As a local I have to say you missed my favourite bit Halfway between J2/3 there is a little tunnel through which runs the Roman built Icknield Street I was told that it couldn't be blocked off when they built the M42 because it is protected by a law enacted by Edward the Confessor
The quarry you refer to is the restored Shepley Quarry operated by RMC until its takeover by CEMEX in 2005, although the site continued as a quarry and landfill until 2008/9. The ruined building is either the maintenance shed or weighbridge office. Access is gained from Brookhouse Road and last time I went that way, some years ago now, the RMC entrance sign was still there, disappearing into the undergrowth. The motorway separated the quarry from the access and office/weighbridge, so the tunnel was built as an accommodation tunnel to allow the quarry to continue to operate. It was a pretty tight fit for our dumpers and excavators as I recall.
Back in the late 80's and early 90's I must have used Junction 6 hundreds of times. It never once occurred to me that the roundabout went over the A45 on one side of the junction and under it on the other, not to mention that this is the only motorway junction in England where this happens. Jon, your level of nerdism for these things astounds me, and I love it! 😊
Have you ever considered following the old route of the A1 to show just how 'off course' it has become for speed and convenience compared to when it was a coach and horses route just over 100 years ago?
Hi mate that would be interesting I'm a truck driver and I'd love ti see drone footage and the lads trace the old a1 north from Ferrybridge towards fairburn fingers crossed 🤞.
There is a book you can buy called ‘The Great North Road’ where the writer went along as much of the old road as possible on a motorbike. Really good book.
Subsidence is why the M42 becomes the A42, because of the colliery workings you mentioned, the constructors could not guarantee the motorway would not deform more than it should, so they called it an A road, which allows for more deformity, hence it's a bit rollercoaster-ish in places. brilliant videos, 👍
I feel you could have mentioned the NEC, National Exhibition Centre just off the M42, which was originally planned for Leicestershire , but a council refused it, as it was thought, exhibitors would not want to leave London
Done a bit of research on the interwebs and found that the area at 1:38. South of the motorway the area was called the Shepley Quarry Landfill. Cemex U K Materials Limited had a licence from 1990 to 2019. North of the motorway It was know as Shepley Sand Pit and used by Bromsgrove District Council as a tip and landfill site from 1971 to 1975.
Some More Secrets. 1 The bridge you showed at junction 4. was rolled in overnight. The motorway was only closed for a few hours. 2 Why they had a spare road number for the A42. The A42 ran between Reading and Birmingham. The section north of Oxford beacon the A34 whilst thew section south of Oxford was also renumbered. 3 Following the signs for Redditch involve some very long detours. The distance from M5 Junction 5, Along the A38 and A448 Dual Carriage way, is around 10 miles. Following the sign posts along the M5, M42, A435 and A4023. is a around twice the distance. Junction 2 of the M42 is about 4 miles from the centre of Redditch opposed to about 10 from the above route. From the North going at M5 junction 4 is a similar detour. I live just over a mile away from the quarry near junction one. I'm sure your correct about the close date. I don't know anything about it. though. There are a lot of sandpits in the area, I guess this was another one. This was a film of people objecting to the M42 being built from 1974 th-cam.com/video/o1q-FDO06yI/w-d-xo.html
@@johnmoruzzi7236 before the M40 was built it went through Woodstock which became the A44. After Chipping Norton it went to Stratford upon Avon. It is now the A3400 until junction 4 of the M42 where it reverts to the A34.. there is a similar story with the A41 between Bicester and Solihull.
I was just about to make the same comment regarding that bridge installation at J4. I drove past that every day during its fabrication in a field adjacent to where it is now. I always meant to find out what was being built but never got around to it. Before I knew it we got notification on Central News that the M42 would shut during Saturday night whilst they put the entire thing in place. Brilliant achievement really when you see the size of it.
Brilliant video. The most topically diverse ten minutes on TH-cam, yet still somehow anchored to the M42, a weird road that manages to run in all four compass directions.
Both Danger Mouse last week and Animal Hospital this week have sent me on nostaliga trips, an extra bonus on top of all this lovely nerdy info. Keep it up, smashing it boyos
The M42 and the crazy direction sign, to turn left take the right lane and to turn right take the left lane. The junction works well but the signs approaching it are amazingly confusing to look at.
“They’re literally tearing up the countryside”. Just as well they didn’t have to do that to build the motorways you’re enthusing about! A lot of the HS2 work is also temporary. Factories for building bridge and tunnel segments, haul roads to keep traffic off the existing network. These will all be removed after construction, with massive planting schemes etc to create new wildlife habitats.
@@oliverstemp9132 Tricky, given that the construction and clean-up is dictated by the law that Parliament passed (the "Transport and Works Act" requires this for such projects. Of course, laws can change, but that'd require parliamentary approval of course, so it wouldn't be the actions of the people building HS2. But don't let facts get in the way.
In the early days when the M42 ended in a field outside Coleshill, you could enter and leave by those two little slip roads now reserved for emergency services. Coming from Colehill you turned right across the dual carriage way and then left onto the slip road. They would never be allowed for you and me once the motorway was opened as there was a limited length for merging/slowing before the turn.
As someone that worked on 4 sections of the M42 construction, and two of the sections widening the M5 , and just finished 12 months on HS2, great video 👌🏻😎
the A42 was planned around 1982 and like so many other public works projects in the 1980s, it was done on the cheap it's much shorter than the originally planned route, and because it terminated on the opposite side of M1 junction 24 to the original route, the terminal junction (23A) had to be linked to 24 with collector/distributor lanes, making it more complicated; the original terminal junction was a simple fork
Lydiate is pronounced Lid-iyat. I looked up the little under bridge under the M42 on old OS maps and it just seems to be an occupation bridge or a right of way. The sand pit which you mentioned was the Shepley Sand Company, my brother drove a tipper truck for them in the 1950s. At the end of World War 2 two P51 Mustang fighter aircraft collided and crashed into the sand pit.
I didn't know that story, but there were a lot of wartime accidents, my uncle was Bromsgrove's first war casualty, killed in a training accident in Yorkshire. I suppose they are forgotten because of the blackout of (bad) news to preserve wartime morale, then not written down afterwards
You won’t find anything Highways England (or whatever they’re called these days) at Catshill because their West Midlands and National Control Rooms are (or were) based just up the M5 at Quinton. As for ‘tearing up the countryside’ I blame my 4x Great Grandfather who was a Wheelwright at Whitacre near Kingsbury but his son became a Platelayer building the first railway line there, this bringing trains into the family bloodstream right through to myself.
I lived in Bromsgrove at the time the M42 had not yet been connected up to the M5 so it started at Bromsgrove. I worked in Solihull, and there were many early mornings when I had the motorway to myself.
Hey I've watched a lot of videos and I know this video is five months old but I love that I found your channel. I'm not from the UK but I've been wanting to learn more about British highways since it's sort of a hobby of mine.
The SEPECAT Jaguar is absolutely one of my favorites, that boxy, geometric silhouette, yet equally sleek, like a dart. Had no idea one was just laying around out there like that. The RAF Manston History Museum down here in Kent has one that was last in service as late as 2005 on display, but without the signature green paint scheme. It's a shame this one has been left to decay like that, honestly.
It's a cool aircraft for sure. To be fair to the current owners, I think it was purchased with the missing canopy and having been sat in a yard for years.
Worked on the M42 at various times. Whateley Lane Bridge, on the Trinity Road side, has a bridge abutment that needed to be modified as it was built 1m out of place. Only being discovered when the concrete beams were in mid-air. Not easily noticeable now due to vegetation
Where the M42 ended in the 70s by Coleshill. It was used as a car park for the motor show at the NEC a couple of times. Plus the early Birmingham/ fun run marathon used that bit for the runners. Also the difference between the variable speed part of the M42 and other sections. Is that the hard shoulder is still working until the motorway gets too slow
You'll find a lot of the people against the "tearing up the countryside" are all for building bigger wider less congested roads in that exact same countryside
@@TheHobohobbit Majority of those People live in the Southeast of England, Where the majority of the Money for Rail is Spent. Mainland Europe is decades ahead of the UK with high speed trains ,Just this weekend drove through the South of Francedown to Vslencia in Spain and they've Infrastructure that's been there for years for the 🇫🇷 TGV & 🇪🇸 TALGO Hi speed lines.
@@TheHobohobbit The motorway is already there, HS2 literally just follows the same route you can easy do by road. All the while it is costing billions, making a mess and moving people from places they have live for hundreds of years. People just don't like HS2 because it's shit
The most interesting thing about the M42 for me is that in one section, it is uphill in both directions. Or at least seems that way to my perception. I use the M42 6 times a day and honestly didn't know about some of these things.
I had my first experience of "all lanes running" recently and it just seems like you now have two lanes of nose-to-tail juggernauts to negotiate instead of one.
Thanks Great Video. I once read that the reason the A42 at the north of the M42 was not upgraded to motorway was because the original idea for the extension of the M42 northwards, was to go across the Countryside in a new alignment, west of East Midlands Airport and meet the M1 up near Nottingham. the Existing A42 is quite bendy when you observe the map and the M1 kind of swerves around the East side of the Airport. Just above the Airport the M1 has an alignment that would meet a straighter extension of the M42.
@@AutoShenanigans unfortunately I was going south, so I would have had to watch it in reverse 🤣… I was thinking “this smart motorway with hard shoulder running , I am stopped here and it ain’t open, so not very smart at all “
Road I'm gonna be using alot over the next year or so, mainly to get between the A47 at Leicester and the A5 to run round the north of Birmingham to get to Wolverhampton whilst avoiding the worst of the traffic on the M6. Might be a little slower but it's a shorter route than A11/A14/M6/M54 and thus less fuel used which is a bonus at the moment. Certainly will keep my eyes peeled for the various sights.
Silver Birch Trees are "silver" because of the tree's bark, which is silvery-looking! Fallen leaves are-you guessed it-yellow! just like most of the other leaves 🍁🍁🍁😃 P.S I love this series! liked and subbed 🚙🚙🚙
These are fascinating. I don't drive or own a car but I love an 'abandoned' video. Never seem to find myself on motorways these days so it's a lost world to me. Keep up the good work. 👍
I worked as a Sub Agent for the Contractors on the A42 section from Appelby Magna to Ashby de la Zouch in 1988/89 (I think!!). I once asked one of the consulting engineers staff, why is this being built as an A road, rather than extending the motorway? I was told that all the computer modelling showed there was not enough traffic to warrant it being built as motorway. I said 'of course theres no traffic...it doesn't go anywhere yet!". Subsequently, my firm built the next section from Ashby to the M1, though I wasn't on that job. However, I was given the job of doing remedial works on this section, which involved closing the A42 between M1 and Ashby several nights. By this time, loads of truck drivers on night trunks were using the A42/M42 to 'cut the corner' to Birmingham and Coventry. The tailbacks on the old A453 through Castle Donington those nights were horrendous. Score 1 for computers and zero for common sense!!
Nice to see my local network being shown! And my regular Maccy's before the horrid A42. Whole stretch from of M42/A42 should have been 3 lane motorway imo.
You forgot to tell the real history of the M42 ! It started at the M6 and stopped at the then J4 A34 Solihull because of an ancient burial ground for the plague. Eventually they got permission and the money to remove the cemetery, built it round to the M5 and reversed the numbers to start at the M5. That quarry was later used as a landfill sight too, which apparently is why the M42 sinks because of what's underneath.
I’m going to have to watch some of the chunks at slow speed! Especially the maps & aerial photos - I like to take in the detail. For me it would be good to have the before & after side-by-side, easier for my ageing brain to make the comparison. That said I love love love your videos, great fun & really interesting. 😍
I should really apologies as I've been binge watching all your uploads over the past week and this is the first time I've commented! I really enjoy your content from the service stations to the car meets so hopefully you don't run out of ideas anytime soon! Keep up the good work! Also the drone work is highly underated! 👍👍👍
Ah, the M42. The motorway that would’ve been a brilliant link between Birmingham and Nottingham/Derby, but ended up crap thanks to a mixture of cancelled projects and a distinct lack of money. If I recall, the original plan to carry on to the original drop-off point on the M1 was cancelled and the upgrade of the A42 was horribly underfunded, leading to the aforementioned narrow bridges and carriageways that can’t easily be widened. It’s just like that other folly of motorway rubbishness, the A616 Stocksbridge Bypass. If the M67 ever got the green light to finally be the motorway between Manchester and Sheffield that we all need, this stretch (which is on the originally planned line) would need some major changes to the grade separated junctions to come anywhere close to motorway standards. The stupid bit being, it’s going to be needed soon enough; Since the decision that the three existing trunk routes were deemed good enough, the A423 Mam Tor road has completely disappeared down the Mam Tor and the A57 Snake Pass is in such a poor state in places that it can no longer support heavy vehicles (plus the crapness of having to drive through Glossop). The end result is that the A628 Woodhead Pass is now so overloaded that even the slightest issue leaves it in a complete mess. But I digress. We’re crap a building east-west motorways in this country.
Reminded me of a section of the M4, between Cardiff and Newport, that was originally built as 4 lane, rather than 6, with narrow over bridges. When it was widened out to 6, they left the bridges alone with short stretches with no hard shoulder. At least it will never be “smart”, unless they rebuild the bridges!
@@johnkeepin7527 They did the same thing on the M60 (ex M63) on the deck sections over Stockport. Used to be 2 lanes with a hard shoulder, now it's three very narrow lanes with half a shoulder at best in places. Quite a hairy journey if you're going through there at speed!
@@leopold7562 Similar to the M4 east between junctions 34 & 33. Years ago they squeezed in an extra lane and originally dropped the speed limit to 50, but now its the standard 70 along that stretch. Lane 1 is the exit fo Barry etc, and the other 3 M4 lanes are narrower than normal. It does have hard shoulders except where there’s a bridge in the way.
As someone who's used the M42 from 3a to 6 since before it was built (it originally ended at Jct 4 going south), can I try to put the smart motorway and A42 extension into context. Back then, they didn't understand what a great road it would become. M1 relief and a NE/SW link seem to have worded like a dream. From the day it was built it's always been over capacity. The growth of the NEC complex plus the fact there is no direct route into Birmingham from the M40 mean the traffic from 3a to 6 just gets more and more. So, something had to be done and the cost of widening with all the complex bridges involved would be crazy. Motorways are the safest roads in the country so using the emergency stopping lane had to be considered. Personally I find it brilliant. I often travel from Jct. 3 to Jct 5 and staying in lane 1 gets me past Jct 4 easily (while the maniacs are pushing each other in lanes 2 and 3). With the hard shoulder open, it's then cruising past the jam on the main carriageway and off up the Jct 5 slip road. As for the A42, they just ran out of money!
Yes, i remember the M42 only running between jct 6 to jct 4 as access from the M6 used to require coming off at jct 4 of the M6 (A446) turning towards Coleshill and left again for the slip road (by the highways depot) onto the M42 (one of the secret slip roads mentioned) and the motorway ending at jct 4, I also remember when the M42 didn't connect to the M5 it ending at Bromsgrove meaning you had to drive up the A38 to jct 4 of the M5, I still think the motorways DLR (dynamic lane running ---- switching the hard shoulder to being a running lane when required) system is better than ALR (all lane running).
When all is ok it’s fine, but when there’s a problem, the lack of hard shoulders is really dangerous. If you found yourself broken down and unable to reach a refuge, I wonder if you would think all lane running was such a great idea. In congestion emergency vehicles are unable to pass either which is pretty dumb. So many drivers ignore the lane status signs too, seen so many near misses. “Digital Highways” & “Smart Motorways” are in my opinion a massive mistake.
On the Eastern leg of the M42, hard shoulder running is only activated when there's congestion, but as it doesn't extend under junctions themselves and the junctions are relatively closely spaced (~3 miles apart), a significant proportion of the length functions more as collector/distributor lanes for the junctions. Speed limits are also reduced to a maximum of 50mph when hard shoulder running is active. However, on subsequent schemes, Highways decided they could get away with increased spacing between gantries, then on the M1 cheaped out completely by having permanent all lane running. On the M42, the scheme makes more sense as it's a fairly short section with closely spaced junctions that gets snarled up during the morning and evening rushes but otherwise runs below capacity. That use case doesn't occur in most of the various other places it's been rolled out (although conventionally widening the viaduct section of M6 would be a nightmare, and even if tolls were removed on the M6 toll, that would only remove a relatively small proportion of traffic as there's no direct connection to the M54 - although there is the possibility of a direct [albeit all-purpose rather than motorway/special] link road being built).
@@stevehill4615 Living in the area, I remember the construction of the M5/M42 junction. They didn't want to renumber the existing junctions, and we had J4a.
What they didn't appreciate when testing it on the m42 it works as that is more like an Urban road. If all the traffic is doing 40mph solid then you don't always need a hard shoulder and traffic can just use all lanes in a controlled manner, and that section is not always hard shoulder running they turn it off and on as traffic dictates. Where hard shoulder running becames dangerous is at 70mph with out traffic, allowing breakdowns to become a sudden roadblock as many other schemes seemed to just then start doing unlike the m42
Used to spend a lot of time around Pooley Park. Julian Cope filmed the video for Laughing Boy up there and on that video there is footage of the M42 under construction. Can't help thinking that one of the old pit wheels (like there is in rhe Pooley car park) would have been a much better instalation, as well as being a complete sod to get up the hill. A little further up and visible from the top of Pooley mound (or at least it used to be) is one of my favourite bridges, a gorgeous concrete structure spanning the cuttings with a big curved arch supporting it. A lovely structure carrying what appears to be nothing more than a farm track. I'll need to do some exploring of my own one day.
Thanks for posting. Another great video. For your abandoned roads. To the south of the junction of the A303 and A 350 there is an 800m stretch adjacent to the west side of the A350. I would suggest visiting in wintertime as it is now quite heavily vegetated. All the best.
Further up the A42 was planned to have a motorway link to the a50 near EMA - some amazing planned motorways in that area! Is it nerdy that I know you’re at the McDs on the A444 on the southern end of the Measham loop of the Tamworth road? 😂
I think the most impressive think about this video is the fact that despite not hearing the Poddington Peas theme tune for at least 30 years, hearing a snippet of it enabled my brain to regurgitate the complete lyrics instantly and flawlessly. Worrying that I can remember that and yet can't remember why I went from one room to another..
Great video just a couple of things the M42 was finished in concrete you could hardly here the radio from the tyres going over the concert. Also don't forget about the accident involving over a 100 car's between j1 & j2 just on top of the tunnel for the quarry possible the largest accident in the UK, I believe it was blamed on fog I was very lucky that day just a few 100 yards away stuck in the traffic .
I agree about the use of the hard shoulder on the M42, it is completely useless because at every junction it goes back to 3 lanes so you always going out to 4 then back in to 3 at the junctions. If it had been built the way ‘hard shoulder use’ is being built now with constant 4 lanes, it would of worked far better. As a lorry driver, I do agree with hard shoulder use, so long as the tech is up to scratch, there are enough emergency parking areas, and people get penalised for driving through ❌ lanes!
In that instance, it still works. It takes exiting traffic out of those three lanes, and significantly reduces journey times for those making those exits. I agree though, that traditional 4-lane would be better, but they're STILL messing about with the M6 south of Birmingham years after they "finished" upgrading it to ALR....imagine how much longer it'd take to widen the motorway properly? Only thing I'd say about ALR is that it's fine, but those sections ought to be streetlit. Doesn't cost much these days to install LED lighting compared with the budget for the upgrade, and takes a lot of risk out of it at night. Being said, the only issue I've ever had is when there was a badly placed temporary road sign overhanging lane 1, and I knocked over a pallet avoiding it.
The modern bridge at J4 was assembled on the side, then wheeled across the motorway one night using specialised bogeys/vehicles, I was there - but didn't video anything as TH-cam wasn't invented 🤦
Old Quarry between j1 and 2. I'm not sure where it is or was (just looked on current mapping) But it seems that the Worcester and Birmingham Canal was re routed at Alvechurch, to accommodate the M42. (Yes, I know I shouldn't have walked the Canal between Gas Street Bason and Worcester, but I did 😀😀😀)
I never thought I'd be quite so invested in a series about our Motorways.
Neither did I .
As a local I have to say you missed my favourite bit
Halfway between J2/3 there is a little tunnel through which runs the Roman built Icknield Street
I was told that it couldn't be blocked off when they built the M42 because it is protected by a law enacted by Edward the Confessor
Just past that bridge on icknield street is a small plaque marking the spot where a policeman was murdered in February 1885
Didn't know that, and I've driven up to junction 2 for Hopwood and Wythall more times that I can remember.
where is ickneild street
Between Alcott Farm Drive and Storage Lane @@wayneturner7678
How far from the bridge? North or south?@@havingalook.
The quarry you refer to is the restored Shepley Quarry operated by RMC until its takeover by CEMEX in 2005, although the site continued as a quarry and landfill until 2008/9. The ruined building is either the maintenance shed or weighbridge office. Access is gained from Brookhouse Road and last time I went that way, some years ago now, the RMC entrance sign was still there, disappearing into the undergrowth. The motorway separated the quarry from the access and office/weighbridge, so the tunnel was built as an accommodation tunnel to allow the quarry to continue to operate. It was a pretty tight fit for our dumpers and excavators as I recall.
I did wonder if they managed to squeeze larger trucks through the access tunnel, it wasn't very large!
Back in the late 80's and early 90's I must have used Junction 6 hundreds of times. It never once occurred to me that the roundabout went over the A45 on one side of the junction and under it on the other, not to mention that this is the only motorway junction in England where this happens. Jon, your level of nerdism for these things astounds me, and I love it! 😊
Have you ever considered following the old route of the A1 to show just how 'off course' it has become for speed and convenience compared to when it was a coach and horses route just over 100 years ago?
Hi mate that would be interesting I'm a truck driver and I'd love ti see drone footage and the lads trace the old a1 north from Ferrybridge towards fairburn fingers crossed 🤞.
I've done a bit of "old coursing" and the A1 is a prime candidate!
Good call Mark!
I'm interested in the history of the A1 as well. You can see the old road at the side in many places. Years ago Dick Turpin used to use the road
There is a book you can buy called ‘The Great North Road’ where the writer went along as much of the old road as possible on a motorbike. Really good book.
Might look out for thst
Red Dwarf & The Poddington Peas? Loving your choice of 90s TV themes.
That's not red dwarf at 6.25
@@markdowdall2832 No, but it is at 4:35
@@the_dungeoneer I stand corrected
@@markdowdall2832 What is the one at 6:25? I know I've heard it, but...
@@SamuelFurse animal hospitial
Subsidence is why the M42 becomes the A42, because of the colliery workings you mentioned, the constructors could not guarantee the motorway would not deform more than it should, so they called it an A road, which allows for more deformity, hence it's a bit rollercoaster-ish in places.
brilliant videos, 👍
This is my favorite series
Same
Thanks a lot for watching!
@@AutoShenanigans
What is the most boring motorway in the uk
Love exploring urban ghost roads and ghost walkways!
What was the theme at 6:26?! It's a classic.. but I can't place it!!!
Catshill interchange - one of the locations made famous by Sally Traffic on Radio 2 afternoon traffic reports of things not moving anywhere
I would have said it was Norton, not Catshill, but we always call it the Forest, after the pub
I’m a nerd about old roads, alignments and stuff as well. I’ve loved this series.
Awesome, thanks for watching.
I feel you could have mentioned the NEC, National Exhibition Centre just off the M42, which was originally planned for Leicestershire , but a council refused it, as it was thought, exhibitors would not want to leave London
10/10 for the use of the Poddington Peas theme
I’ve always thought the m42 was the motorway that you queued all the way through on the way to another motorway with many more queues… great stuff!
That does sound accurate to be fair
Hi John. You're my favourite man who stands on infrastructure verges and underpasses. Keep it up.
Fair enough, thanks. I think im the only man who stands around on infrastructure but I'll take it.
@@AutoShenanigans 😂😬👍
As an aside, have you heard of the "Alconbury Megatron"? Just off the A1 at, er, Alconbury.
@@mrc7478 I am aware of the megatron. sadly I never got to visit.
Done a bit of research on the interwebs and found that the area at 1:38. South of the motorway the area was called the Shepley Quarry Landfill. Cemex U K Materials Limited had a licence from 1990 to 2019. North of the motorway It was know as Shepley Sand Pit and used by Bromsgrove District Council as a tip and landfill site from 1971 to 1975.
Shepley Quarry Landfill seems to be in Huddersfield - this site is at "Apes Dale", "7 o'clock" south of Birmingham
Some More Secrets.
1 The bridge you showed at junction 4. was rolled in overnight. The motorway was only closed for a few hours.
2 Why they had a spare road number for the A42. The A42 ran between Reading and Birmingham. The section north of Oxford beacon the A34 whilst thew section south of Oxford was also renumbered.
3 Following the signs for Redditch involve some very long detours. The distance from M5 Junction 5, Along the A38 and A448 Dual Carriage way, is around 10 miles. Following the sign posts along the M5, M42, A435 and A4023. is a around twice the distance. Junction 2 of the M42 is about 4 miles from the centre of Redditch opposed to about 10 from the above route. From the North going at M5 junction 4 is a similar detour.
I live just over a mile away from the quarry near junction one. I'm sure your correct about the close date. I don't know anything about it. though. There are a lot of sandpits in the area, I guess this was another one.
This was a film of people objecting to the M42 being built from 1974 th-cam.com/video/o1q-FDO06yI/w-d-xo.html
Good info, thanks.
The A34 north of Oxford becomes the A41 to Bicester at the M40 junction… more shenanegans…
@@johnmoruzzi7236 before the M40 was built it went through Woodstock which became the A44. After Chipping Norton it went to Stratford upon Avon. It is now the A3400 until junction 4 of the M42 where it reverts to the A34.. there is a similar story with the A41 between Bicester and Solihull.
@@sr6424 Cheers, I think I understand !
I was just about to make the same comment regarding that bridge installation at J4. I drove past that every day during its fabrication in a field adjacent to where it is now. I always meant to find out what was being built but never got around to it. Before I knew it we got notification on Central News that the M42 would shut during Saturday night whilst they put the entire thing in place. Brilliant achievement really when you see the size of it.
Brilliant video. The most topically diverse ten minutes on TH-cam, yet still somehow anchored to the M42, a weird road that manages to run in all four compass directions.
Thanks mate. appreciate that.
The golden tower is thought-provoking. It provokes the thought, "What's the point in that being there?"
Both Danger Mouse last week and Animal Hospital this week have sent me on nostaliga trips, an extra bonus on top of all this lovely nerdy info. Keep it up, smashing it boyos
There's always something to listen out for! Thanks for watching mate
Poddington peas intro in this one too.
Really appreciate this comment, knew the Animal Hospital theme from somewhere but couldn't remember where. Thanks for pointing it out!
I have no idea why I keep watching these, but I'm glad you keep making them.
The M42 and the crazy direction sign, to turn left take the right lane and to turn right take the left lane. The junction works well but the signs approaching it are amazingly confusing to look at.
Are you talking about northbound approach from the M40?
“They’re literally tearing up the countryside”. Just as well they didn’t have to do that to build the motorways you’re enthusing about!
A lot of the HS2 work is also temporary. Factories for building bridge and tunnel segments, haul roads to keep traffic off the existing network. These will all be removed after construction, with massive planting schemes etc to create new wildlife habitats.
Build loads more houses in inconvenient places more like
@@oliverstemp9132 Tricky, given that the construction and clean-up is dictated by the law that Parliament passed (the "Transport and Works Act" requires this for such projects.
Of course, laws can change, but that'd require parliamentary approval of course, so it wouldn't be the actions of the people building HS2.
But don't let facts get in the way.
In the early days when the M42 ended in a field outside Coleshill, you could enter and leave by those two little slip roads now reserved for emergency services. Coming from Colehill you turned right across the dual carriage way and then left onto the slip road. They would never be allowed for you and me once the motorway was opened as there was a limited length for merging/slowing before the turn.
as a kid i wheelied my bmw from the coleshill end ( green lane ) to the NEC none stop .... this was prior to it opening
@@godzillas6301 bmw? They were crp then as well? Or do you mean BMX? As in bike.
@@xr6lad sorry , typo .... BMX , skyway as it happens 🙂
As someone that worked on 4 sections of the M42 construction, and two of the sections widening the M5 , and just finished 12 months on HS2, great video 👌🏻😎
So that's you who is tearing up the countryside?
As someone that lives just a mile away, thanks for the rumble of motorway traffic spoiling my garden silence. Just kidding, great job there.
the A42 was planned around 1982 and like so many other public works projects in the 1980s, it was done on the cheap
it's much shorter than the originally planned route, and because it terminated on the opposite side of M1 junction 24 to the original route, the terminal junction (23A) had to be linked to 24 with collector/distributor lanes, making it more complicated; the original terminal junction was a simple fork
Lydiate is pronounced Lid-iyat. I looked up the little under bridge under the M42 on old OS maps and it just seems to be an occupation bridge or a right of way. The sand pit which you mentioned was the Shepley Sand Company, my brother drove a tipper truck for them in the 1950s. At the end of World War 2 two P51 Mustang fighter aircraft collided and crashed into the sand pit.
Wish I'd have known this before I went, what a cool story.
I didn't know that story, but there were a lot of wartime accidents, my uncle was Bromsgrove's first war casualty, killed in a training accident in Yorkshire.
I suppose they are forgotten because of the blackout of (bad) news to preserve wartime morale, then not written down afterwards
I’ve travelled that road a lot, never once have I seen the Gold Hollow Tower! Loving the videos, keep it up!
To be fair, you were probably concentrating on driving. Thanks for watching
the music clips crack me up. hilarious and random. but i never know what they are. including your jazzy theme tune!
You won’t find anything Highways England (or whatever they’re called these days) at Catshill because their West Midlands and National Control Rooms are (or were) based just up the M5 at Quinton.
As for ‘tearing up the countryside’ I blame my 4x Great Grandfather who was a Wheelwright at Whitacre near Kingsbury but his son became a Platelayer building the first railway line there, this bringing trains into the family bloodstream right through to myself.
I lived in Bromsgrove at the time the M42 had not yet been connected up to the M5 so it started at Bromsgrove. I worked in Solihull, and there were many early mornings when I had the motorway to myself.
Hey I've watched a lot of videos and I know this video is five months old but I love that I found your channel. I'm not from the UK but I've been wanting to learn more about British highways since it's sort of a hobby of mine.
The SEPECAT Jaguar is absolutely one of my favorites, that boxy, geometric silhouette, yet equally sleek, like a dart. Had no idea one was just laying around out there like that. The RAF Manston History Museum down here in Kent has one that was last in service as late as 2005 on display, but without the signature green paint scheme. It's a shame this one has been left to decay like that, honestly.
It's a cool aircraft for sure. To be fair to the current owners, I think it was purchased with the missing canopy and having been sat in a yard for years.
Pity they weren't as good as the planes they replaced, the Blackburn Buccaneer ;-)
Additional bonus hearing the poddington peas theme. Absolute banger.
Not many channels where I can learn about the M42 and hear a short section of the theme tune to The Poddington Peas - fabulous, thank you 🙏
I like a bit of nostalgia for the music... Thanks for watching.
Oh so that’s what that golden shaft is! I was expecting golden balls 🤣
Worked on the M42 at various times. Whateley Lane Bridge, on the Trinity Road side, has a bridge abutment that needed to be modified as it was built 1m out of place. Only being discovered when the concrete beams were in mid-air. Not easily noticeable now due to vegetation
Where the M42 ended in the 70s by Coleshill. It was used as a car park for the motor show at the NEC a couple of times. Plus the early Birmingham/ fun run marathon used that bit for the runners. Also the difference between the variable speed part of the M42 and other sections. Is that the hard shoulder is still working until the motorway gets too slow
HS2 is "tearing up the countryside" but the 14 lane motorway is not?
You'll find a lot of the people against the "tearing up the countryside" are all for building bigger wider less congested roads in that exact same countryside
@@TheHobohobbit Majority of those People live in the Southeast of England, Where the majority of the Money for Rail is Spent. Mainland Europe is decades ahead of the UK with high speed trains ,Just this weekend drove through the South of Francedown to Vslencia in Spain and they've Infrastructure that's been there for years for the 🇫🇷 TGV & 🇪🇸 TALGO Hi speed lines.
@@TheHobohobbit The motorway is already there, HS2 literally just follows the same route you can easy do by road. All the while it is costing billions, making a mess and moving people from places they have live for hundreds of years. People just don't like HS2 because it's shit
Car centicism
It's humour!
Wonderful wee film, as usual. Love these.
Another cracking vid and tunes 😎 cheers John 🙂👍
So I live in Catshill & this is just fascinating
I despise cars and everything about them, yet I find your channel interesting and endearing. Thank you for bring a responsible and courteous motorist.
Excellent thanks for watching.
Poddington Peas! 👏🏻
I'm not even from the UK but i really enjoy watching all your videos.
The most interesting thing about the M42 for me is that in one section, it is uphill in both directions. Or at least seems that way to my perception. I use the M42 6 times a day and honestly didn't know about some of these things.
I had my first experience of "all lanes running" recently and it just seems like you now have two lanes of nose-to-tail juggernauts to negotiate instead of one.
Just here to appreciate the animal hospital theme being used 👌👌👌
I'm enjoying guess the TV theme 😊😊
Thanks Great Video. I once read that the reason the A42 at the north of the M42 was not upgraded to motorway was because the original idea for the extension of the M42 northwards, was to go across the Countryside in a new alignment, west of East Midlands Airport and meet the M1 up near Nottingham. the Existing A42 is quite bendy when you observe the map and the M1 kind of swerves around the East side of the Airport. Just above the Airport the M1 has an alignment that would meet a straighter extension of the M42.
Auto Shenanigans - for when a single auto shenanigan isn't enough 👍
7:08 “HS2 Tearing up the countryside”, ….but let’s carry on looking at this Wonderful motorway 🤣🤣🤣🤣
Interesting as always greetings from Scotland thanks 🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧
Hello there.
Good video. Thank you
bostin are kidda 👍 you missed out Tamworth where Julian cope from teardrop explodes is from lol 🍻 another spiffing video Jon 👍
Cheers mate.
Wonderful stuff as ever.
Thanks.
Still loving the hat.
Just been driving the length of the M42 today (slowly) and I thought “oh have not seen the secrets of the M42 yet”. Now sorted 💪🏼
Watch it whilst driving along...It's like a live "I spy" book. I see no issues with that.
@@AutoShenanigans unfortunately I was going south, so I would have had to watch it in reverse 🤣… I was thinking “this smart motorway with hard shoulder running , I am stopped here and it ain’t open, so not very smart at all “
Julian Copes 1984 album "Fried".. cover photo is him on top of Pooley park mound.
th-cam.com/video/rRdak6aLVvg/w-d-xo.html
Everyday is a school day !! Great album too
3rd Rock From the Sun, nice
Another interesting video! Love the music choices. Cheers.
Hard to miss a 40ft gold tower on top of a hill - I missed it, I had no idea it was there
Me too 😂😂😂
Fascinating about the A45 over-under junction. I've used that junction 100s of times and never noticed that odd feature.
It's just one of those things you'd never notice!
Road I'm gonna be using alot over the next year or so, mainly to get between the A47 at Leicester and the A5 to run round the north of Birmingham to get to Wolverhampton whilst avoiding the worst of the traffic on the M6. Might be a little slower but it's a shorter route than A11/A14/M6/M54 and thus less fuel used which is a bonus at the moment.
Certainly will keep my eyes peeled for the various sights.
Best of luck. I’m unfortunate enough to use the M42/M6 daily and traffic is ALWAYS a problem. It’s so unpredictable. Especially between 8 & 3A.
Silver Birch Trees are "silver" because of the tree's bark, which is silvery-looking! Fallen leaves are-you guessed it-yellow! just like most of the other leaves 🍁🍁🍁😃 P.S I love this series! liked and subbed 🚙🚙🚙
This is such an awesome series!
Cheers mate.
@@AutoShenanigans Anytime!
These are fascinating. I don't drive or own a car but I love an 'abandoned' video. Never seem to find myself on motorways these days so it's a lost world to me. Keep up the good work. 👍
Great, if we can appeal to non car drivers that's a good thing! Thanks for watching
I didn't wake up today expecting to have the theme tune from Animal Hospital stuck in my head, yet here we are
I worked as a Sub Agent for the Contractors on the A42 section from Appelby Magna to Ashby de la Zouch in 1988/89 (I think!!). I once asked one of the consulting engineers staff, why is this being built as an A road, rather than extending the motorway? I was told that all the computer modelling showed there was not enough traffic to warrant it being built as motorway. I said 'of course theres no traffic...it doesn't go anywhere yet!". Subsequently, my firm built the next section from Ashby to the M1, though I wasn't on that job. However, I was given the job of doing remedial works on this section, which involved closing the A42 between M1 and Ashby several nights. By this time, loads of truck drivers on night trunks were using the A42/M42 to 'cut the corner' to Birmingham and Coventry. The tailbacks on the old A453 through Castle Donington those nights were horrendous. Score 1 for computers and zero for common sense!!
Nice insight, thanks for posting.
Nice to see my local network being shown! And my regular Maccy's before the horrid A42. Whole stretch from of M42/A42 should have been 3 lane motorway imo.
You forgot to tell the real history of the M42 ! It started at the M6 and stopped at the then J4 A34 Solihull because of an ancient burial ground for the plague. Eventually they got permission and the money to remove the cemetery, built it round to the M5 and reversed the numbers to start at the M5. That quarry was later used as a landfill sight too, which apparently is why the M42 sinks because of what's underneath.
6:40 Reminds me of the M8, M74 and M77 all coming together in Glasgow. Absolutely manic!
I’m going to have to watch some of the chunks at slow speed! Especially the maps & aerial photos - I like to take in the detail. For me it would be good to have the before & after side-by-side, easier for my ageing brain to make the comparison.
That said I love love love your videos, great fun & really interesting. 😍
14 lanes...oh, you sweet summer child. The Katy Freeway in Houston, Texas, if you include the access roads, is 26 lanes! ;-)
Another winner cheers 🍻
I should really apologies as I've been binge watching all your uploads over the past week and this is the first time I've commented! I really enjoy your content from the service stations to the car meets so hopefully you don't run out of ideas anytime soon! Keep up the good work! Also the drone work is highly underated! 👍👍👍
Thanks for watching. We should have enough "stuff" to keep going for a while yet.
Well done your vids are so interesting
Many thanks!
Ah, the M42. The motorway that would’ve been a brilliant link between Birmingham and Nottingham/Derby, but ended up crap thanks to a mixture of cancelled projects and a distinct lack of money. If I recall, the original plan to carry on to the original drop-off point on the M1 was cancelled and the upgrade of the A42 was horribly underfunded, leading to the aforementioned narrow bridges and carriageways that can’t easily be widened.
It’s just like that other folly of motorway rubbishness, the A616 Stocksbridge Bypass. If the M67 ever got the green light to finally be the motorway between Manchester and Sheffield that we all need, this stretch (which is on the originally planned line) would need some major changes to the grade separated junctions to come anywhere close to motorway standards. The stupid bit being, it’s going to be needed soon enough; Since the decision that the three existing trunk routes were deemed good enough, the A423 Mam Tor road has completely disappeared down the Mam Tor and the A57 Snake Pass is in such a poor state in places that it can no longer support heavy vehicles (plus the crapness of having to drive through Glossop). The end result is that the A628 Woodhead Pass is now so overloaded that even the slightest issue leaves it in a complete mess.
But I digress. We’re crap a building east-west motorways in this country.
To be fair, the M62 isn’t all bad (apart from allowing the neighbours in, depending on which county you’re from)…
Reminded me of a section of the M4, between Cardiff and Newport, that was originally built as 4 lane, rather than 6, with narrow over bridges. When it was widened out to 6, they left the bridges alone with short stretches with no hard shoulder. At least it will never be “smart”, unless they rebuild the bridges!
@@johnkeepin7527 They did the same thing on the M60 (ex M63) on the deck sections over Stockport. Used to be 2 lanes with a hard shoulder, now it's three very narrow lanes with half a shoulder at best in places. Quite a hairy journey if you're going through there at speed!
@@leopold7562 Similar to the M4 east between junctions 34 & 33. Years ago they squeezed in an extra lane and originally dropped the speed limit to 50, but now its the standard 70 along that stretch. Lane 1 is the exit fo Barry etc, and the other 3 M4 lanes are narrower than normal. It does have hard shoulders except where there’s a bridge in the way.
As someone who's used the M42 from 3a to 6 since before it was built (it originally ended at Jct 4 going south), can I try to put the smart motorway and A42 extension into context. Back then, they didn't understand what a great road it would become. M1 relief and a NE/SW link seem to have worded like a dream. From the day it was built it's always been over capacity. The growth of the NEC complex plus the fact there is no direct route into Birmingham from the M40 mean the traffic from 3a to 6 just gets more and more. So, something had to be done and the cost of widening with all the complex bridges involved would be crazy. Motorways are the safest roads in the country so using the emergency stopping lane had to be considered. Personally I find it brilliant. I often travel from Jct. 3 to Jct 5 and staying in lane 1 gets me past Jct 4 easily (while the maniacs are pushing each other in lanes 2 and 3). With the hard shoulder open, it's then cruising past the jam on the main carriageway and off up the Jct 5 slip road. As for the A42, they just ran out of money!
Yes, i remember the M42 only running between jct 6 to jct 4 as access from the M6 used to require coming off at jct 4 of the M6 (A446) turning towards Coleshill and left again for the slip road (by the highways depot) onto the M42 (one of the secret slip roads mentioned) and the motorway ending at jct 4, I also remember when the M42 didn't connect to the M5 it ending at Bromsgrove meaning you had to drive up the A38 to jct 4 of the M5, I still think the motorways DLR (dynamic lane running ---- switching the hard shoulder to being a running lane when required) system is better than ALR (all lane running).
When all is ok it’s fine, but when there’s a problem, the lack of hard shoulders is really dangerous. If you found yourself broken down and unable to reach a refuge, I wonder if you would think all lane running was such a great idea. In congestion emergency vehicles are unable to pass either which is pretty dumb. So many drivers ignore the lane status signs too, seen so many near misses. “Digital Highways” & “Smart Motorways” are in my opinion a massive mistake.
On the Eastern leg of the M42, hard shoulder running is only activated when there's congestion, but as it doesn't extend under junctions themselves and the junctions are relatively closely spaced (~3 miles apart), a significant proportion of the length functions more as collector/distributor lanes for the junctions. Speed limits are also reduced to a maximum of 50mph when hard shoulder running is active.
However, on subsequent schemes, Highways decided they could get away with increased spacing between gantries, then on the M1 cheaped out completely by having permanent all lane running.
On the M42, the scheme makes more sense as it's a fairly short section with closely spaced junctions that gets snarled up during the morning and evening rushes but otherwise runs below capacity. That use case doesn't occur in most of the various other places it's been rolled out (although conventionally widening the viaduct section of M6 would be a nightmare, and even if tolls were removed on the M6 toll, that would only remove a relatively small proportion of traffic as there's no direct connection to the M54 - although there is the possibility of a direct [albeit all-purpose rather than motorway/special] link road being built).
@@stevehill4615 Living in the area, I remember the construction of the M5/M42 junction. They didn't want to renumber the existing junctions, and we had J4a.
What they didn't appreciate when testing it on the m42 it works as that is more like an Urban road. If all the traffic is doing 40mph solid then you don't always need a hard shoulder and traffic can just use all lanes in a controlled manner, and that section is not always hard shoulder running they turn it off and on as traffic dictates. Where hard shoulder running becames dangerous is at 70mph with out traffic, allowing breakdowns to become a sudden roadblock as many other schemes seemed to just then start doing unlike the m42
Great show highly informative and the right amount of humour as normal
I am enjoying this , as the last comment said the A1 is very interesting.
Used to spend a lot of time around Pooley Park. Julian Cope filmed the video for Laughing Boy up there and on that video there is footage of the M42 under construction. Can't help thinking that one of the old pit wheels (like there is in rhe Pooley car park) would have been a much better instalation, as well as being a complete sod to get up the hill.
A little further up and visible from the top of Pooley mound (or at least it used to be) is one of my favourite bridges, a gorgeous concrete structure spanning the cuttings with a big curved arch supporting it. A lovely structure carrying what appears to be nothing more than a farm track. I'll need to do some exploring of my own one day.
Starting watching an interesting video about motorways and suddenly found myself bopping along to the poddington peas theme.
Great video.
Thanks for posting. Another great video. For your abandoned roads. To the south of the junction of the A303 and A 350 there is an 800m stretch adjacent to the west side of the A350. I would suggest visiting in wintertime as it is now quite heavily vegetated. All the best.
im 15 miles from that gold tower and didnt even know it was there mmmmmmmmmmm must get some green paint , woops was only thinking out loud
I'm surprised the local youths haven't given it a new coat of paint yet... must be a nice area. that or they cant be arsed to walk up the hill.
Further up the A42 was planned to have a motorway link to the a50 near EMA - some amazing planned motorways in that area! Is it nerdy that I know you’re at the McDs on the A444 on the southern end of the Measham loop of the Tamworth road? 😂
I think the most impressive think about this video is the fact that despite not hearing the Poddington Peas theme tune for at least 30 years, hearing a snippet of it enabled my brain to regurgitate the complete lyrics instantly and flawlessly. Worrying that I can remember that and yet can't remember why I went from one room to another..
Amazing how that works isn't it!
Very interesting to watch as this is my local motorway, I live near J2 (Alvechurch) and regularly commute between J1&2 as I work in Catshill
Also at 0:53 your first pronunciation is correct
Great video just a couple of things the M42 was finished in concrete you could hardly here the radio from the tyres going over the concert. Also don't forget about the accident involving over a 100 car's between j1 & j2 just on top of the tunnel for the quarry possible the largest accident in the UK, I believe it was blamed on fog I was very lucky that day just a few 100 yards away stuck in the traffic .
Cheers for another excellent vid
Thanks for watching
These just get better and better Jon!
Cheers mate
Jon :- Welcome to auto shenanigans
Me: :- Yes !! another one !!
I agree about the use of the hard shoulder on the M42, it is completely useless because at every junction it goes back to 3 lanes so you always going out to 4 then back in to 3 at the junctions.
If it had been built the way ‘hard shoulder use’ is being built now with constant 4 lanes, it would of worked far better.
As a lorry driver, I do agree with hard shoulder use, so long as the tech is up to scratch, there are enough emergency parking areas, and people get penalised for driving through ❌ lanes!
In that instance, it still works. It takes exiting traffic out of those three lanes, and significantly reduces journey times for those making those exits. I agree though, that traditional 4-lane would be better, but they're STILL messing about with the M6 south of Birmingham years after they "finished" upgrading it to ALR....imagine how much longer it'd take to widen the motorway properly?
Only thing I'd say about ALR is that it's fine, but those sections ought to be streetlit. Doesn't cost much these days to install LED lighting compared with the budget for the upgrade, and takes a lot of risk out of it at night. Being said, the only issue I've ever had is when there was a badly placed temporary road sign overhanging lane 1, and I knocked over a pallet avoiding it.
Another very interesting and entertaining video
The modern bridge at J4 was assembled on the side, then wheeled across the motorway one night using specialised bogeys/vehicles, I was there - but didn't video anything as TH-cam wasn't invented 🤦
I look forward to your videos every week. Keep up the good work
Thanks mate!
Such a lovely informative series.
We try. thanks for watching.
Emm Kay would be simply "mark" as in "Mark 1 Golf".
Highly recommend visiting Zig Zag hill on the Dorset/Wiltshire border. Britain's most twistiest road, apparently.
Old Quarry between j1 and 2.
I'm not sure where it is or was (just looked on current mapping)
But it seems that the Worcester and Birmingham Canal was re routed at Alvechurch, to accommodate the M42.
(Yes, I know I shouldn't have walked the Canal between Gas Street Bason and Worcester, but I did 😀😀😀)
I admire your stamina, but it would have been easier to walk the tow path, not the canal.
A big boondoggle in the middle of nowhere… and a 40ft “gold” tower alongside it
Kudos 👌 for the M4/A470 fact in a video about the M42!
One less thing to shoot when we visit the M4 :D