How could you resist Peppa Pig World? A certain former prime minister said we all must go. I'm honestly surprised he didn't attempt to enshrine it in law to be honest.
A friend of mine took her youngest son to Peppa Pig World this year as a special treat ahead of him starting primary school...apparently Peppa Pig does a “meet & greet” at lunch time...my friend said she felt ever so slightly guilty as PP came to see them just as they were tucking into their ham sandwiches! Oops!! 😳🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Great video as always John. Just a note for those that don’t know. Fort Nelson is open to the public, a fantastic day out with kids. Loads of tunnels, guns, etc. and best of all it’s free to enter. A must in the school holidays.
For the Americans (including me) it's like he's already talked about the Cool interstates that people care about, and the last few episodes have been talking about the bypass interstates and spur roads and I'm not complaining
As a teenager living in Gosport, me and my mates used to ride our mopeds up Portsdown hill and go and look at the construction of the M27and try to explore the forts up there (Widley, Southwick, Nelson and Wallington --- though the last 3 were off limits belonging to the MoD and the museum), but a recurring rumour concerning the forts was they were all linked by tunnels and there was stairwells/ventilation shafts that went down to the tunnels, anyway in WW2 the US army was based up there until the end of the war when rather than remove/transport the vast amount of equipment back to the US or elsewhere this equipment (motorcycles, jeeps, trucks and armoured vehicles) was dumped in the stairwell/ventilation shafts to infill said shafts.
I somehow randomly came across this & now 8 hours later I've procrastinated to watch all the videos & am no doubt going to be looking for these places as I drive across the country playing my sport
Interesting fact, in your outro you are standing on part of mainland Britain, with both Portsea Island and the Isle of Wight behind you, meaning that you have the 1st, 3rd and 4th most populous islands in the British Isles in one shot.
Hey John, I don't know why your channel is so compelling but here we are. I live 46 miles from the closest motorway, Interstate 10. Amazingly it's only 2,460 miles long. It only takes around 40 hours of driving to go end-to-end. Thanks for the videos, John
One additional point of note is that some slip roads near Naval facilities are deliberately long and sloping to enable nuclear convoys, tanks etc. to access the docks.
Great video as usual John, Thanks. Although you neglected to mention that the two ends of the M27 host a pair of football clubs whose outpouring of love for each other knows no bounds.......
Jury is still on weather the A31 is adequate as most of it is single carriageway after you've passed Ringwood and Ferndown (and don't get us started on the clusterduck that is Canford Bottom roundabout)
This is my local motorway. Back when this was built, the New Forest wasn't a national park and didn't have quirky planning laws. It's more to do with time. The motorway was completed in '81, by which time it was harder to get motorways through planning in general because NIMBYs. Junc 1 on the M275 was not quit completed as planned because you cannot access Tipner Lane to the east. The eastbound exit off the roundabout is for the Park and Ride.
Early Christmas greetings sir & thank you for your continued highly-entertaining and informative offerings. Never ceases to amuse and inform in equal measure.
'A31 is considered good enough as it is' - clearly never tried it during the summer. The A31 is woefully inadequate for at least half the year. It was intended to be widened to dual 3 lanes under Roads for Prosperity back in the 80s before the plan was abandoned in the early 90s.
i absolutely adore motorways and knowing things about them, so having a series about different motorways in the UK makes me very happy! huge thanks for making this series
I live right by the M27 at junction 9. The unused slip road westbound was in use until the last couple of years when the smart motorway was installed. The eastbound one has never been in use. 15 years ago I lived in Townhill Park and could’ve done with junction 6. Thanks for the great content. You are very accurate with your information 👍🏼
Back in the summer Years of 1991, 1997 and 2009. My family and I actually travelled on the M27 via M3 from London to Swanage. I never released the M27 was so short!! Lol. Thank you for posting about the M27.
It’s great fun when wet. Used to be a regular exit for me, for work. There’s another two local, one leaving the M275 for Paulsgrove and, one joining M27 west bound from Paulsgrove. They are also tight.
The west bound one is wicked fun. Years ago on the motorbike it was cracking, then in the middle years it was hugely amusing in a 2CV - it would develop such a bank angle the carb would cut out (at 45mph). Now in my dotage, the 381hp mini-monster rips around there popping and banging like a junior Clarkson…. God bless the south of England 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
Another fab and entertaining video, thanks Jon! I think the double slip roads on the M4/A329(M) junction will give J10 on the M27 a run for its money. My friend tried going round them at 80mph when we were 17 and I can confirm it's not possible in a Mk2 Escort - you will spin off and end up in the bushes!🤣 Possibly also the westbound slip of the M4 J7. For roundabouts on Motorways (with lights!) see J8/9 of the M4 with the A404(M)/A308(M). 👍😁
Lol. Paddington Bear theme at the end. I’m pretty certain that the A601(M) has a roundabout right in the middle of it. AND the eastern section is a single carriageway!!! It’s definitely did a few years ago but whether there have been alterations since I can’t say for certain. I’m pretty certain the A601(M) is at J35 of the M6 but it maybe J36. It’s one of those two junctions anyway. The A601(M) runs from near Over Kellet north west to north of Carnforth in Lancashire. The amount of times I’ve tried telling Driving Instructors (both car and PCV) that there is the odd motorway with an unavoidable roundabout junction in the middle of it but they wouldn’t have it, “Motoways don’t have roundabouts in the middle of them Martin” is what I’ve constantly been told. So THANK YOU John for proving these know alls wrong. The A601(M) eastern section is weird being a single carriageway and I had to do a double take. It is a motorway but only because it leads to the roundabout and junction with the M6. The western section of the A601(M) is a two lane duel carriageway. You may have passed it when doing all the motorway services as there is a sort of services at the end of the A601(M) western section on the northern outskirts of Carnforth. Having said all the above, it’s a few years since I’ve been along the A601(M) and the only time I did was when I needed the loo. Bit more info than you might’ve wanted there but that’s how I discovered the A601(M) roundabout in the middle and the single carriageway whiles on my way home to Middlesbrough from Blackpool one year. Nice vid as always John. Take care and have a good week yourself too.
Wasn't the single-carriageway bit of the A601(M) mainly built for Over Kellet quarry, to keep the quarry traffic from having to trundle right through the centre of Carnforth? The detour to avoid it is no longer than many others that the transport planners routinely impose on general traffic. I also haven't been there for years, but it did feel quite weird driving along what seemed like a perfectly normal small country road - except for being under motorway regulations and having solid double white no-overtaking lines for its whole length, to prevent you legally driving the wrong way down a motorway lane. Having a motorway end at a T-junction with a B-road was a bit weird, too. I see it has now been re-classified as the B6601 - the name still seems a bit grand for what it is. From Google streetview, the double white lines are still there, except at a new T-junction half way along that leads to a new Porsche dealership. Presumably that is what forced the re-classification. I guess the Carnforth Intersection roundabout over the M6 is also no longer under motorway regulations, so the A601(M) has become a detached motorway.
Hiya @@kgbgb3663. I have no idea why the single carriageway section of the A601(M) was built. I am not from the area at all and only discovered it by complete chance. I was also unaware that the single carriageway had been re classified at a B Road. Surely now tho that B road is a road to nowhere for non motorway traffic? A very odd situation indeed.
@@smogmonster1876 Yes, non-motorway traffic will have to turn around at the roundabout, if they go down the B-road without realising where it goes to. There are now prohibition signs for pedestrians, cyclists, horses and horse-drawn vehicles at the start of what used to be the single-carriageway motorway, but no warning for learner drivers that they will have to retrace their steps if they go down the road. Worse still, when the latest Google Streetview photos were taken (March 2022) there were diversion signs on the B6524 telling all traffic less than 15 ft 9 inches in height (which will probably include all learner drivers) to use the ex-motorway! As you say, all very odd.
1:46 The M12 in Northern Ireland has a roundabout in the motorway. Slap bang in the middle of the road you have to screech to a halt to give way. It’s beyond stupid and was built to save money on a slip-road from the M1.
Hi John how the devil are you? Have you had a good week? 👍 thanks for doing the M27, having lived in Portsmouth, Fareham, Gosport, Eastleigh and now Southampton, I have used this one a lot.
@Auto Shenanigans John where the Ford factory is there is also the airport the other side of the road and the spitfire rbt, with a scale model of a spitfire as they were built (at least partially) by supermarine in Southampton, just in case you ever do a catch up one when you finish this excellent series.
I used to live in Hambledon in the 1970 and 80s and remember the M27 being built. If my memory serves me correct, it was originally made of concrete 'slabs' but there were problems with these and the motorway was closed, ripped up and relaid as tarmac. Happy to be corrected if anyone knows different.
M12 in Craigavon Co Armagh has not only a roundabout in the middle of it ,( to save money on a bridge ) but said roundabout also has a footpath all the way round it. Even though you can't legally walk on a motorway.. The other peculiarity Is, it legally starts after the last slip road off the A3 that feeds it , so technically if you were a learner driver/cyclist etc you could be stuck there till Domesday. Can't go forward onto motorway because you're a prohibited vehicle , can't go back because you can't reverse up a hard shoulder . Really worth a look , oh and it's only 1¼ miles long cos the other 14 miles weren't built 😋
I've just commented about the M12 and it's roundabout myself, wasn't expecting to see another one mentioning it on here! I'm from Lurgan and use the M12 regularly
Jon, Thanks for another dose of fun. To your point about the unique solar array experiment, there was no Feed-In-Tariff in 2004, so the economics aren’t constant. All infrastructure will be solar and wind powered, as it became the cheapest way to provide power capacity since 2010 and extends our carbon budget more than any other engineered energy conversion process.
I believe the fundamental problem here was that for safety critical systems, photovoltaic cells were very difficult (some situations unfeasible) to utilise in remote systems without mains back-up at that time. The generation/storage capacity often has to deal with several weeks of continuous overcast days or being covered with snow which 20 years ago was often not possible at reasonable cost. Since then, photovoltaic cells have reduced in price, battery technology has improved and LED lighting with much lower power demands is now available. Also, error reporting telemetry using mobile networks is pretty standard, so equipment failures can be addressed. I don't believe that feed-in tariffs were or are an economic consideration for standalone equipment that would never be used to drive the grid.
Despite living in Scotland ive driven that motorway quite a lot. Whenever im in Cornwall on holiday always come back via Portsmouth to visit the Royal Dockyards and then go see something lovely at the lovely theatre in lovely Chichester. Its all very lovely 😘
It's also worth noting that the tarmac'd areas at J9 were, up until very recently (upon completion of smart motorway), used as an extended slip road for the junction. But only as an exit in the westbound direction!
The cycling bridge you're stood on at 7:20 is the bridge I used to cross daily for work. Crossing the M27 there, I've stopped and talked to a lot of people looking to jump off the bridge there, persuading them otherwise. It's a daunting place, but brought back a lot of memories.
Tamworth A5 Bypass exits at Tamworth both directions. Tighter than this. Lorries used to regularly tip over here. They had to make it one sweeping lane rather than two lanes, because there was a real risk of a lorry crushing a car.
And my Sunday is complete with another Auto Shenanigans. Awesome video John, once again great research, presentation, and just generally a good watch. Looking forward to the next one, And as always, *Waves Bye* 👋
6:05 I knew it!! My poor Toyota on r15 195/65 balloons didn't like that curve going at 65mph.. and then remind me why you shouldn't steer and brake at the same time... :D
one local oddity is A335 Thomas Lewis Way, which is basically the washed-up remains of a never-built motorway (M272) that would have linked the M27 with central Southampton it's a narrow single-carriageway road that uses the alignment of a motorway, so it's mostly a parkway with very few local junctions, but it also stops for at-grade traffic lights every now and then - a very odd road all round
Good to see my home motorway finally featured. I'm in fareham north so j10 is my j depending on which direction I'm travelling. I can get my van round the bend at North harbour at about 60mph. I didn't realise ut was the tightest Bend. You need to take the right line
Another excellent episode. Hilarious how Britain always never completes building a motorway due to protests etc; and as a result those same protesters and their children end up living in areas with heavy ceaseless traffic on surface roads they can enjoy.
@@AutoShenanigans That's ok - Norfolk only just found out about roads with more than 2 lanes. Suffolk of course has the A14; the closest we'll ever get to a motorway...
One for the tightest possible curve, heading north from the M25 to the M11 junction 27! Bends one way then hooks back the other. Catches you out if not prepared!
The M12 in Craigavon, Northern Ireland also has a dinner plate sized roundabout right in the middle. Was added when the second set of slip roads were connected and they cheaped out on building one additional flyover.
Just came home after a 5 hour drive from Chichester which involved the east portion of the M27 up until the M3, so this video is the more than perfect to come home and enjoy a hot cup of tea to.
M65 in Lancashire has a roundabout which is part of the Motorway, where you join at Junction 1. M60 Junction 5 Anticlockwise for the A5103 has a very sharp loop which is elevated. I refer to this as "The Corkscrew".
Love the content 🙂 the A627(m) near Manchester has a roundabout splitting the two sections. Fly over planned but never done like so many unfinished Motorways in the UK sadly
Great video John, great to see you in my neck of the woods,two ghost slip roads were built in the 70s at tipnor just off the m275 for future use,they are now in use for the park and ride service 👍👌😀
Top form as always 👍 Here’s a thought… Ghost slips I’ve always found fascinating. Here’s a thought… What’s to stop someone/anyone building right up to them… Like the landowner. Maybe their own turnpike, service station, or something? I guess there’s planning and stuff, but hey there’s a motorway there already. Can’t be that hard to clear that one 😂
Great video Jon, many thanks. That tight slip road is the highest that I have encountered and was great fun back in the day with my 1983 mk1 Vauxhall Astra!
I work as a Tesco delivery driver at North Harbour and take that curve almost every other day in the Tesco van, it's definitely a tight one as the van feels like it's going to tip, I can only manage 35mph taking the curve
Back in the eighties I was driving to Portsmouth on the M27, I had just come on at Junction 10. In traffic at about seventy with a light drizzle falling and full visibly all around when there was an instant massive downpour that reduced visibility to about twenty feet ahead if that. You dare not slow down in case the car behind you had not and ran into the back of you and you hoped the car in front did not slow down because you would hit it if it did. It lasted for about five or six seconds and then went back instantly to a light drizzle again with full visibly all around you and no sign of the downpour in the rear mirror. It was five or six seconds of pure fear and then everything back to normal. I've never experienced anything like it before or since.
I used to live near J9 until I emigrated nearly four years ago. Your video brought back unpleasant memories of living in Whiteley where we used to have to plan our days around THREE rush hours there due to the extraordinary numbers of workers and shoppers coming in/out clogging the single access road from M27 for the relatively small number of people actually living there . I heard that Ford vacated their only remaining factory that produced completed vehicles (transits) beside J5 because the EU paid them a lot of money to relocate the factory (but not the jobs of course) to Turkey, and of course Turkey still isn't in the EU and not likely to be anytime soon.
Yes I am sure you are right on Ford there. My now sadly late Dad used to work for them and went there at times; I remember him saying that Ford were going to switch the Transit production to Turkey at the time.
Probably not because of EU inducements (I can't see the EU funding a move out of an EU country, as the UK was then) but because of cheaper labour costs in Turkey where, perhaps, people were more likely to buy the cheaper Fords than the vastly better quality VW and Mercedes vans.
I work in Whiteley, they're doing massive works to improve the traffic flow but it's currently an ABSOLUTE NIGHTMARE getting into work in the mornings. It's been miles long queues lately because they decided to close off the inside lane for Whiteley, forcing everyone into the new 2nd lane exit, but then closed off the left lane to get into Whiteley.. clever.
Nothing is ever as simple as that! Transits were already being made in Turkey by an 'independent' company - Ford had a 40% share. The decision on a replacement vehicle was what triggered the issue. Economies of scale and the lower labour costs in Turkey pointed to that as the preferred production location. Quite what prompted the EIB to provide a loan, however, is another matter! Note the European money was a loan, not a grant.
@@IndigoJo The EU was trying to induce Turkey to join - ie you could have more of this with membership. They wanted to punish UK because we were not compliant.
Hi, I recently drove from Worthing westwards along the A27, which is fine, a nice dual carriageway. And then you get to Arundel and all hell breaks loose! The A27 abruptly stops at an elevated roundabout, takes a 90 degree zig zag over itself and plunges, single carriageway past Arundel. You can see where the road should go, and a mile or so later it zags and zigs back onto its straight dual carriageway course. This causes traffic chaos, and seems utterly barmy. I'm sure there's a story and I'm sure it would make a great video. Thanks for making a great channel too!!
J7 westbound on the M4 is horrendously tight, thought they might have rethought it during the "smart" motorway works, but no. Honourable mention to J9A eastbound on the A404(M), always seemed to be a crashed car at the apex of the bend!
I've come across several roundabouts on motorways as I've travelled this country. The M5/M50 junction near to Strensham services springs to mind. I would like to see if you could unravel what I believe is the country's most unbelievably scruffy, haphazard and confusing section of motorway on the whole network: the part near Coleshill in Warwickshire where the M6, the M6 Toll and the M42 collide into one another. Absolute carnage. Every time I pass through it I see near misses. I've been in a few myself.
Another great video Jon! M12 motorway near Craigavon N. Ireland has a random roundabout. Numerous ghost slip roads on it to, well because someone changed their minds 😂. Have you any plans to cover the M6? Spend more hours than I can count driving my truck up and down it on my way to Cairnryan.
When you run out of motorways, come and talk about the terrible A27 and A259 planning poopshows. There’s another ‘35 years later, it might be finished’ in Arundel currently being disputed.
I lived in Southampton in the 1970's. The M27 was originally billed as "Brighton to Honiton" so the out turn is, shall we say, modest. Ford at Eastleigh was the Transit plant.
An additional factoid worth mentioning, there was meant to be an additional motorway spur into Southampton called the M272, I think it was meant to follow the Avenue but was eventually proposed to follow the current Thomas Lewis Way. Typically, it wasn't built, but the road standard is really unusual, with crash barriers and a massive carriageway, resulting in all sorts of carnage, particularly at rush hour!
It was gonna be called the 273, there were plans for a 277 to be built on the other side of Portsea Island but the residents of North End put up a fuss and the plans were scrapped
You visited Portsmouth willingly so I admire the dedication
Now now! Let's all be friends the motorway goes away from Portsmouth as well.🤣😂
Hey! 😢
How could you resist Peppa Pig World? A certain former prime minister said we all must go. I'm honestly surprised he didn't attempt to enshrine it in law to be honest.
A friend of mine took her youngest son to Peppa Pig World this year as a special treat ahead of him starting primary school...apparently Peppa Pig does a “meet & greet” at lunch time...my friend said she felt ever so slightly guilty as PP came to see them just as they were tucking into their ham sandwiches! Oops!! 😳🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
@@strypzee 😂😂😂 Fantastic
It is quite a nice place but I would recommend taking a child to avoid misunderstandings
Great bacon sandwiches in the cafe.
There's a pun or two to be had in response; Maybe I'll get the ball rollin with: Maybe John didn't wanna do a rather ham-fisted segment on it'?
The A27 falling short by a few inches is something many can empathise with.
Great video as always John. Just a note for those that don’t know. Fort Nelson is open to the public, a fantastic day out with kids. Loads of tunnels, guns, etc. and best of all it’s free to enter. A must in the school holidays.
If I had time I'd have stopped in... looks like a very fun day out.
It is an excellent way to spend half a day kids or no kids.
the m271 spur must be a contender for the roughest motorway surface in the world !
1:53 You're stood right outside my old house! I shouldn't be as excited about that as I am...
For the Americans (including me) it's like he's already talked about the Cool interstates that people care about, and the last few episodes have been talking about the bypass interstates and spur roads and I'm not complaining
I fully expected the theme from Howard's Way when you crossed the Hamble.
FINALLY this is my home motorway thank you shenanigans
As a teenager living in Gosport, me and my mates used to ride our mopeds up Portsdown hill and go and look at the construction of the M27and try to explore the forts up there (Widley, Southwick, Nelson and Wallington --- though the last 3 were off limits belonging to the MoD and the museum), but a recurring rumour concerning the forts was they were all linked by tunnels and there was stairwells/ventilation shafts that went down to the tunnels, anyway in WW2 the US army was based up there until the end of the war when rather than remove/transport the vast amount of equipment back to the US or elsewhere this equipment (motorcycles, jeeps, trucks and armoured vehicles) was dumped in the stairwell/ventilation shafts to infill said shafts.
I somehow randomly came across this & now 8 hours later I've procrastinated to watch all the videos & am no doubt going to be looking for these places as I drive across the country playing my sport
Interesting fact, in your outro you are standing on part of mainland Britain, with both Portsea Island and the Isle of Wight behind you, meaning that you have the 1st, 3rd and 4th most populous islands in the British Isles in one shot.
Well.. I didn't know that. Fair enough!
Hey John, I don't know why your channel is so compelling but here we are. I live 46 miles from the closest motorway, Interstate 10. Amazingly it's only 2,460 miles long. It only takes around 40 hours of driving to go end-to-end. Thanks for the videos, John
One additional point of note is that some slip roads near Naval facilities are deliberately long and sloping to enable nuclear convoys, tanks etc. to access the docks.
Great video as usual John, Thanks. Although you neglected to mention that the two ends of the M27 host a pair of football clubs whose outpouring of love for each other knows no bounds.......
Jury is still on weather the A31 is adequate as most of it is single carriageway after you've passed Ringwood and Ferndown (and don't get us started on the clusterduck that is Canford Bottom roundabout)
After watching the making of, rewatching this episode is a totally new experience.
As a Cities:Skylines player I feel like this channel will become very useful.
This is my local motorway. Back when this was built, the New Forest wasn't a national park and didn't have quirky planning laws. It's more to do with time. The motorway was completed in '81, by which time it was harder to get motorways through planning in general because NIMBYs. Junc 1 on the M275 was not quit completed as planned because you cannot access Tipner Lane to the east. The eastbound exit off the roundabout is for the Park and Ride.
Early Christmas greetings sir & thank you for your continued highly-entertaining and informative offerings. Never ceases to amuse and inform in equal measure.
Thanks mate, that's really kind indeed!
My local motorway, finally! Thanks John :)
You were literally outside my house when you were standing in front of the old Ford factory! Love the videos, keep them up.
Ah sorry about that.. I probably blocked your driveway :D
'A31 is considered good enough as it is' - clearly never tried it during the summer. The A31 is woefully inadequate for at least half the year. It was intended to be widened to dual 3 lanes under Roads for Prosperity back in the 80s before the plan was abandoned in the early 90s.
Hi John! Great to see you Dad at the end! Hope you are all keeping well and have a great Christmas! 🙏🎅🏼
i absolutely adore motorways and knowing things about them, so having a series about different motorways in the UK makes me very happy! huge thanks for making this series
Interesting how it's basically a significantly longer motorway but only part of it got the blue signage. Can't wait to see more!
Thanks a lot, really appreciate that :) I'll be venturing up norf next week...
Ooh nice! Predicting the M18 c:
I live right by the M27 at junction 9. The unused slip road westbound was in use until the last couple of years when the smart motorway was installed. The eastbound one has never been in use. 15 years ago I lived in Townhill Park and could’ve done with junction 6.
Thanks for the great content. You are very accurate with your information 👍🏼
I live near J9 too... Isn't it bliss 😫😫
@@JAY61ish yeah, J8-9 has a 50 limit and inside lane coned off. Whiteley roundabout still not finished 😫
Fun game: count how many times during an Auto Shenanigans video he uses the phrase "but it was cancelled"
When it comes to the M27 you could almost call it the south cancelled motorway!
Back in the summer Years of 1991, 1997 and 2009. My family and I actually travelled on the M27 via M3 from London to Swanage. I never released the M27 was so short!! Lol. Thank you for posting about the M27.
I love how your videos are as long as most people’s attention span...brilliant
Paddington outro FTW!
Spot on mate, thanks for coming down to do this one 👍🏻
It’s great fun when wet. Used to be a regular exit for me, for work. There’s another two local, one leaving the M275 for Paulsgrove and, one joining M27 west bound from Paulsgrove. They are also tight.
The west bound one is wicked fun.
Years ago on the motorbike it was cracking, then in the middle years it was hugely amusing in a 2CV - it would develop such a bank angle the carb would cut out (at 45mph). Now in my dotage, the 381hp mini-monster rips around there popping and banging like a junior Clarkson….
God bless the south of England 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
Living in Fareham, I despise junction 11 of the M27. Sit in traffic in and out every sodding day of the week. Can't wait to get out of here.
If you want to see a tight motorway curve, you should do the M8 through Glasgow, the junction from Springburn Road to the M8 west is wild.
I’ve never been there but that whole road system looks weird on the map.
Yes, and slip roads entering and leaving on the right - scary ! Urban motorway, 50mph speed limit, so different design rules applied.
@@ronniel5941 correct.
Another fab and entertaining video, thanks Jon! I think the double slip roads on the M4/A329(M) junction will give J10 on the M27 a run for its money. My friend tried going round them at 80mph when we were 17 and I can confirm it's not possible in a Mk2 Escort - you will spin off and end up in the bushes!🤣 Possibly also the westbound slip of the M4 J7. For roundabouts on Motorways (with lights!) see J8/9 of the M4 with the A404(M)/A308(M). 👍😁
Lol. Paddington Bear theme at the end.
I’m pretty certain that the A601(M) has a roundabout right in the middle of it. AND the eastern section is a single carriageway!!! It’s definitely did a few years ago but whether there have been alterations since I can’t say for certain.
I’m pretty certain the A601(M) is at J35 of the M6 but it maybe J36. It’s one of those two junctions anyway.
The A601(M) runs from near Over Kellet north west to north of Carnforth in Lancashire.
The amount of times I’ve tried telling Driving Instructors (both car and PCV) that there is the odd motorway with an unavoidable roundabout junction in the middle of it but they wouldn’t have it, “Motoways don’t have roundabouts in the middle of them Martin” is what I’ve constantly been told. So THANK YOU John for proving these know alls wrong.
The A601(M) eastern section is weird being a single carriageway and I had to do a double take. It is a motorway but only because it leads to the roundabout and junction with the M6. The western section of the A601(M) is a two lane duel carriageway.
You may have passed it when doing all the motorway services as there is a sort of services at the end of the A601(M) western section on the northern outskirts of Carnforth.
Having said all the above, it’s a few years since I’ve been along the A601(M) and the only time I did was when I needed the loo. Bit more info than you might’ve wanted there but that’s how I discovered the A601(M) roundabout in the middle and the single carriageway whiles on my way home to Middlesbrough from Blackpool one year.
Nice vid as always John. Take care and have a good week yourself too.
Wasn't the single-carriageway bit of the A601(M) mainly built for Over Kellet quarry, to keep the quarry traffic from having to trundle right through the centre of Carnforth? The detour to avoid it is no longer than many others that the transport planners routinely impose on general traffic.
I also haven't been there for years, but it did feel quite weird driving along what seemed like a perfectly normal small country road - except for being under motorway regulations and having solid double white no-overtaking lines for its whole length, to prevent you legally driving the wrong way down a motorway lane. Having a motorway end at a T-junction with a B-road was a bit weird, too.
I see it has now been re-classified as the B6601 - the name still seems a bit grand for what it is. From Google streetview, the double white lines are still there, except at a new T-junction half way along that leads to a new Porsche dealership. Presumably that is what forced the re-classification. I guess the Carnforth Intersection roundabout over the M6 is also no longer under motorway regulations, so the A601(M) has become a detached motorway.
Hiya @@kgbgb3663. I have no idea why the single carriageway section of the A601(M) was built. I am not from the area at all and only discovered it by complete chance. I was also unaware that the single carriageway had been re classified at a B Road. Surely now tho that B road is a road to nowhere for non motorway traffic? A very odd situation indeed.
@@smogmonster1876 Yes, non-motorway traffic will have to turn around at the roundabout, if they go down the B-road without realising where it goes to. There are now prohibition signs for pedestrians, cyclists, horses and horse-drawn vehicles at the start of what used to be the single-carriageway motorway, but no warning for learner drivers that they will have to retrace their steps if they go down the road. Worse still, when the latest Google Streetview photos were taken (March 2022) there were diversion signs on the B6524 telling all traffic less than 15 ft 9 inches in height (which will probably include all learner drivers) to use the ex-motorway! As you say, all very odd.
1:46 The M12 in Northern Ireland has a roundabout in the motorway. Slap bang in the middle of the road you have to screech to a halt to give way. It’s beyond stupid and was built to save money on a slip-road from the M1.
that pretty much sums up the NI motorways, full of many quirks
If you look closely, it also has a footpath.
Hi John how the devil are you? Have you had a good week? 👍 thanks for doing the M27, having lived in Portsmouth, Fareham, Gosport, Eastleigh and now Southampton, I have used this one a lot.
When are you moving to Totton?
I'm good mate... It's getting cold out there...!
@HKS no plan at the moment never say no though!!
@Auto Shenanigans John where the Ford factory is there is also the airport the other side of the road and the spitfire rbt, with a scale model of a spitfire as they were built (at least partially) by supermarine in Southampton, just in case you ever do a catch up one when you finish this excellent series.
I used to live in Hambledon in the 1970 and 80s and remember the M27 being built. If my memory serves me correct, it was originally made of concrete 'slabs' but there were problems with these and the motorway was closed, ripped up and relaid as tarmac.
Happy to be corrected if anyone knows different.
M12 in Craigavon Co Armagh has not only a roundabout in the middle of it ,( to save money on a bridge ) but said roundabout also has a footpath all the way round it. Even though you can't legally walk on a motorway..
The other peculiarity Is, it legally starts after the last slip road off the A3 that feeds it , so technically if you were a learner driver/cyclist etc you could be stuck there till Domesday. Can't go forward onto motorway because you're a prohibited vehicle , can't go back because you can't reverse up a hard shoulder . Really worth a look , oh and it's only 1¼ miles long cos the other 14 miles weren't built 😋
I've just commented about the M12 and it's roundabout myself, wasn't expecting to see another one mentioning it on here! I'm from Lurgan and use the M12 regularly
The M12 in Northern Ireland had a motorway grade roundabout in the middle
Captain pugwash great video thanks greetings from Scotland 🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧
Jon, Thanks for another dose of fun. To your point about the unique solar array experiment, there was no Feed-In-Tariff in 2004, so the economics aren’t constant. All infrastructure will be solar and wind powered, as it became the cheapest way to provide power capacity since 2010 and extends our carbon budget more than any other engineered energy conversion process.
I believe the fundamental problem here was that for safety critical systems, photovoltaic cells were very difficult (some situations unfeasible) to utilise in remote systems without mains back-up at that time. The generation/storage capacity often has to deal with several weeks of continuous overcast days or being covered with snow which 20 years ago was often not possible at reasonable cost. Since then, photovoltaic cells have reduced in price, battery technology has improved and LED lighting with much lower power demands is now available. Also, error reporting telemetry using mobile networks is pretty standard, so equipment failures can be addressed. I don't believe that feed-in tariffs were or are an economic consideration for standalone equipment that would never be used to drive the grid.
Joyous as always.
Cheers guys, this must be your local motorway?
@Auto Shenanigans yup.... I guess technically the M3. But we definitely have a soft spot for this one.
When are you doing A-roads... 303!!!
A roads... yeah there's a lot of those isn't there :D It'll keep me busy for at least the next 5 years.
Despite living in Scotland ive driven that motorway quite a lot. Whenever im in Cornwall on holiday always come back via Portsmouth to visit the Royal Dockyards and then go see something lovely at the lovely theatre in lovely Chichester. Its all very lovely 😘
What is your route from Cornwall to Portsmouth?
It's also worth noting that the tarmac'd areas at J9 were, up until very recently (upon completion of smart motorway), used as an extended slip road for the junction. But only as an exit in the westbound direction!
The A627 (M) also has a roundabout in the middle
Nice bit of Pugwash 🏴☠ Jon - brings back memories 😹
Ahhh Master Mate!! - spoken with poor diction so the second 'M' could be misinterpreted!
8:11 and another classic theme tune in Paddington as well
The cycling bridge you're stood on at 7:20 is the bridge I used to cross daily for work. Crossing the M27 there, I've stopped and talked to a lot of people looking to jump off the bridge there, persuading them otherwise. It's a daunting place, but brought back a lot of memories.
I used to use that bridge to go to Highbury College :)
Tamworth A5 Bypass exits at Tamworth both directions. Tighter than this. Lorries used to regularly tip over here. They had to make it one sweeping lane rather than two lanes, because there was a real risk of a lorry crushing a car.
Coffee, Bailey's, Jon and the M27 - perfect Sunday morning
And my Sunday is complete with another Auto Shenanigans.
Awesome video John, once again great research, presentation, and just generally a good watch.
Looking forward to the next one, And as always,
*Waves Bye* 👋
What an odd, and yet very interesting series of videos.
Cracking. Thanks Jon. Have a good week whatever you do.
6:05 I knew it!! My poor Toyota on r15 195/65 balloons didn't like that curve going at 65mph.. and then remind me why you shouldn't steer and brake at the same time... :D
one local oddity is A335 Thomas Lewis Way, which is basically the washed-up remains of a never-built motorway (M272) that would have linked the M27 with central Southampton
it's a narrow single-carriageway road that uses the alignment of a motorway, so it's mostly a parkway with very few local junctions, but it also stops for at-grade traffic lights every now and then - a very odd road all round
It's actually a very wide single carriageway road. Almost wide enough for two lanes each way but not quite.
There’s a roundabout in the middle of the M12 in Portadown. 😮
Good to see my home motorway finally featured. I'm in fareham north so j10 is my j depending on which direction I'm travelling.
I can get my van round the bend at North harbour at about 60mph. I didn't realise ut was the tightest Bend. You need to take the right line
Another excellent episode. Hilarious how Britain always never completes building a motorway due to protests etc; and as a result those same protesters and their children end up living in areas with heavy ceaseless traffic on surface roads they can enjoy.
You'll need to come and review the motorways in Norfolk and Suffolk soon. (ha)
I wish Norfolk had a motorway... !!
@@AutoShenanigans That's ok - Norfolk only just found out about roads with more than 2 lanes. Suffolk of course has the A14; the closest we'll ever get to a motorway...
One for the tightest possible curve, heading north from the M25 to the M11 junction 27! Bends one way then hooks back the other. Catches you out if not prepared!
The M12 in Craigavon, Northern Ireland also has a dinner plate sized roundabout right in the middle. Was added when the second set of slip roads were connected and they cheaped out on building one additional flyover.
They did however find the money to build a *footpath* around the roundabout….
Just came home after a 5 hour drive from Chichester which involved the east portion of the M27 up until the M3, so this video is the more than perfect to come home and enjoy a hot cup of tea to.
1:43 There's another motorway with a roundabout in the middle of it up north near Manchester. The A627(M) where it crosses the M62
M65 in Lancashire has a roundabout which is part of the Motorway, where you join at Junction 1.
M60 Junction 5 Anticlockwise for the A5103 has a very sharp loop which is elevated. I refer to this as "The Corkscrew".
This series is one of the most interesting on UA-cam,have you thought about doing a secrets of the duel carriageways?
Very interesting as always. Jolly good show!
Love the content 🙂 the A627(m) near Manchester has a roundabout splitting the two sections. Fly over planned but never done like so many unfinished Motorways in the UK sadly
Great video John, great to see you in my neck of the woods,two ghost slip roads were built in the 70s at tipnor just off the m275 for future use,they are now in use for the park and ride service 👍👌😀
Top form as always 👍 Here’s a thought… Ghost slips I’ve always found fascinating. Here’s a thought… What’s to stop someone/anyone building right up to them… Like the landowner. Maybe their own turnpike, service station, or something? I guess there’s planning and stuff, but hey there’s a motorway there already. Can’t be that hard to clear that one 😂
If you own the land... probably very little!
Paddington bear outro - classic :) Surprised you weren't wearing a duffle coat
been waiting for this episode !
I have become absolutely addicted to this series
Great video Jon, many thanks. That tight slip road is the highest that I have encountered and was great fun back in the day with my 1983 mk1 Vauxhall Astra!
Thanks for yet another exciting episode John.
I work as a Tesco delivery driver at North Harbour and take that curve almost every other day in the Tesco van, it's definitely a tight one as the van feels like it's going to tip, I can only manage 35mph taking the curve
Love the wave .I waved back .excellent stuff again.its dam cold up north here x
There was a roundabout with lights on a motorway in Auckland NZ some 20 years ago.
I've had a good week cheers, and thank you for this video.
He gives the people what they want, John is a motorway God.
Back in the eighties I was driving to Portsmouth on the M27, I had just come on at Junction 10. In traffic at about seventy with a light drizzle falling and full visibly all around when there was an instant massive downpour that reduced visibility to about twenty feet ahead if that. You dare not slow down in case the car behind you had not and ran into the back of you and you hoped the car in front did not slow down because you would hit it if it did. It lasted for about five or six seconds and then went back instantly to a light drizzle again with full visibly all around you and no sign of the downpour in the rear mirror. It was five or six seconds of pure fear and then everything back to normal. I've never experienced anything like it before or since.
Weather manipulation
i live here in Portsmouth and that phenomenon is known locally as "Tuesday"
Man I love this channel so much. Keep it up!
Hi SteadyOn
@@AspectType hahaha hey aspect!
Thanks mate, appreciate that! Have a good new year.
@@AutoShenanigans you too! Chuffed to have got a reply
@@lukessha I'd usually have been quicker to reply but Christmas.. I've been drunk since Saturday.
So cool to learn about my local area (J7) and the motorway I drive on everyday, thank you!
I used to live near J9 until I emigrated nearly four years ago. Your video brought back unpleasant memories of living in Whiteley where we used to have to plan our days around THREE rush hours there due to the extraordinary numbers of workers and shoppers coming in/out clogging the single access road from M27 for the relatively small number of people actually living there .
I heard that Ford vacated their only remaining factory that produced completed vehicles (transits) beside J5 because the EU paid them a lot of money to relocate the factory (but not the jobs of course) to Turkey, and of course Turkey still isn't in the EU and not likely to be anytime soon.
Yes I am sure you are right on Ford there. My now sadly late Dad used to work for them and went there at times; I remember him saying that Ford were going to switch the Transit production to Turkey at the time.
Probably not because of EU inducements (I can't see the EU funding a move out of an EU country, as the UK was then) but because of cheaper labour costs in Turkey where, perhaps, people were more likely to buy the cheaper Fords than the vastly better quality VW and Mercedes vans.
I work in Whiteley, they're doing massive works to improve the traffic flow but it's currently an ABSOLUTE NIGHTMARE getting into work in the mornings. It's been miles long queues lately because they decided to close off the inside lane for Whiteley, forcing everyone into the new 2nd lane exit, but then closed off the left lane to get into Whiteley.. clever.
Nothing is ever as simple as that! Transits were already being made in Turkey by an 'independent' company - Ford had a 40% share. The decision on a replacement vehicle was what triggered the issue. Economies of scale and the lower labour costs in Turkey pointed to that as the preferred production location. Quite what prompted the EIB to provide a loan, however, is another matter! Note the European money was a loan, not a grant.
@@IndigoJo The EU was trying to induce Turkey to join - ie you could have more of this with membership.
They wanted to punish UK because we were not compliant.
Hi, I recently drove from Worthing westwards along the A27, which is fine, a nice dual carriageway. And then you get to Arundel and all hell breaks loose! The A27 abruptly stops at an elevated roundabout, takes a 90 degree zig zag over itself and plunges, single carriageway past Arundel. You can see where the road should go, and a mile or so later it zags and zigs back onto its straight dual carriageway course. This causes traffic chaos, and seems utterly barmy. I'm sure there's a story and I'm sure it would make a great video. Thanks for making a great channel too!!
Arundel bypass that is kicked again into the file away pile
No filler, just top notch content, every time. 👏👏👍😀
J7 westbound on the M4 is horrendously tight, thought they might have rethought it during the "smart" motorway works, but no. Honourable mention to J9A eastbound on the A404(M), always seemed to be a crashed car at the apex of the bend!
At least they seem to have coated J7 in a high friction surface now!
I've come across several roundabouts on motorways as I've travelled this country. The M5/M50 junction near to Strensham services springs to mind.
I would like to see if you could unravel what I believe is the country's most unbelievably scruffy, haphazard and confusing section of motorway on the whole network: the part near Coleshill in Warwickshire where the M6, the M6 Toll and the M42 collide into one another. Absolute carnage. Every time I pass through it I see near misses. I've been in a few myself.
Thanks again for the very informative video.
Another great video Jon! M12 motorway near Craigavon N. Ireland has a random roundabout. Numerous ghost slip roads on it to, well because someone changed their minds 😂. Have you any plans to cover the M6? Spend more hours than I can count driving my truck up and down it on my way to Cairnryan.
Was just checking the comments to make sure someone had mentioned the M12 roundabout in NI. Cheers!
When you run out of motorways, come and talk about the terrible A27 and A259 planning poopshows. There’s another ‘35 years later, it might be finished’ in Arundel currently being disputed.
I always figured Arundel was to do with wealthy locals and spoiled views
@@HoltAlex you’re not far wrong tbh
I lived in Southampton in the 1970's. The M27 was originally billed as "Brighton to Honiton" so the out turn is, shall we say, modest. Ford at Eastleigh was the Transit plant.
Hard to argue that Honiton needs motorway connectivity.
Great presentation John - Thankyou 👍
Nice one, thanks for watching!
1:08 "Junction 2 is the exit for Peppa Pig World. I've managed to resist its charms...", just wonderfully understated 👌
I still believe that the M25 clockwise onto the M11 is the tightest curve!
An additional factoid worth mentioning, there was meant to be an additional motorway spur into Southampton called the M272, I think it was meant to follow the Avenue but was eventually proposed to follow the current Thomas Lewis Way. Typically, it wasn't built, but the road standard is really unusual, with crash barriers and a massive carriageway, resulting in all sorts of carnage, particularly at rush hour!
It was gonna be called the 273, there were plans for a 277 to be built on the other side of Portsea Island but the residents of North End put up a fuss and the plans were scrapped
I have to get over that particular nightmare twice a day, always fun!
lovely outro piece mate
Did you try out the burger van on top of Portsdown Hill? 😊😊😊
Praise be to the holy Mick's
Another good video 🚗🚙🚘👍👍👍⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️