DavidofMersea
Well-Known Member
I have to go oop north at the week end. I usually travel on the A14, but I am told there are major roadworks and traffic jams. Has anybody been up the A14 lately, and is the road unacceptably blocked?
A14
- Thread starter DavidofMersea
- Start date
Stork_III
Well-Known Member
40-50 mph limit on Cambridge to Huntingdon stretch. Avoid rush hour times and it runs fairly smoothly.
Seashoreman
Well-Known Member
I use this website almost daily for work around Suffolk. You can zoom in and press on roadworks to find details such as dates/delays, etc.
https://suffolk.roadworks.org/
wingdiver
Well-Known Member
On Sunday I did Ipswich to Birmingham and the A14 was closed around Stowmarket, It added over half an hour to an already tedious drive when you include the 40mpg bits around Cambridge for about 10 miles and the 50mph stretch of the M6 
johnalison
Well-Known Member
Our son when he visits relies on his app, wayz I think, and he finds that its recommendation to go via the M11 helps a lot on his trip back to the Midlands, though it sounds wrong.
LittleSister
Well-Known Member
You can view a map of the whole country's trunk roads, with current hold-ups, estimates of when expected clear, future roadworks, etc. here -
http://www.trafficengland.com
It is run by Highways England (formerly the Highways Agency).
http://www.trafficengland.com
It is run by Highways England (formerly the Highways Agency).
Denek
Well-Known Member
We were held up on Sunday by the closure at Stowmarket too. The roadworks around Cambridge are a pain in the rush period.
Bru
Well-Known Member
I travel through the A14 roadworks regularly and it's usually no problem unless there's been an incident although it can be a drag during peak traffic periods
Google Maps has live traffic without a subscription, i use it all the time, and if you use it for navigation will suggest alternatives if there's a quicker route (much like Waze, indeed large parts of the Waze functionality is now also built into Google Maps since Google acquired Waze)
Google Maps has live traffic without a subscription, i use it all the time, and if you use it for navigation will suggest alternatives if there's a quicker route (much like Waze, indeed large parts of the Waze functionality is now also built into Google Maps since Google acquired Waze)
Kurrawong_Kid
Well-Known Member
There is also a stretch at 40 mph from Brampton Hut going westwards. However I personally find the 50 mph for 12 miles on the M6 more disruptive than the A14 outside the rush hours.
Bru
Well-Known Member
Ah yes, the M6 Roadwork. Goes on and on and on and ... and then you get North of Brum and oh joy, another 20 odd miles of roadworks
Tomahawk
Well-Known Member
It can only be the UK muppets who constantly add extra lanes to existing roads. ...
It costs as much to add an extra lane as it does to build a new road.
But you get 100% increase in capacity building a new road against 25% extra capacity adding an extra lane.
Widening the same road does not improve the access to inaccessible parts of the UK. Our road network is the same today as it was 30 years ago. Yet everyone else builds new roads.
People are at risk of accidents during road works... There is no risk of traffic accidents building new roads because there is no traffic.
It costs as much to add an extra lane as it does to build a new road.
But you get 100% increase in capacity building a new road against 25% extra capacity adding an extra lane.
Widening the same road does not improve the access to inaccessible parts of the UK. Our road network is the same today as it was 30 years ago. Yet everyone else builds new roads.
People are at risk of accidents during road works... There is no risk of traffic accidents building new roads because there is no traffic.
AntarcticPilot
Well-Known Member
Quite a long stretch north of Girton is closed at night and at weekends with detours in force while construction work continues.
johnalison
Well-Known Member
That's OK for countries like France that are mostly desert but British landowners tend not to take kindly to having their land pinched and want to be compensated. Even when that is done, The newts in the nearby ponds start to complain and the process of satisfying them can take twenty years, so the road doesn't get built at all.
photodog
Lord High Commander of Upper Broughton and Gunthor
I’ve found in my U.K. travels, that every place that I need to go, Has a road to it.
Inaccessible places tend to have nothing there... cause they are inaccessible. As such, they don’t need roads.
Ps... the a14 works between Cambridge and Huntingdon is because they are building a new road....
LittleSister
Well-Known Member
If you lot didn't keep driving up and down the A14 it would be clear when I wanted to pass through, and they wouldn't need to widen/supplement it. 
elton
Well-Known Member
I'm curious to know where this "oop north" comes from. If it's supposed to mimic the way northerners speak, I have to tell you that nobody talks like that up here in the north of England. And it's certainly not how the Scots would speak.
photodog
Lord High Commander of Upper Broughton and Gunthor
AntarcticPilot
Well-Known Member
As a Yorkshireman, I have to say the "Oop" is a very poor rendering of the flat "U" that Yorkshire folk use. We actually distinguish our vowels much more clearly than southerners. I can say that with confidence as I don't speak with a Yorkshire accent, and my clear vowels are one of the few ways that people can detect my origins!
elton
Well-Known Member
Ah, dahn sarf then :encouragement:
Tomahawk
Well-Known Member
I suggest you read "making the connections" by the ODPM 2005 (I think)
It clearly demonstrates the link between poor accessibility and poverty/deprivation.
But as you don't want for money it won't bother you.
