The better answer for every day purposes is probably to build a Junction 32A to serve Garstang; this reduces the 13 mile gap between junctions and also immediately takes away the need for a lot of traffic heading towards Fleetwood to be using the A6 from J33. If the M6 gets shut here, then I think it's just accept the chaos because of the fact there just aren't any decent alternative routes with the Forest of Bowland being to the east. As for J33 itself, making the offslip a single lane - it doesn't need two given it bottlenecks back into one, and not having the northbound exit merge in at 70 mph before immediately slamming into a roundabout might help - I dare say this merge needs signal control similar to the A500 exit at J15, because the problem is the southbound traffic is crossing the northbound traffic and there isn't enough space over the railway bridge to the roundabout to allow this to happen safely at high speed.
Great video but the A6 comes to a complete stop between Lancaster and Preston when there is a M6 closure, and so do any country lanes within a couple of miles east or west. New housing estates are being built all along that stretch of the A6 which just piles on the pressure from local traffic.
I used to travel this section of the M6 daily for a couple of years. There are parts that are very exposed with the land either side of the motorway being flat and therefore more greatly affected by cross winds. In windy weather it isn't unknown for HGVs to be flipped. The cross winds are a possible explanation for frequency of accidents because even in lower winds an inattentive driver can be caught out. It is also likely that because like all of the M6 north of Preston there are no real diversion routes, but this section is more heavily used than north of Lancaster, so the impact of any partial or total closure is more significant, so more memorable.
For almost 12 years I used to run overnight from Glasgow to Lymm to Glasgow. It was 20 years ago, never had any issues like this thank goodness. Once I had to come off at the A580 East Lancs Rd Jct 23 onto the M61 and back onto the M6 at Jct 30. Congestion was rarely an issue. Weather gave me more problems. I remember one mild winter in the late 90s where it blew a gale almost nightly for weeks and on one night witnessed 13 vehicles blown over between Jcts 37 -40. My backside was gripping that seat hard, the wind was gusting over 80mph. I've had a few 4 hours+ ground to a halt in heavy drifting snow in Cumbria and once for over 6 hours near Lockerbie in snow. Retired now, miss those days👍
The J33 roundabout is already as you suggest. The left lane off is for A6 south, the right lane for A6 north. This is witnessed all day every day when vehicles have to switch lanes before they get to the roundabout as most vehicles exiting continue their direction of travel. Also, be ready for more A6 carnage when the M6 is closed. Currently, the only "fixed" point of delay between J33 and just before J32 is the three way junction at Garstang. LCC are going to put a signalled junction in at the A6/A586 t-junction at Kirkland (BP station) and a formal pedestrian crossing at Bilsborrow and they have courted further suggestions for "improvements" (i.e. bottlenecks) in the guise of improved road safety from residents. Oh happy days.
I live in Garstang, it is often a nightmare trying to get out or get home when the M6 is closed. One of the reasons we are hoping to move away. It needs another junction in between 32 and 33.
Reminds me of the time a serious accident caused the police to close a road near me, forcing all drivers to use a small country lane instead of the main road. That wasn't an issue, but what was an issue was where as the main road met the busy primary A road with a roundabout, the small lane met the same A road with just a give way junction. A give way was fine normally, at the road had virtually no traffic, but obviously was unable to cope when all traffic was routed that way. The give way onto a 60mph road meant it took several minutes for a single vehicle to able to emerge. The result was not only miles of queuing, but a queue which just didn't move for hours on end. The road itself could cope with the diverted traffic, but obviously it needed traffic management where it met the primary route. But of course nobody could be bothered to. A single traffic officer or police officer, or considering it went on for hours, take 10minutes to setup some temporary lights to do it automatically. But nope, just no care given. Hours of delays, chaos through the town for hours, missed appointments and frayed tempers, all because the authorities couldn't be bothered to provide some traffic management. Seems similar here, you mentioned a planned closure, where it would be obvious to anybody that the roundabout would need some traffic management to keep traffic flowing. But they didn't bother.
Ooh yes... NOW...YOU'RE TALKING! I dare say they'd say they are too busy dealiing with the incident... in that case let's give more power and education to Traffic Officers!
As a Carnforth resident I can acknowledge the problems caused when the M6 is closed nearby. Its obvious the moment I set out to go anywhere local since the entire area becomes gridlocked for hours due to vehicles clogging up the A6. Its just a fact of life round here. Also I was caught up in the autumn 2022 closure when entering at junction 35 southbound. The end of the queue, backed up from J33, reached nearly all the way to J35. I only discovered it was an arranged closure when a friend texted me.
5:26 Used to be called Forton services(I think!), don't know why they change name - like Farthing Corner on the M2 is now Medway services which isn't really near the river at all.
It's a bit like Ryanair and Easyjet... they want to be associated with more well known places. Look at Rivington services on the M61! It's now called Bolton North 😂😂😂
Sorry but can't agree with you. Three lanes of motorway traffic can't possibly fit on to the one lane of the already busy A6 with all of it's other traffic lights and roundabouts. If this section of the M6 has problems, the A6 becomes jammed.
I used to live in Preston very near the M6/M55 junction and on the not infrequent occasions when the M6 around Preston was closed I was unable to drive outside my immediate area because of the resulting traffic on the A6. Likewise Lancaster is virtually impassable when the M6 is closed in the area. Garstang is not the only area with this problem. Also the roads between Garstang and where any junction would be are all narrow country roads so building access to a new junction would affect the whole area and potentially solve one problem by creating another.
I live on the outskirts of Garstang It’s an absolutely great place to live Shops pubs restaurants lovely rural walks and plenty of stuff going on all the time. But . . . The A6 is horrendous It is busy every day but if the M 6 is closed the traffic is all diverted up the A6 and this causes a right snarl up adding several hours to my journey The worst delay was Five hours to travel from central Preston to Garstang which is about 12 miles which normally takes 15-20 minutes Practically every field has had houses built in it …just by our turn off they are building over 300 houses …so that will be up to 600 extra cars using the A6 or using our road which has more undulations than Blackpool's big dipper !
Adding a J32A at Brock (the nearest point the M6 & A6 between 32 and 33) could alleviate some of the problems, but not all. The bridge over the WCML is two lanes wide and just a roundabout on the A6 and new bridge over the canal would be needed.
The whole lot backs up through the three way crossroads traffic lights in Garstang anyway so it's only moving the problem if you alter the J33 roundabout. The A6 Preston to Lancaster is horrendous even when the M6 is open and really needs its own bypass/new route to cope with the current traffic levels.
@richardsmith2122 The best solution would have been a M59 Liverpool to Lancaster Motorway, going from M58 J2 to M6 J33. This M59 route would not only remove the vast majority of Liverpool bound traffic from the M6 between Galgate and Wigan with a more direct route between Lancaster/Preston and Liverpool, it would also provide a fast north-south route for all traffic in the event of problems on the M6 between Galgate (M6 J33) and Wigan (M6 J26) as an alternative to both the A6-A49 and M6 routes, thus easing disruption on those routes between Galgate and Wigan. Unfortunately, since the Preston Western Distributor and its forthcoming housing sites has hi-jacked the optimum route for it, the M59 will never happen now. @thetruckerseye When you say the "new little stretch they built by the m55", do you mean the A6 Broughton Bypass or do you mean the A582 Preston Western Distributor? I don't think either of those roads will be much good in the long run, especially with the latter one being a very watered down version of the unbuilt M59, and both of these roads will inevitably overload themselves and adjoining roads with traffic from the forthcoming houses along their corridors.
There have been discussions for many years about potentially relocating J33 or adding a second junction further north towards Lancaster University to prevent traffic having to pass through Galgate which is a significant bottleneck. Wouldn’t help much in the event of a closure though. I’m not sure your suggestion helps much though because relatively little traffic turns left to head south having travelled 14 miles north. It’s usually quicker to head up the A6 from Preston to Garstang since they opened the Broughton bypass. In a full closure they’ll often direct southbound traffic off at J34 or even J35. The A6 grinds to a halt at multiple points when the M6 is closed.
That's a problem in this country. They spend so much time talking about something that by the time a project gets an unlikely go ahead and built, the solution is out of date!
I'm remembering the last time I got diverted off the M6, we came off at J19 and the diversion took us past Jodrell Bank radio telescope and down single carriageway A roads to J17 (about 4 hours later).
That roundabout is original to the Lancaster Bypass M6 from about 1960 when motorways were still experimental, hence the intermittent hard shoulders. That roundabout was the southern terminus. The northern end is the present A601(M).The bit from Forton to the M55 was built mich later to link the Lancaster and Preston bypasses. Originally there was no intermediate junction on the Lancaster bypass, with the present one adapted from an emergency access. Until recently it was horrendously tight. As others have said, the A6 is not trunk here and is the county council's responsibility.
A601(M) doesn't exist anymore. It's no longer under motorway regs and is now the A6070. They are doing a load of work on it at the moment and county council are taking ownership of it rather than national highways
@@JoeAshton-g1y Lancashire County Council have owned it since 1970; like they also own the eastern end of the M65 from J10 to 14. There are a few "non-trunk" motorways owned by local councils believe it or not.
I live in Fulwood just south of J32, and the issues related to the M6 are one of the major talking points here. Whenever drivers hear of a problem between J31 and J33, they all pour onto the A6 (Garstang Road) or the A59 eastbound (London Road). Preston has a mainly early 19th century road layout and cannot cope (even with it's questionable 1967 inner ring road that was built to alleviate this very problem). The result is complete gridlock. I've regularly had to walk home from Preston because of this - the 50 minute walk is actually quicker than waiting for the bus and sitting in traffic.
I live in Preston and I cant understand why in the case of a closure between 32 and 33 that highways cant use the works unit roads at Stubbins to get the trapped traffic off the motorway, RIP to the driver who lost his life the other week....
I understand perfectly. National Highways don’t care if people are trapped in the traffic jam for 5-6 hours at a time, nor do they care if local people miss their hospital appointments or die because the ambulance or fire engine couldn’t get there in time. When a new junction was proposed at Garstang, National Highways objected on the basis that “The M6 is not to be used as a bypass for Garstang”. By the same token, why is the A6 and Garstang town centre being sacrificed in the event of a motorway closure?
Poor old Garstang; it sits right next to the motorway and the West Coast Main Rail Line and has access to neither! No road junction, no rail station. Recently there has been a noticeable rash of incidents on the M6 in the area, which might just be bad luck, but locals have started to ask if there's a timetable for the next crash! A junction at Garstang would help with connectivity and release pressure on the motorway during closures. But authorities have always rejected that because they don't want to encourage people to commute locally on the m-way.
I agree with every single word you said here. I tend to notice things doing my job and tbat's where the ideas come from for the videos, and I notice accidents seem to happen a kiy on this stretch. Whether it's the boredom of the junction for some of the accidents, who knows? But there's certainly more accidents between 32 and 33 than you'd expect!
@ most incidents seen to be at the Preston end of the stretch, around Preston itself, where there are junctions with two other motorways (M55 and M61), plus three junctions in quick succession, rather than the junction at Forton near Lancaster. Any crash in the area gridlocks the roads through Preston for hours, and the A6 can't take the overflow. I don't see "boredom" as a reason for anything.
@@broadsword6650 Indeed. And with the rapid increase of houses around Preston, M55 J1, M6 J32, M6 J31a, M6 J31 and M6 J29/M65 J1 are all getting overloaded with traffic. The rapid development of East Lancashire as a result of the 1997 M65 extension is now overloading M61 J9/M65 J2, M65 J1a and M6 J30.
I was stuck between junctions 34 to 33 for 3 hours one time so when motorway was closed again I used junction 36 travelling on A65 to long Preston then A682 to Gisburn A59 back towards Preston
I've done that before. In my case I was heading further south so I aimed for the M66. It was quite a nice drive and while it took ages it was far better than sitting in the queue would have been.
Great video and an idea however, the amount of traffic coming off the M6 would still back up, highways should at all time do their best to keep the motorway open even if it means one lane only (the thrid lane) they seem to manage in Europe so we should learn off them
I live at Great Eccleston and join the A6 just short of Garstang. Regularly the A6 is mobbed by vehicles destined for the M6 for one reason or another. The knock on effect when all of the many roads feeding on to the A6 is tail back after tail back, especially Preston itself. The same occurs if an accident on A6 occurs, then the M6 operates as the relief road. I don't know what the answer is to the accidents, although I am sure you'll agree that motorists, especially lane hoggers cause the majority, but I do know that the time spent investigating the incident seems to be rising and the number of roadworks too. On the A6 the planners seem to agree lane closures every time a builder puts up a few houses - then again when the utilities are added and weren't part of the initial build. I guess everybody wants their own way but it is you guys, the haulage industry, that bears the brunt and yet your deliveries are vital. Maybe we can move towards a lorry/vsn only lane when these incidents occur - but I guess car drivers would pit their selfish interests first.
I don't think it's just Garstang, rather its the fact that the very first motorway was the Preston bypass. You just can't get past Preston (as a general traveller) without using that motorway. If it's closed you are stuffed. There's almost no way around the bottleneck that is the Preston - Bowland moor 'narrows', and getting across the river Ribble. a "No easy solutions" problem.
@@philipoakley5498 the river to the west of Preston is a massive nuisance. There is Riversway which is a half descent road until it's used as a diversion. Would it be too repetitive to joke and thank you for Together In Electric Dreams?
There is a missing bridge at Howick on the other side of Preston that would mean you could come off the M6 at 29 onto the M65 junction, down what should be dule carridgeway but isn't (because they put a electric pilon in the way), join the new bypass on the other side of the river and the M55
There is a lot of congestion in general on the roads that could be eased with simple white lines but the people that design these junctions probably don't drive or sit in the congestion regularly 😢
I am not convinced that you are correct, though I will accept that the two lanes on the slip road do not help matters. The roundabout is not the issue either. The real reason why everything gets so gridlocked is that there is a lack of suitable alternative routes along, not only that stretch, but the whole stretch from J29 (M65) all the way to the border with Scotland, without having to undertake a massive and lengthy detour. It is therefore the sheer amount of traffic using the M6 unable to dissipate to other routes which is the issue, particularly for those travelling to or from Preston, Bolton, Manchester, Warrington, Liverpool, Chester and North Wales. No matter what stretch of the M6 is closed north of J29 you will always get the same issue as there is only one alternative route. Heading south, even if people see the signs saying closed north of the J40 (A66), their mentality most probably will be well I’m at least 50 minutes away and it will be open when I get there, however as there is only one alternative, the A6, if it is still closed, they have nowhere to go. Additionally, the lack of travel information before joining the M6 southbound at any of the junctions 34 to 39 of closures means one heads south into the queue with very little option to avoid and ultimately adding to the chaos. Most closure locations, apart from the M6 north of J29, as already indicated, have got a number of much shorter alternative diversions and traffic can dissipate on a number of routes, not only on one single alternative. I well remember before J32 got three lanes running through, there were often queues of at least five miles on the approach to the two lane section - more often than not the first matrix sign after Forton Services was illuminated, flashing 50. I still travel this motorway frequently. Indeed, I passed the scene, just 15 hours before the latest accident.
The roundabout really is a problem. My friend who took 7.5hrs just to get off the motorway and parked up down the a6 that fateful Saturday said that after queuing for 3hrs just to get off the m6 at 33 the traffic coming south on the a6 wouldn't let people out at the roundabout to turn left and join the a6. Totally agree with alternative routes though! If the m6 is closed further up around j37 or 38 and you're past j39, the a6 is the only alternative and at that point it's no better than a B road.
You ain't seen nothing yet! The local councils are hellbent on development all along the A6 from Broughton to Lancaster. Barton housing has doubled in the last 8 years and there are hundreds more homes under construction, with a roundabout muted and the whole stretch schedule to be reduced to a 30mph zone all the way past Garstang to Forton. The route should be protected due to the frequency of M6 closures.
Northbound you mean? Yeah that's a bugger too, the only thing I would say with that is there are more junctions and closer together that are also better designed on that section that means you can get off a bit more easily than if you are stuck between j34 and 33 south bound with the closure at 33
By pure fluke I missed getting stuck behind that latest lorry crash, due to deciding to drive overnight down from Scotland instead of during the next day which was my original plan.
I love the on-screen graphics, especially the illustration of new priority lanes on the roundabout on the A6. Do you use some kind of high-end CAD application, or do you outsource the work to a professional production agency? (Asking for a friend).
they should be able to setup contraflows in place. For example if they had the traffic from the opposite carriageway merge into lane 1 and their hard shoulder, and then have traffic from the carriageway that's had an accident travel on lane 3 and if possible, their own lane 3 (obviously not doable all the time but at least that would mean 2 lanes either way). Install VSL with cameras and they're able to enforce this and set a limit of probably 30 or 40mph. Obviously this would take a bit of work and is never realistically going to happen but would be an effective way of getting traffic moving, keeping traffic on the motorway to prevent another road getting clogged up and people will be less angry as they will be able to move, even if only 5-10mph.
It's probably down to arguments between Lancashire County Council and National Highways. L.C.C. are probably responsibale for the A6 whilst National Highways are responsible for the M6 and their meeting point at this roundabout will be the cause of many arguments over the junction layout. No doubt a lot of money has probably already been spent already, just on discussions on how to reach a solution, but hey ho, that's beurocracy for you.
A few weeks ago, we were stuck a few hundred yards north of junction 33 For two hours Because someone was threatening to jump off a bridge further south, I was a sweltering day, People were getting out of their cars, People couldn't get any information about the problem. But the big thing that has always annoyed me about this junction is traffic coming off at this junction. have to cross each other. Traffic travelling south on the M6 and wanting to continue south have to cross the north bound traffic from the M6 wanting to continue travelling north on the A6. It's downright dangerous. The other thing is that the north bound exist is too short and too sharp. Last week, I was travelling on the north bound and coming off at junction 33, You have to keep an eye on the traffic coming off from the southbound With the slip road being short and sharp, it can catch people out, On this occasion, I was on my motocycle, keeping an eye for traffic exerting from the north and the other on the road. A lorry had pulled onto the hard shoulder, then started to move off because of the sharp bend he couldn't see traffic coming off the north bound, He had no option but to go. My only complaint is he not only pulled out but on the first lane, but the second lane So blocking off the slip road. This junction is a complete disaster. The driver must have had a serious problem to pull up at the very end of the hard shoulder, I could smell something had got very hot. After that very long episode, I am very pleased that I am not the only one who thinks this junction needs something sorting out.
Merge in turn is great, unfortunately you know the egos and mentality of most car drivers who either don’t know the rules of merge in turn or are just ego filled and must get in front regardless.
Great video ... Having a segregated slip road from the motorway junction to turn left (A6 south) at the roundabout would at least even up the merging I used to live in Garstang (my parents had a static caravan whilst I did A levels in Blackpool) ... I even went for a pub crawl with a mate one night (and slept in the car in a car park ... simpler times, you'd get done for being drunk in charge of a vehicle now! We even got a visit from the police (asking if we'd been near a lorry in one corner of the car park) and got no trouble!) I'm not sure I've ever driven that section, when I was in the area I was coming off for the long slog into Garstang so had no reason to go past. Congrats on subscriber numbers - keep on as you are and I'm sure more will join!
Do you know what? I have just read it back to myself and I think you are right! For once, I had a video that was ready in plenty of time for when I release them on a Monday at 16.30.... but I never noticed that. Thanks so much, I owe you a beer 🤣🤣
The better answer for every day purposes is probably to build a Junction 32A to serve Garstang; this reduces the 13 mile gap between junctions and also immediately takes away the need for a lot of traffic heading towards Fleetwood to be using the A6 from J33. If the M6 gets shut here, then I think it's just accept the chaos because of the fact there just aren't any decent alternative routes with the Forest of Bowland being to the east.
As for J33 itself, making the offslip a single lane - it doesn't need two given it bottlenecks back into one, and not having the northbound exit merge in at 70 mph before immediately slamming into a roundabout might help - I dare say this merge needs signal control similar to the A500 exit at J15, because the problem is the southbound traffic is crossing the northbound traffic and there isn't enough space over the railway bridge to the roundabout to allow this to happen safely at high speed.
I live in Broughton straight off Junction 32 and when there’s a crash between 32 and 33 the whole of the A6 is absolute hell on earth to navigate.
I feel for you guys mate, hence the video. It needs calling out!
Great video but the A6 comes to a complete stop between Lancaster and Preston when there is a M6 closure, and so do any country lanes within a couple of miles east or west. New housing estates are being built all along that stretch of the A6 which just piles on the pressure from local traffic.
I used to travel this section of the M6 daily for a couple of years. There are parts that are very exposed with the land either side of the motorway being flat and therefore more greatly affected by cross winds. In windy weather it isn't unknown for HGVs to be flipped. The cross winds are a possible explanation for frequency of accidents because even in lower winds an inattentive driver can be caught out. It is also likely that because like all of the M6 north of Preston there are no real diversion routes, but this section is more heavily used than north of Lancaster, so the impact of any partial or total closure is more significant, so more memorable.
For almost 12 years I used to run overnight from Glasgow to Lymm to Glasgow. It was 20 years ago, never had any issues like this thank goodness. Once I had to come off at the A580 East Lancs Rd Jct 23 onto the M61 and back onto the M6 at Jct 30. Congestion was rarely an issue. Weather gave me more problems. I remember one mild winter in the late 90s where it blew a gale almost nightly for weeks and on one night witnessed 13 vehicles blown over between Jcts 37 -40. My backside was gripping that seat hard, the wind was gusting over 80mph. I've had a few 4 hours+ ground to a halt in heavy drifting snow in Cumbria and once for over 6 hours near Lockerbie in snow.
Retired now, miss those days👍
The J33 roundabout is already as you suggest. The left lane off is for A6 south, the right lane for A6 north. This is witnessed all day every day when vehicles have to switch lanes before they get to the roundabout as most vehicles exiting continue their direction of travel. Also, be ready for more A6 carnage when the M6 is closed. Currently, the only "fixed" point of delay between J33 and just before J32 is the three way junction at Garstang. LCC are going to put a signalled junction in at the A6/A586 t-junction at Kirkland (BP station) and a formal pedestrian crossing at Bilsborrow and they have courted further suggestions for "improvements" (i.e. bottlenecks) in the guise of improved road safety from residents. Oh happy days.
I live in Garstang, it is often a nightmare trying to get out or get home when the M6 is closed. One of the reasons we are hoping to move away. It needs another junction in between 32 and 33.
Reminds me of the time a serious accident caused the police to close a road near me, forcing all drivers to use a small country lane instead of the main road. That wasn't an issue, but what was an issue was where as the main road met the busy primary A road with a roundabout, the small lane met the same A road with just a give way junction. A give way was fine normally, at the road had virtually no traffic, but obviously was unable to cope when all traffic was routed that way. The give way onto a 60mph road meant it took several minutes for a single vehicle to able to emerge. The result was not only miles of queuing, but a queue which just didn't move for hours on end.
The road itself could cope with the diverted traffic, but obviously it needed traffic management where it met the primary route. But of course nobody could be bothered to. A single traffic officer or police officer, or considering it went on for hours, take 10minutes to setup some temporary lights to do it automatically. But nope, just no care given.
Hours of delays, chaos through the town for hours, missed appointments and frayed tempers, all because the authorities couldn't be bothered to provide some traffic management.
Seems similar here, you mentioned a planned closure, where it would be obvious to anybody that the roundabout would need some traffic management to keep traffic flowing. But they didn't bother.
Any road closure diversion would be helped if the police and the highways "officers" did some actual traffic management
Ooh yes... NOW...YOU'RE TALKING! I dare say they'd say they are too busy dealiing with the incident... in that case let's give more power and education to Traffic Officers!
As a Carnforth resident I can acknowledge the problems caused when the M6 is closed nearby. Its obvious the moment I set out to go anywhere local since the entire area becomes gridlocked for hours due to vehicles clogging up the A6. Its just a fact of life round here. Also I was caught up in the autumn 2022 closure when entering at junction 35 southbound. The end of the queue, backed up from J33, reached nearly all the way to J35. I only discovered it was an arranged closure when a friend texted me.
5:26 Used to be called Forton services(I think!), don't know why they change name - like Farthing Corner on the M2 is now Medway services which isn't really near the river at all.
It's a bit like Ryanair and Easyjet... they want to be associated with more well known places. Look at Rivington services on the M61! It's now called Bolton North 😂😂😂
I used to run out of Red scar ind estate Preston, great for M6 going north or south east or west until the M6 got shut, bloody chaos everywhere.
Sorry but can't agree with you. Three lanes of motorway traffic can't possibly fit on to the one lane of the already busy A6 with all of it's other traffic lights and roundabouts.
If this section of the M6 has problems, the A6 becomes jammed.
Like I said in the video, it's not a solution. Just a small bit of help in the event of another closure!
I used to live in Preston very near the M6/M55 junction and on the not infrequent occasions when the M6 around Preston was closed I was unable to drive outside my immediate area because of the resulting traffic on the A6. Likewise Lancaster is virtually impassable when the M6 is closed in the area. Garstang is not the only area with this problem. Also the roads between Garstang and where any junction would be are all narrow country roads so building access to a new junction would affect the whole area and potentially solve one problem by creating another.
I live on the outskirts of Garstang It’s an absolutely great place to live Shops pubs restaurants lovely rural walks and plenty of stuff going on all the time. But . . .
The A6 is horrendous It is busy every day but if the M 6 is closed the traffic is all diverted up the A6 and this causes a right snarl up adding several hours to my journey The worst delay was Five hours to travel from central Preston to Garstang which is about 12 miles which normally takes 15-20 minutes
Practically every field has had houses built in it …just by our turn off they are building over 300 houses …so that will be up to 600 extra cars using the A6 or using our road which has more undulations than Blackpool's big dipper !
Adding a J32A at Brock (the nearest point the M6 & A6 between 32 and 33) could alleviate some of the problems, but not all. The bridge over the WCML is two lanes wide and just a roundabout on the A6 and new bridge over the canal would be needed.
The whole lot backs up through the three way crossroads traffic lights in Garstang anyway so it's only moving the problem if you alter the J33 roundabout. The A6 Preston to Lancaster is horrendous even when the M6 is open and really needs its own bypass/new route to cope with the current traffic levels.
I don't think that new little stretch they built by the m55 is any good either!
@ round Broughton? It’s better than going through but it seems to jam up more than it should at the middle roundabout
@richardsmith2122 The best solution would have been a M59 Liverpool to Lancaster Motorway, going from M58 J2 to M6 J33. This M59 route would not only remove the vast majority of Liverpool bound traffic from the M6 between Galgate and Wigan with a more direct route between Lancaster/Preston and Liverpool, it would also provide a fast north-south route for all traffic in the event of problems on the M6 between Galgate (M6 J33) and Wigan (M6 J26) as an alternative to both the A6-A49 and M6 routes, thus easing disruption on those routes between Galgate and Wigan. Unfortunately, since the Preston Western Distributor and its forthcoming housing sites has hi-jacked the optimum route for it, the M59 will never happen now.
@thetruckerseye When you say the "new little stretch they built by the m55", do you mean the A6 Broughton Bypass or do you mean the A582 Preston Western Distributor? I don't think either of those roads will be much good in the long run, especially with the latter one being a very watered down version of the unbuilt M59, and both of these roads will inevitably overload themselves and adjoining roads with traffic from the forthcoming houses along their corridors.
There have been discussions for many years about potentially relocating J33 or adding a second junction further north towards Lancaster University to prevent traffic having to pass through Galgate which is a significant bottleneck. Wouldn’t help much in the event of a closure though. I’m not sure your suggestion helps much though because relatively little traffic turns left to head south having travelled 14 miles north. It’s usually quicker to head up the A6 from Preston to Garstang since they opened the Broughton bypass. In a full closure they’ll often direct southbound traffic off at J34 or even J35. The A6 grinds to a halt at multiple points when the M6 is closed.
That's a problem in this country. They spend so much time talking about something that by the time a project gets an unlikely go ahead and built, the solution is out of date!
I'm remembering the last time I got diverted off the M6, we came off at J19 and the diversion took us past Jodrell Bank radio telescope and down single carriageway A roads to J17 (about 4 hours later).
That roundabout is original to the Lancaster Bypass M6 from about 1960 when motorways were still experimental, hence the intermittent hard shoulders. That roundabout was the southern terminus. The northern end is the present A601(M).The bit from Forton to the M55 was built mich later to link the Lancaster and Preston bypasses.
Originally there was no intermediate junction on the Lancaster bypass, with the present one adapted from an emergency access. Until recently it was horrendously tight.
As others have said, the A6 is not trunk here and is the county council's responsibility.
A601(M) doesn't exist anymore. It's no longer under motorway regs and is now the A6070. They are doing a load of work on it at the moment and county council are taking ownership of it rather than national highways
@JoeAshton-g1y The signs on the mainline M6 were still showing A601(M) last month.
@@JoeAshton-g1y Lancashire County Council have owned it since 1970; like they also own the eastern end of the M65 from J10 to 14. There are a few "non-trunk" motorways owned by local councils believe it or not.
I live in Fulwood just south of J32, and the issues related to the M6 are one of the major talking points here. Whenever drivers hear of a problem between J31 and J33, they all pour onto the A6 (Garstang Road) or the A59 eastbound (London Road). Preston has a mainly early 19th century road layout and cannot cope (even with it's questionable 1967 inner ring road that was built to alleviate this very problem). The result is complete gridlock. I've regularly had to walk home from Preston because of this - the 50 minute walk is actually quicker than waiting for the bus and sitting in traffic.
I live in Preston and I cant understand why in the case of a closure between 32 and 33 that highways cant use the works unit roads at Stubbins to get the trapped traffic off the motorway, RIP to the driver who lost his life the other week....
I understand perfectly.
National Highways don’t care if people are trapped in the traffic jam for 5-6 hours at a time, nor do they care if local people miss their hospital appointments or die because the ambulance or fire engine couldn’t get there in time. When a new junction was proposed at Garstang, National Highways objected on the basis that “The M6 is not to be used as a bypass for Garstang”. By the same token, why is the A6 and Garstang town centre being sacrificed in the event of a motorway closure?
Poor old Garstang; it sits right next to the motorway and the West Coast Main Rail Line and has access to neither! No road junction, no rail station.
Recently there has been a noticeable rash of incidents on the M6 in the area, which might just be bad luck, but locals have started to ask if there's a timetable for the next crash!
A junction at Garstang would help with connectivity and release pressure on the motorway during closures. But authorities have always rejected that because they don't want to encourage people to commute locally on the m-way.
I agree with every single word you said here. I tend to notice things doing my job and tbat's where the ideas come from for the videos, and I notice accidents seem to happen a kiy on this stretch. Whether it's the boredom of the junction for some of the accidents, who knows? But there's certainly more accidents between 32 and 33 than you'd expect!
@ most incidents seen to be at the Preston end of the stretch, around Preston itself, where there are junctions with two other motorways (M55 and M61), plus three junctions in quick succession, rather than the junction at Forton near Lancaster. Any crash in the area gridlocks the roads through Preston for hours, and the A6 can't take the overflow. I don't see "boredom" as a reason for anything.
Good video mate
@@broadsword6650 Indeed. And with the rapid increase of houses around Preston, M55 J1, M6 J32, M6 J31a, M6 J31 and M6 J29/M65 J1 are all getting overloaded with traffic. The rapid development of East Lancashire as a result of the 1997 M65 extension is now overloading M61 J9/M65 J2, M65 J1a and M6 J30.
@ We need bypasses for the bypasses! 🤪
I was stuck between junctions 34 to 33 for 3 hours one time so when motorway was closed again I used junction 36 travelling on A65 to long Preston then A682 to Gisburn A59 back towards Preston
I've done that before. In my case I was heading further south so I aimed for the M66. It was quite a nice drive and while it took ages it was far better than sitting in the queue would have been.
Great video and an idea however, the amount of traffic coming off the M6 would still back up, highways should at all time do their best to keep the motorway open even if it means one lane only (the thrid lane) they seem to manage in Europe so we should learn off them
Closure of the M6 between 36 and 38 can be a nightmare as all traffic get routed through Kendal
I live at Great Eccleston and join the A6 just short of Garstang. Regularly the A6 is mobbed by vehicles destined for the M6 for one reason or another. The knock on effect when all of the many roads feeding on to the A6 is tail back after tail back, especially Preston itself. The same occurs if an accident on A6 occurs, then the M6 operates as the relief road. I don't know what the answer is to the accidents, although I am sure you'll agree that motorists, especially lane hoggers cause the majority, but I do know that the time spent investigating the incident seems to be rising and the number of roadworks too. On the A6 the planners seem to agree lane closures every time a builder puts up a few houses - then again when the utilities are added and weren't part of the initial build. I guess everybody wants their own way but it is you guys, the haulage industry, that bears the brunt and yet your deliveries are vital. Maybe we can move towards a lorry/vsn only lane when these incidents occur - but I guess car drivers would pit their selfish interests first.
I don't think it's just Garstang, rather its the fact that the very first motorway was the Preston bypass.
You just can't get past Preston (as a general traveller) without using that motorway.
If it's closed you are stuffed.
There's almost no way around the bottleneck that is the Preston - Bowland moor 'narrows', and getting across the river Ribble.
a "No easy solutions" problem.
@@philipoakley5498 the river to the west of Preston is a massive nuisance. There is Riversway which is a half descent road until it's used as a diversion. Would it be too repetitive to joke and thank you for Together In Electric Dreams?
@@thetruckerseye A different Phil Oakey, but I'll take it ;-) [Yorkshire!]
There is a missing bridge at Howick on the other side of Preston that would mean you could come off the M6 at 29 onto the M65 junction, down what should be dule carridgeway but isn't (because they put a electric pilon in the way), join the new bypass on the other side of the river and the M55
@1721steven scans.retail.tops (Whatthreewords) looks to be the potential location. Hadn't noticed that.
There is a lot of congestion in general on the roads that could be eased with simple white lines but the people that design these junctions probably don't drive or sit in the congestion regularly 😢
I've an idea for a future video on the white lining of roads, seems like it's a lost art for some authorities!
I am not convinced that you are correct, though I will accept that the two lanes on the slip road do not help matters. The roundabout is not the issue either. The real reason why everything gets so gridlocked is that there is a lack of suitable alternative routes along, not only that stretch, but the whole stretch from J29 (M65) all the way to the border with Scotland, without having to undertake a massive and lengthy detour. It is therefore the sheer amount of traffic using the M6 unable to dissipate to other routes which is the issue, particularly for those travelling to or from Preston, Bolton, Manchester, Warrington, Liverpool, Chester and North Wales. No matter what stretch of the M6 is closed north of J29 you will always get the same issue as there is only one alternative route.
Heading south, even if people see the signs saying closed north of the J40 (A66), their mentality most probably will be well I’m at least 50 minutes away and it will be open when I get there, however as there is only one alternative, the A6, if it is still closed, they have nowhere to go. Additionally, the lack of travel information before joining the M6 southbound at any of the junctions 34 to 39 of closures means one heads south into the queue with very little option to avoid and ultimately adding to the chaos.
Most closure locations, apart from the M6 north of J29, as already indicated, have got a number of much shorter alternative diversions and traffic can dissipate on a number of routes, not only on one single alternative.
I well remember before J32 got three lanes running through, there were often queues of at least five miles on the approach to the two lane section - more often than not the first matrix sign after Forton Services was illuminated, flashing 50.
I still travel this motorway frequently. Indeed, I passed the scene, just 15 hours before the latest accident.
The roundabout really is a problem. My friend who took 7.5hrs just to get off the motorway and parked up down the a6 that fateful Saturday said that after queuing for 3hrs just to get off the m6 at 33 the traffic coming south on the a6 wouldn't let people out at the roundabout to turn left and join the a6.
Totally agree with alternative routes though! If the m6 is closed further up around j37 or 38 and you're past j39, the a6 is the only alternative and at that point it's no better than a B road.
You ain't seen nothing yet! The local councils are hellbent on development all along the A6 from Broughton to Lancaster. Barton housing has doubled in the last 8 years and there are hundreds more homes under construction, with a roundabout muted and the whole stretch schedule to be reduced to a 30mph zone all the way past Garstang to Forton. The route should be protected due to the frequency of M6 closures.
Remember Jim Bowen saying about Accrington Stanley, "Where the M6 is cobbled!" - I'm sure he meant the M65 bless him RIP.
I live near and it’s far worse if the m6 south of j32 gets blocked
Northbound you mean? Yeah that's a bugger too, the only thing I would say with that is there are more junctions and closer together that are also better designed on that section that means you can get off a bit more easily than if you are stuck between j34 and 33 south bound with the closure at 33
You can cut though the back entrance of forton services and get to garstang that way..
If this section of the motorway is closed... that services is pretty obsolete for drivers!
@@thetruckerseye you're missing the point: it's a great escape route if you get trapped when the road is closed after you got into the closed zone
By pure fluke I missed getting stuck behind that latest lorry crash, due to deciding to drive overnight down from Scotland instead of during the next day which was my original plan.
I love the on-screen graphics, especially the illustration of new priority lanes on the roundabout on the A6. Do you use some kind of high-end CAD application, or do you outsource the work to a professional production agency? (Asking for a friend).
It's a top secret software package that i'm testing out for the Government 🤣🤣🤣🤣
they should be able to setup contraflows in place. For example if they had the traffic from the opposite carriageway merge into lane 1 and their hard shoulder, and then have traffic from the carriageway that's had an accident travel on lane 3 and if possible, their own lane 3 (obviously not doable all the time but at least that would mean 2 lanes either way). Install VSL with cameras and they're able to enforce this and set a limit of probably 30 or 40mph. Obviously this would take a bit of work and is never realistically going to happen but would be an effective way of getting traffic moving, keeping traffic on the motorway to prevent another road getting clogged up and people will be less angry as they will be able to move, even if only 5-10mph.
It's probably down to arguments between Lancashire County Council and National Highways. L.C.C. are probably responsibale for the A6 whilst National Highways are responsible for the M6 and their meeting point at this roundabout will be the cause of many arguments over the junction layout. No doubt a lot of money has probably already been spent already, just on discussions on how to reach a solution, but hey ho, that's beurocracy for you.
A few weeks ago, we were stuck a few hundred yards north of junction 33
For two hours
Because someone was threatening to jump off a bridge further south,
I was a sweltering day,
People were getting out of their cars,
People couldn't get any information about the problem.
But the big thing that has always annoyed me about this junction is traffic coming off at this junction. have to cross each other.
Traffic travelling south on the M6 and wanting to continue south have to cross the north bound traffic from the M6 wanting to continue travelling north on the A6.
It's downright dangerous.
The other thing is that the north bound exist is too short and too sharp.
Last week, I was travelling on the north bound and coming off at junction 33,
You have to keep an eye on the traffic coming off from the southbound
With the slip road being short and sharp, it can catch people out,
On this occasion, I was on my motocycle, keeping an eye for traffic exerting from the north and the other on the road.
A lorry had pulled onto the hard shoulder, then started to move off because of the sharp bend he couldn't see traffic coming off the north bound,
He had no option but to go.
My only complaint is he not only pulled out but on the first lane, but the second lane
So blocking off the slip road.
This junction is a complete disaster.
The driver must have had a serious problem to pull up at the very end of the hard shoulder,
I could smell something had got very hot.
After that very long episode, I am very pleased that I am not the only one who thinks this junction needs something sorting out.
Merge in turn is great, unfortunately you know the egos and mentality of most car drivers who either don’t know the rules of merge in turn or are just ego filled and must get in front regardless.
Wind turbines, a blight on the landscape! 😢😊
Great video ... Having a segregated slip road from the motorway junction to turn left (A6 south) at the roundabout would at least even up the merging
I used to live in Garstang (my parents had a static caravan whilst I did A levels in Blackpool) ... I even went for a pub crawl with a mate one night (and slept in the car in a car park ... simpler times, you'd get done for being drunk in charge of a vehicle now! We even got a visit from the police (asking if we'd been near a lorry in one corner of the car park) and got no trouble!)
I'm not sure I've ever driven that section, when I was in the area I was coming off for the long slog into Garstang so had no reason to go past.
Congrats on subscriber numbers - keep on as you are and I'm sure more will join!
Ahh, there’s your your problem. You’ve gone and applied logic! Can’t be doing anything like that.
You could probably get a lot more views if you improved the title. Not trying to be rude but the title hardly makes sense
Do you know what? I have just read it back to myself and I think you are right! For once, I had a video that was ready in plenty of time for when I release them on a Monday at 16.30.... but I never noticed that. Thanks so much, I owe you a beer 🤣🤣