Before I found this channel I was convinced that here in the US the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) were the only ones that could completely FUBAR even the simplest intersection. It’s comforting to know that this is a world wide problem 😆👍!
Jon, you made my day. Heck, you've made my week and weekend! Not going to bore you with a long story but I was right! That crazy .itch at the petrol/gas station was wrong and I was right!
@@steverax3497 Not in 1967! By the time we started building them you Brits had already made every possible mistake. All we had to do was mirror-image the good ones for right-hand traffic and widen them so our Canyoneros and 53' trailers pulled by longnose conventional tractors could make it through.
The second weirdest part is that, northbound, there is a separate exit slip to the services and the half-arsed roundabout, rendering the original exit slip also pointless!
Lovely watching southbound traffic hurtling up the slip road not realising there's a 90° right turn at the top! Sensible fix would be to build the missing section (and safest!) But there you go.
We have a weird one in Norfolk on the NDR - the nearest thing we have to a motorway in Norfolk. I was travelling east on the A47 with my friend driving near the Postwick junction. He lives just off said A47 nearby off the 1042 and would be easily served by a slip road off to the left. I watched as we left the A47 only to cross over this road to the right and then cross over back again. I remarked to him, ‘what’s going on, haven’t we just crossed over the A47 twice just to turn left?’ Yes, he replied, brilliant isn’t it!
Wow l used this Junction today for the very 1st time to use the services heading towards London and was thinking as I hit the sharp bend in my van , this would be great on Auto Shenanigans , as country's scariest motorway exits !! Another top vid keep up the great work.
my vote would go to the thrilling, clockwise m25-m11 southbound interchange. a better test for a zafira's roadholding has not yet been found. 60 is my best and final effort....
I've got a Geographia Greater London Atlas c.1965 (named because of the start of the GLC) but with much older mapping, which shows the limited access junction first proposal, and then a much later Geographers' London Atlas with road revisions to 1977 which shows the proposed link to the full roundabout, and actually labels it as "Junc. 3". The 1977 book like so many of those publications had base maps which were rather old, and only more recent road and motorway revisions to May 1977. So in 1977 they were still hopeful that link road might even then get built!
Great vid. You didn't mention the dodgy back lane from the services down to Apex Corner! and that Junction 2 is only entry northbound and exit south bound. But you have mentioned on earlier videos about the junction 2 slip which is not used opposite the Nissan showroom on the s/b A1/A41. (and that section of the A1 is also A41 between Apex and Five-Ways corner.
@@manlu_gaming ultra rarely use it. They have put gates up. There is a no entry sign but I don't think it means much. You can try to ring the bell on the gates but it's probably easier to tailgate when they are open.
There was also a slip road northbound onto the M1 at that point where Pentavia Retail Park (until recently) was... think bits of it might still be visible just south of Bunns Lane
Like everyone else, John love the character role play on the golf course I think you’ve got something started here,carry on and you may be in for an Oscar next March
Bear in mind that the traditional way for an Englishman to show distaste is to hold a meeting and not serve you coffee. Or more subtly, to serve tea without biscuits.
Another great vid! Before I learned about the Scratchwood link, I'd always assumed junction 3 was that ghost slip just North of junction 2 on the southbound side. They became totally overgrown once the BP garage on the A1 enlarged, and apart from Travellers using them as home, were forgotten. I don't ever remember them being used, but as I didn't really go down there much between 84 and 99, I can't be poditive.
they were the original slips from J2, from before the motorway was extended to Staples Corner and the current J2 constructed. The northbound slip used to be about where the Pentavia retail park is (was?). The southbound slip was still complete, and was used in the mid to late 90s temporarily when the slips at Fiveways were having works done on them. Until very recently the street lighting on the southbound slip still worked, it might even still do.
Okay, this is my second video of yours. I was basically yesterday years old when I found out you call your exits on your motorways "junctions". As you can tell, I'm American, so this is new to me. You're fun to listen to, btw. I've just subscribed.
1960's: Too much money let's cut the scheme down. Even though we cut millions of expenses on the British Railway Network. 2023: Ok we officially scrap HS2 expansions and put the money into a rail investment pot. 2024: I Rachel Reeves propose we cut all important funding because we weren't told about a black hole in the treasury. Me: Same old Labour! 😒
Do you remember the M63? And a slip road for Urmston/Stretford. The slip road got closed for the Carrington Spur. You can actually walk on the old road, in-between the brambles.
@@rjjcms1 Quite likely. It’s normal practice for the teams to be sent via two different routes to two different drop off/parking zones to ease congestion in Cardiff itself. One team would be sent via Junction 29 and the other via Junction 32. Junction 33 might then also play a similar role where team supporters were coming from the west (eg Cardiff playing Swansea). Either way one route kept open for one team, another for another team and the third for those visiting Cardiff but not for matches (eg just shopping).
Should they feel like finishing it, the demolition works should be relatively easy - apparently this is where HMS Belfasts main guns are aimed, so a quick donation to the imperial war museum could clear the area rather quickly
I seem to recall from 40 years ago that going south on the M1 up to London that from J6 there were junctions aplenty to get off (and presumably on also) before you hit Staples Corrner and the North Circular A406, but going north you joined at the start (Staples) and the first exit gate was J6 OVNO. The intermediate junctions were totally absent morthbound. Not at all the same as the A1M Dishforth (J49) to Barton (J56) where existing A1(T) junctions at Sinderby, and Catterick South and Catterick North weren't included in the motorway upgrade (though a Catterick Central replaced the latter two) so the junction numbering omits two junction numbers completely between Scotch Corner (J53) and Barton (J56) in both directions.
@@Flipper-1201 so my OVNO was about right, I was only one away😉 Besides I haven't driven that route since last millennium so the precise details may be a bit hazy but I was at least in the ballpark.
Another brilliant episode from you John it explains succinctly why Britain has such a ridiculous road/motorway system in that the early stages of planning are calmly brushed aside by shortsighted people who then complain about the horrendous congestion 🙄😳😂
When I was a kid my parents would be up and down to London from Leicester every week as my mum was in the rag trade for thirty years. I remember in the early years that the only way into London was via the Redbourne (A5) or battling down the old A41 (Bits of ghost road exist) or coming down the A6 (A nightmare). The bottom end of the M1 was a bit of a mish mash of 2 and 3 lane carriageways with the M1 ending at Mill Hill turn (You can still walk the old junction if you dodge the burnt out cars and tents). On the way home my dad would have Radio 2 on so we as kids had to endure sitting in a Mk2 or 3 Cortina surrounded by dresses being forced to listen to "Sing Something Simple" or "Letter to America"! My dad would also listen to The Carpenters which we hated so one day we threw out Carpenter's cassette near said junction, I wonder if it's still in the trees! You also would have thought looking at Scratchwood Hills, even the railway went through a massive tunnel from the Scratchwood Services (London Gateway.... Nah) and came out just prior to Borehamwood. I must be one of few people who have a whole lifetime of memories of the M1 between J1 and J21 as even now after living in London for 26 years I still have a place in Leicestershire, even my mother worked at The Conran at Leicester Forest East Services and my dad designed those early fog warning systems for the M1 up near Leicester. In those days you could do the trip in one hour flat out!
@@manlu_gaming Even now I still use the A5 between Dunstable and Lutterworth as it's generally quicker. In the old days coming north you could race the trains just prior to Watford Gap. Some people still do! If you were really lucky in the old days the train would appear (usually a Deltic) and my dad wound wind up his Cortina Mk3 GT 2.0L to 115mph and just about manage to overtake the train! I remember him pushing the old Jag XJS flat out and he overtook and beat the one of the new HST125's he worked on! Those were the days! We could do Leicester to London in 1 hour flat. Now it's London to the M25 in an hour on a bad day! lol
I never realised it was socially possible for an Englishman in a high vis jacket holding a clipboard standing on the holy golf club green to swear like a mad trooper.
That’s actually a good question. Why there isn’t no junction 3 on the M1 motorway. It baffles me a lot that there isn’t no Junction 3 where you currently got the London Gateway service.
I'd wish they'd built that link now, the A41/A1 around Mill Hill gets some absolutely horrific congestion. I used to live there, getting onto the Apex Corner Roundabout from Selvage Lane (the only entrance that isn't signal controlled) is an exercise in finding a gap in 40mph traffic and dumping the clutch at the right moment.
Gah, why do they do that? I have a slower version of the same problem here, living off the one road on a roundabout that doesn't have traffic lights. Fortunately, mine isn't dangerous; it just means that at most one car typically gets onto the roundabout per cycle, causing long tailbacks at rush hour.
It would probably just move the problem to Staples Corner, which for traffic heading either to go west on the NCR or onto the A5 is pretty hopeless at peak periods. The main problem at Apex Corner is three lanes of A1, and two lanes of A1 feeding into just two lanes down to Mill Hill Circus, when there would appear to more than sufficient space for an additional lane.
These mid-week videos really cause me trouble - I struggle to know when to click the button specifically for that without a hint from Herr Auto Meister himself ;-P
Scratchwood Services was one of the worst service stations for hitch hiking from, Anderton Services on the M61, Aust Services on the M4 and Gordano Services on the M5, were also a bit of a black hole for hitch hiking, too.
I wrote "I hitch, therefore I am invisible" on Gordano North bound crash barrier back in 1980something. It was there for years. As it seemed like I was. I hitched through there just before the mademic and a really cool guy passed, saw me, had his lunch in the services and then an hour or so later picked me up and rescued me. I say cool because he was a professor or some such from Cambridge uni & did a full survey of stonehenge back in the 70s. We had a very interesting conversation about the level of fake that stonehenge actually is [about 90%]. I also, waay back in the 80s or 90s was stuck there with a guy from Brum who finally got his sister to drive down and collect him. They took me along, put me up at his mums, got me absolutely tw@faced at The College Arms in some part of Brum, fed me and gave me £20 the next morning to get the bus up to Warrington and wouldn't have any of my protests at their extreme generosity. I always wanted to pay them back but I had no idea who any of them were or even where they were and I never could find the College Arms again.
A road in construction you should probably do a video on is the 'bridge to nowhere' in spalding lincolnshire which the council has spent millions of pounds on only to not be used for the next 10 years.
Jon has covered this in another video I think but the M49 has a junction (its only one!) with slips and roundabout for a link that as far as I know hasn't been completed after something like 8 years?
I live close by to the M61, junction 8. There's a junction 6, but not a junction 7. Apparently, there were plans, but it never happened in the late 60's, early 70's😊
Most countries number their motorway junctions by the number of km from the start of the highway. This means there are no missing junctions and you don't get J9, J9A etc. And, of course, they start measuring from the earliest point that the motorway could start if they ever decided to build it.
Fun fact: The forward 6" guns of HMS Belfast moored in the Pool of London are aimed at Scratchwood motorway services, or if you like, the non-existent Junction 3 of the M1.
I find it really interesting to see how there isn’t no Junction 3 on the M1 motorway as you are coming in and out of London. Maybe there should have been a Junction 3 where London Gateway services is and a new link road to be built to access the A1 Great North Road.
Err thats what this video was about. Scratchwood (now London Gateway) services uses the part built motorway island at what was intended to be J3 for access.
Loving that going into character piece on the golf course. Definitely the way forward 😂
Thought I was watching Map Men for a moment there
@@B.J.Winzer Exactly what came to my mind. And there is no greater compliment!
Very Austin Powers!
Costume changes for a 15 second skit. Putting in more effort than anyone on tiktok or shorts. This is why we appreciate you.
Before I found this channel I was convinced that here in the US the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) were the only ones that could completely FUBAR even the simplest intersection. It’s comforting to know that this is a world wide problem 😆👍!
British Policy Makers: Silly Yanks.......hold our beer this is how you FUBAR a junction!
Jon, you made my day. Heck, you've made my week and weekend!
Not going to bore you with a long story but I was right! That crazy .itch at the petrol/gas station was wrong and I was right!
@@DarkSitesChannel Even the americans can do roundabouts better than us!
@@steverax3497 Not in 1967! By the time we started building them you Brits had already made every possible mistake. All we had to do was mirror-image the good ones for right-hand traffic and widen them so our Canyoneros and 53' trailers pulled by longnose conventional tractors could make it through.
Oscar worthy acting by the golfer.
The guns of HMS Belfast (moored on the Thames) are aimed at Scratchwood Services, so a lucky escape for the non-J3.
Was just about to add that. So that's what they think of Scratchwood.
I was going to say that. You beat me to it. 🙂
@@susaneb1954 last time I was on Belfast there was a little Bofos gun that you could turn towards TFLs old head office. I was happy.
Really loved that one. Been passed there many many times and don’t know that had another intended purpose. Thanks for the info.
think the services is called London Gateway but yes your right
Excellent Oscar-quality acting - I had no idea the 2 characters were actually played by you!
Wait, what? They were played by him?!?
They weren't the real Jon... they were 2 of his many clones
The weirdest part about this junction is the fact that one of the overpasses has the most pointless second lane ever constructed.
The second weirdest part is that, northbound, there is a separate exit slip to the services and the half-arsed roundabout, rendering the original exit slip also pointless!
Lovely watching southbound traffic hurtling up the slip road not realising there's a 90° right turn at the top! Sensible fix would be to build the missing section (and safest!) But there you go.
@@petejones9755Designed to keep that “scrap yard” topped up! 😂
2:02 This was gold.
Beanie even stayed on whilst wearing a suit and hard hat 🤣🤣
I love that golf course gag in the middle of the video Jon, nice one
This video is award-worthy!
bot
@@vibingwithvinyl while that's sadly true.......john's material can be award worthy
@@vibingwithvinyl but not wrong.
1:45 real map men vibes i love it
We have a weird one in Norfolk on the NDR - the nearest thing we have to a motorway in Norfolk. I was travelling east on the A47 with my friend driving near the Postwick junction. He lives just off said A47 nearby off the 1042 and would be easily served by a slip road off to the left. I watched as we left the A47 only to cross over this road to the right and then cross over back again. I remarked to him, ‘what’s going on, haven’t we just crossed over the A47 twice just to turn left?’ Yes, he replied, brilliant isn’t it!
Excellent hat choice throughout.
Wow l used this Junction today for the very 1st time to use the services heading towards London and was thinking as I hit the sharp bend in my van , this would be great on Auto Shenanigans , as country's scariest motorway exits !! Another top vid keep up the great work.
my vote would go to the thrilling, clockwise m25-m11 southbound interchange. a better test for a zafira's roadholding has not yet been found. 60 is my best and final effort....
I've got a Geographia Greater London Atlas c.1965 (named because of the start of the GLC) but with much older mapping, which shows the limited access junction first proposal, and then a much later Geographers' London Atlas with road revisions to 1977 which shows the proposed link to the full roundabout, and actually labels it as "Junc. 3". The 1977 book like so many of those publications had base maps which were rather old, and only more recent road and motorway revisions to May 1977. So in 1977 they were still hopeful that link road might even then get built!
This explains a question I have often wondered while stuck in traffic driving out of London. Thanks
Great vid. You didn't mention the dodgy back lane from the services down to Apex Corner! and that Junction 2 is only entry northbound and exit south bound. But you have mentioned on earlier videos about the junction 2 slip which is not used opposite the Nissan showroom on the s/b A1/A41. (and that section of the A1 is also A41 between Apex and Five-Ways corner.
can you still use the back lane to get to the services?
@@manlu_gaming ultra rarely use it. They have put gates up. There is a no entry sign but I don't think it means much. You can try to ring the bell on the gates but it's probably easier to tailgate when they are open.
There was also a slip road northbound onto the M1 at that point where Pentavia Retail Park (until recently) was... think bits of it might still be visible just south of Bunns Lane
Like everyone else, John love the character role play on the golf course
I think you’ve got something started here,carry on and you may be in for an Oscar next March
Just realised this series of videos are the ONLY set of comments on the internet where there is no negativity.
Love it.
Bear in mind that the traditional way for an Englishman to show distaste is to hold a meeting and not serve you coffee. Or more subtly, to serve tea without biscuits.
I am not a great fan of egg and cress sandwiches - there, that's some weapons grade negativity for you.
The Shrodinger's cat of motorway junctions? Exists and does not exist at the same time? 😂
Damn, you beat me to it!
@@philiptaylor7902😂
Another great vid!
Before I learned about the Scratchwood link, I'd always assumed junction 3 was that ghost slip just North of junction 2 on the southbound side.
They became totally overgrown once the BP garage on the A1 enlarged, and apart from Travellers using them as home, were forgotten.
I don't ever remember them being used, but as I didn't really go down there much between 84 and 99, I can't be poditive.
they were the original slips from J2, from before the motorway was extended to Staples Corner and the current J2 constructed. The northbound slip used to be about where the Pentavia retail park is (was?). The southbound slip was still complete, and was used in the mid to late 90s temporarily when the slips at Fiveways were having works done on them. Until very recently the street lighting on the southbound slip still worked, it might even still do.
More dressing up John, brings an extra dimension to my motorway education and week, whatever I’m getting up to.
Please continue here and there using those classic Gran Torismo music. It's so nostalgic and fitting for your outros! 😁
Okay, this is my second video of yours. I was basically yesterday years old when I found out you call your exits on your motorways "junctions". As you can tell, I'm American, so this is new to me. You're fun to listen to, btw. I've just subscribed.
Finally got part of my local area covered- Edgware area
It often seems to me most of our road network was designed by committee, most likely in a pub, over several beers!
Oscar worthy performance. Love the change in scenery too.
Have a great week 👍🏻
Hi all! Hope you have a good rest of your week, and see you on Saturday! 👋
Don't you mean Sunday!
@@vincentcrowley1362My first thought 😂
Perhaps they’re American where they’re a day ahead.
@Dan23_7 USA half a day behind, Australia are a half day ahead
On the other side of the coin of missing numbers, there are those where extras have been squeezed in, like 11A on the M5 near Gloucester.
look at junction 3a on the m6, its closer to junction 4 than 3 :D
Just echoing other similar comments - the golf course seen cracked us up. Bloody hilarious 🤣🤣🤣. More scenes like that please Jon 🤣👍🏼
Imagine a government doing a half-arsed job but keeping the money anyway... :P
1960's: Too much money let's cut the scheme down. Even though we cut millions of expenses on the British Railway Network.
2023: Ok we officially scrap HS2 expansions and put the money into a rail investment pot.
2024: I Rachel Reeves propose we cut all important funding because we weren't told about a black hole in the treasury.
Me: Same old Labour! 😒
Pockets were lined.
@@ChimpManZ1264 me- as below pockets lined, Labour less obvious about it. Consultants buy 4th yacht.
@@haggieladyas they are today - even more so. And no wonder, since no one ever does anything about it.
That bit on the putting green was as funny as pie!!
Another fantastic and informative Video Jon
Thanks
Ahhh brilliant Jon, the sketch sequence is ace!
Love the cutaway, please do more!!!
Do you remember the M63? And a slip road for Urmston/Stretford. The slip road got closed for the Carrington Spur. You can actually walk on the old road, in-between the brambles.
Thanks John. 👋
I love that gt4 song
There is no junction 31 on the M4 in between Junction 30 and 32 (the massive A470 roundabout you covered in another video recently).
Went to an away match at Bristol Rovers once some years ago,coming off at 32 if I remember rightly.
@@rjjcms1 Quite likely. It’s normal practice for the teams to be sent via two different routes to two different drop off/parking zones to ease congestion in Cardiff itself. One team would be sent via Junction 29 and the other via Junction 32. Junction 33 might then also play a similar role where team supporters were coming from the west (eg Cardiff playing Swansea). Either way one route kept open for one team, another for another team and the third for those visiting Cardiff but not for matches (eg just shopping).
Very much enjoyed HI VIS Jon.
Nice exit music! Thank you, Jon.
Costumes and a Jazzy Outro! Good Show.
Hi Jon, unusual road lay out, under motorway regulations. Great video
This is the best video I've ever seen about anything
Great Jon really fun and interesting video 👍👍
One of the few London Motorway projects that should still actually be built.....
Fun thing I was there yesterday and I did not see Jon. 🤣
I have to say I hadn't noticed that.
Clearly not paying attention - thanks for pointing this out John.
Sorry, Dave.
Took me until halfway through the video to realise this is the exit to London Gateway, where I drive often to park up my coach and stay at the hotel.
I'm all in for this dressing up!
🤣 short but epically sweet. Hope you feel better soon.
"But what about the Golf course and lovely countryside?!" *checks notes* Duck you! 🤣
Jacket and tie….sharp!
👔🤩👍
Excellent video enjoyed watching it.
Awesome costumes!
The parking lot side of the junction used to be accessible until late 90s, I remember from when I was little
Awesome Video
Should they feel like finishing it, the demolition works should be relatively easy - apparently this is where HMS Belfasts main guns are aimed, so a quick donation to the imperial war museum could clear the area rather quickly
I seem to recall from 40 years ago that going south on the M1 up to London that from J6 there were junctions aplenty to get off (and presumably on also) before you hit Staples Corrner and the North Circular A406, but going north you joined at the start (Staples) and the first exit gate was J6 OVNO.
The intermediate junctions were totally absent morthbound.
Not at all the same as the A1M Dishforth (J49) to Barton (J56) where existing A1(T) junctions at Sinderby, and Catterick South and Catterick North weren't included in the motorway upgrade (though a Catterick Central replaced the latter two) so the junction numbering omits two junction numbers completely between Scotch Corner (J53) and Barton (J56) in both directions.
The junction 5 Berrygrove interchange has always been the first full access junction, since the road was constructed.
@@Flipper-1201 so my OVNO was about right, I was only one away😉
Besides I haven't driven that route since last millennium so the precise details may be a bit hazy but I was at least in the ballpark.
Another brilliant episode from you John it explains succinctly why Britain has such a ridiculous road/motorway system in that the early stages of planning are calmly brushed aside by shortsighted people who then complain about the horrendous congestion 🙄😳😂
Great vid, hope your sinuses sort themselves out soon 🤧
When I was a kid my parents would be up and down to London from Leicester every week as my mum was in the rag trade for thirty years. I remember in the early years that the only way into London was via the Redbourne (A5) or battling down the old A41 (Bits of ghost road exist) or coming down the A6 (A nightmare). The bottom end of the M1 was a bit of a mish mash of 2 and 3 lane carriageways with the M1 ending at Mill Hill turn (You can still walk the old junction if you dodge the burnt out cars and tents).
On the way home my dad would have Radio 2 on so we as kids had to endure sitting in a Mk2 or 3 Cortina surrounded by dresses being forced to listen to "Sing Something Simple" or "Letter to America"! My dad would also listen to The Carpenters which we hated so one day we threw out Carpenter's cassette near said junction, I wonder if it's still in the trees!
You also would have thought looking at Scratchwood Hills, even the railway went through a massive tunnel from the Scratchwood Services (London Gateway.... Nah) and came out just prior to Borehamwood.
I must be one of few people who have a whole lifetime of memories of the M1 between J1 and J21 as even now after living in London for 26 years I still have a place in Leicestershire, even my mother worked at The Conran at Leicester Forest East Services and my dad designed those early fog warning systems for the M1 up near Leicester. In those days you could do the trip in one hour flat out!
takes 1 hour to get from junction 1 to 13 now, if you're lucky!
@@manlu_gaming Even now I still use the A5 between Dunstable and Lutterworth as it's generally quicker. In the old days coming north you could race the trains just prior to Watford Gap. Some people still do! If you were really lucky in the old days the train would appear (usually a Deltic) and my dad wound wind up his Cortina Mk3 GT 2.0L to 115mph and just about manage to overtake the train! I remember him pushing the old Jag XJS flat out and he overtook and beat the one of the new HST125's he worked on! Those were the days! We could do Leicester to London in 1 hour flat. Now it's London to the M25 in an hour on a bad day! lol
I never realised it was socially possible for an Englishman in a high vis jacket holding a clipboard standing on the holy golf club green to swear like a mad trooper.
I like how Jon can tell us that junction 3 doesn't exist whilst standing at what is in effect junction 3.
Excellent acted part, it rivals The Tim Travellers work. Hope you feel better soon ❤
We don't often see John out his black attire. What a treat.
Very intresting
That’s actually a good question. Why there isn’t no junction 3 on the M1 motorway. It baffles me a lot that there isn’t no Junction 3 where you currently got the London Gateway service.
Even the Services are pretty quiet these days! The non J3 is handy though for the emergency services etc to turn around.
The F you in the middle did me 😂 brilliant
Also M1 J2 was originally about 900m farther north than it is now - it moved when the section to J1 was completed.
defiantly need more re-construction pieces in future videos.
HAPPY SUNDAY 🤗
I'd wish they'd built that link now, the A41/A1 around Mill Hill gets some absolutely horrific congestion. I used to live there, getting onto the Apex Corner Roundabout from Selvage Lane (the only entrance that isn't signal controlled) is an exercise in finding a gap in 40mph traffic and dumping the clutch at the right moment.
Gah, why do they do that? I have a slower version of the same problem here, living off the one road on a roundabout that doesn't have traffic lights. Fortunately, mine isn't dangerous; it just means that at most one car typically gets onto the roundabout per cycle, causing long tailbacks at rush hour.
It would probably just move the problem to Staples Corner, which for traffic heading either to go west on the NCR or onto the A5 is pretty hopeless at peak periods. The main problem at Apex Corner is three lanes of A1, and two lanes of A1 feeding into just two lanes down to Mill Hill Circus, when there would appear to more than sufficient space for an additional lane.
great video
Hi John,Great show again today,Are you doing any merch? Id love one of them Auto Shenigans motorway signs for my man cave :) Cheers mate
Good stuff 👍
These mid-week videos really cause me trouble - I struggle to know when to click the button specifically for that without a hint from Herr Auto Meister himself ;-P
@2:01 is just perfect!
Nice GT4 outro music!
Yay, clipboard man!
Can you do a video about the missing Junction 6 on the M27?
No Phill I don't know anything about it and I'm quite busy. All the best.
The M56 in Cheshire has no J13 between 12 and 14. You probably covered that in your M56 video though :)
Scratchwood Services was one of the worst service stations for hitch hiking from,
Anderton Services on the M61, Aust Services on the M4 and Gordano Services on the M5,
were also a bit of a black hole for hitch hiking, too.
I wrote "I hitch, therefore I am invisible" on Gordano North bound crash barrier back in 1980something. It was there for years. As it seemed like I was.
I hitched through there just before the mademic and a really cool guy passed, saw me, had his lunch in the services and then an hour or so later picked me up and rescued me. I say cool because he was a professor or some such from Cambridge uni & did a full survey of stonehenge back in the 70s. We had a very interesting conversation about the level of fake that stonehenge actually is [about 90%].
I also, waay back in the 80s or 90s was stuck there with a guy from Brum who finally got his sister to drive down and collect him. They took me along, put me up at his mums, got me absolutely tw@faced at The College Arms in some part of Brum, fed me and gave me £20 the next morning to get the bus up to Warrington and wouldn't have any of my protests at their extreme generosity. I always wanted to pay them back but I had no idea who any of them were or even where they were and I never could find the College Arms again.
A road in construction you should probably do a video on is the 'bridge to nowhere' in spalding lincolnshire which the council has spent millions of pounds on only to not be used for the next 10 years.
Jon has covered this in another video I think but the M49 has a junction (its only one!) with slips and roundabout for a link that as far as I know hasn't been completed after something like 8 years?
Ooohhhh..... doing costmued inserts now - like it!
Have to be careful with scratchwood...you might have to put a plaster on it.
I hope to see more jay foreman-esque skits in the videos
I love you sense of Humour John but that F. U caught me well off guard
I live close by to the M61, junction 8. There's a junction 6, but not a junction 7. Apparently, there were plans, but it never happened in the late 60's, early 70's😊
Most countries number their motorway junctions by the number of km from the start of the highway. This means there are no missing junctions and you don't get J9, J9A etc. And, of course, they start measuring from the earliest point that the motorway could start if they ever decided to build it.
Fun fact: The forward 6" guns of HMS Belfast moored in the Pool of London are aimed at Scratchwood motorway services, or if you like, the non-existent Junction 3 of the M1.
I find it really interesting to see how there isn’t no Junction 3 on the M1 motorway as you are coming in and out of London. Maybe there should have been a Junction 3 where London Gateway services is and a new link road to be built to access the A1 Great North Road.
Err thats what this video was about. Scratchwood (now London Gateway) services uses the part built motorway island at what was intended to be J3 for access.
Who knew your acting skills were so versatile? 😜
I seem to remember no speed limit when it was first opened..... well that's what we believed when we thrashed our bikes up and down....😂.
Please could you consider a video about the A180 (loudest UK road) in terms of why it's taking so long to fix and whether they'll ever repair it?
It is possible to use that service area to travel back in the opposite direction if you needed to.
Definitely more characters with suits 😂😂