Why Don't They Turn The M1 Into Five Lanes?

[Rampent]

Every widening of a road that's been built in the last sixty years has actually increased congestion - but it's hard to tell if that is because of the wider roads, or would be even worse without them.

 

Many people do argue that making better and wider roads just encourages more people to undertake more journeys and therefore is a self-defeating policy.

 

I totally disagree. Can you imagine a Parkway with one lane?? In and out of Sheffield? It would cost the economy MILLIONS= FACT! A slow crawl into Sheffield would put loads of clever people off visiting Sheffield.

[HeadingNorth]

I totally disagree.

 

I'm inclined to disagree myself, but it's very hard to provide evidence of things that didn't happen but would have done if the world was different.

[Rampent]

I'm inclined to disagree myself, but it's very hard to provide evidence of things that didn't happen but would have done if the world was different.

So, would a one lane main artery road into Sheffield, off the M1, work?

[I1L2T3]

Was thinking more on a practical level. Like if I'm in the outside lane it could take a lot more planning to get into lane for getting off at a junction. No more leaving it to the last minute and cutting across say 2 lanes. Quickly having to cut across 9 lanes might be dangerous. Not that I do this myself but I see it all the time, in our current 2 or 3 or 4 lane (excluding hard shoulder) m-way model.

[I1L2T3]

Yeah! I went on a mission today. I went up to Junc 38 (the smell of chip pans became overwelming) and blasted back south to Junc 31. Apart from the fly over at Meadowhell, the expansion would be easy. Might upset a few cow farms and nobodies, but what the heck.

 

It might get more tricky on other parts of the M1. Not room for expansion along all of it.

[Rampent]

Was thinking more on a practical level. Like if I'm in the outside lane it could take a lot more planning to get into lane for getting off at a junction. No more leaving it to the last minute and cutting across say 2 lanes. Quickly having to cut across 9 lanes might be dangerous. Not that I do this myself but I see it all the time, in our current 2 or 3 or 4 lane (excluding hard shoulder) m-way model.

 

You just have to take another learner lesson. Or buy a faster car in my book.

[Rampent]

It might get more tricky on other parts of the M1. Not room for expansion along all of it.

 

There's loads of room! Look at all the rubbish housing around Blackburn, a bigger and better motorway will push the house prices up no end.

[hard2miss]

Don't go giving our council ideas, next we will have six lanes coming into Sheffield.

 

"The motorway of Sanctuary" or something daft.

[Rupert_Baehr]

Good idea, Rampent!

 

If the M1 was 5 lanes each way, then when the outer two wore out and needed reapirs, they could be closed off for repairs, barriers put along the middle lane (to protect the workforce) and all the traffic could use the other two - Which would probably be hardly worn at all.

[the_rudeboy]

The original plan was to turn the entire M1 into four lanes, but I don't know if it is still going to happen given the financial problems.

 

 

Four-lane motorways would flow much better if HGVs were restricted to the inside two, for my money.

They can't afford to do the necessary work to bring Tinsley Viaduct back to it's original 3 running lanes, so 4 lanes isn't likely to happen any time soon.