flyover and becomes the A453 once again.

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I think building to motorway-standard is a little over the top, however continuing the A50 over the M1 to replace the A453 as a dual carriageway all the way to at least the Crusader Island (though preferably all the way to the flyover on the other side of Clifton) would be a good move.

Has anything happened with this yet?

Living in South Manchester and having family in West Bridgford I can not wait for this to be completed. It will make trips home breeze. Its so annoying coming off the a50 which seems to be the fasted flowing road in the country and then getting stuck just by the "Nottingham 9 miles" signs