[warfey is a spireite]

just spent three and half hours attempting to get to sheffield spinal hospital eventually got to heath junc29 turned round and headed back to get caught again , ,those 50 speed limits and a accident and everything comes to grinding halt no breakdown lorries in sight 3 lanes grinding halt , missed hospital what a crock of Bunkum and waste of time

[firedodger]

To be fair 50 mph limits don't clog the motorway up, crap driving can do though.

[JonB]

Not the 50mph limit...it's been standstill on there from 10/10:30 this morning via of the snow. Couple of junctions shut due to abandoned trucks etc and there was also an accident which more or less shut it as well. All stuff that could be seen from a quick check before setting off.

It's a busy stretch anyway let alone with the weather earlier!

[warfey is a spireite]

JonB, on 29 January 2015 - 05:40 PM, said:

Not the 50mph limit...it's been standstill on there from 10/10:30 this morning via of the snow. Couple of junctions shut due to abandoned trucks etc and there was also an accident which more or less shut it as well. All stuff that could be seen from a quick check before setting off.

It's a busy stretch anyway let alone with the weather earlier!

jon i travelled north from ashby no snow at all hit junc28 nightmare gridlock2 hours going nowhere missed hospital appointment

[JonB]

warfey is a spireite, on 29 January 2015 - 06:10 PM, said:

jon i travelled north from ashby no snow at all hit junc28 nightmare gridlock2 hours going nowhere missed hospital appointment

Yep, was like that from half 9/10 this morning. Quick look on the highway agency motorway cameras showed the difference from 28 to 29 and various traffic reports saying the m1 was clogged around here.

[warfey is a spireite]

JonB, on 29 January 2015 - 06:17 PM, said:

Yep, was like that from half 9/10 this morning. Quick look on the highway agency motorway cameras showed the difference from 28 to 29 and various traffic reports saying the m1 was clogged around here.

would you have to work there or anothjer way

[clarevoyant.]

When listening to the travel reports on the radio be the weather fair or foul Jct 28 to 30 has to be one of the most mentioned trouble spots in the country.

Why? A couple of theories.

1/ It's 2/3 hours drive from London are drivers becoming tired?

2/ It's one of the most hilly stretchers of the motorway system and causes lorry drivers problems, especially when one lorry travelling behind another that starts loosing speed decides to overtake and then takes maybe 3 mile to complete the manoeuvre, regardless of the congestion that said manoeuvre is causing. This is compounded at the moment with the 2nd lane being narrow with some of the lorries actually slighter wider than this lane. Oh! and some brain dead decides to put a service station at the summit of the hill, making it very interesting for people exiting the service station when a couple of lorries are in race mode in lanes 1&2

I find inconceivable when considering at Jct 28, 4 lanes become 3 at the point where it is feed with traffic from one of the main feeder roads from Birmingham a recipe for congestion, Why with all this time p'ing about with the current road works couldn't they make Jct 28 - 31 four lanes?

[spireitetoo]

clarevoyant., on 29 January 2015 - 06:55 PM, said:

When listening to the travel reports on the radio be the weather fair or foul Jct 28 to 30 has to be one of the most mentioned trouble spots in the country.

Why? A couple of theories.

1/ It's 2/3 hours drive from London are drivers becoming tired?

2/ It's one of the most hilly stretchers of the motorway system and causes lorry drivers problems, especially when one lorry travelling behind another that starts loosing speed decides to overtake and then takes maybe 3 mile to complete the manoeuvre, regardless of the congestion that said manoeuvre is causing. This is compounded at the moment with the 2nd lane being narrow with some of the lorries actually slighter wider than this lane. Oh! and some brain dead decides to put a service station at the summit of the hill, making it very interesting for people exiting the service station when a couple of lorries are in race mode in lanes 1&2

I find inconceivable when considering at Jct 28, 4 lanes become 3 at the point where it is feed with traffic from one of the main feeder roads from Birmingham a recipe for congestion, Why with all this time p'ing about with the current road works couldn't they make Jct 28 - 31 four lanes?

They are making jct28-31 four lanes, the hard shoulder will become a live lane during busy periods. ...they are installing signal gantries and also emergency laybys for such periods. ....a similar system is in operation has been in operation along the M42 so well it is now one of the safest stretch's of motorway in the country and has been extended to the M6 to the north of birmingham......work is due to end later this yr with the 1st phase around jct 30 to open about april time.....be patient folks its coming to an end

[clarevoyant.]

spireitetoo, on 29 January 2015 - 07:38 PM, said:

They are making jct28-31 four lanes, the hard shoulder will become a live lane during busy periods. ...they are installing signal gantries and also emergency laybys for such periods. ....a similar system is in operation has been in operation along the M42 so well it is now one of the safest stretch's of motorway in the country and has been extended to the M6 to the north of birmingham......work is due to end later this yr with the 1st phase around jct 30 to open about april time.....be patient folks its coming to an end

The problem with these so called "Smart Motorways" is as in the current "road works" there ain't no hard shoulder for distressed vehicles to go. Sods Law dictates that any problem will occur as far possible from any emergency laybe and during a busy period

[spireitetoo]

clarevoyant., on 29 January 2015 - 07:51 PM, said:

The problem with these so called "Smart Motorways" is as in the current "road works" there ain't no hard shoulder for distressed vehicles to go. Sods Law dictates that any problem will occur as far possible from any emergency laybe and during a busy period

But they are very well managed so any lane wuth a stranded vehicle or accident causing an obstruction is shut down via the matrix signs or overhead gantries. ...aslong as drivers then adhere to these instructions delays are kept to a minimum. ....they do work very well.....

Also during very busy periods the speed limit is dropped to keep the motorway moving at a steadier pace thus reducing the possibility of an accident.

This post has been edited by spireitetoo: 29 January 2015 - 08:32 PM

[needdm]

I drive down the motorway from junction 29 to junction 23 daily for work, and it is just as bad at junction 23a where the M42 joins the M1, and southbound at junction 25 where 4 Lanes go to 3, especially Monday mornings, when I also come to a halt. Monday it took 2 hours and joined the queue before Junction 26.
Obviously yesterday was made worse by the snow as traffic that uses minor roads normally all will avoid them and go on the motorway.

[needdm]

I have to say that having driven down the motorway everyday for 4 years that the roadworks are a disaster. Doing such a large section of motorway causes accidents, absolutely stupid to have stretches of 30 miles with roadworks, and traffic going at50 mph. Would be better to have done it in no more than 10 mile sections. Just as bad at junction 16 to 18 where another 30 mile stretch of roadworks,there are accidents on an almost daily basis.

[spireitetoo]

The real reason is cos people are so dependant on their car that they won't share....how many people do we all work with that could travel to work together...the amount of cars on the road increases yearly yet the roads are not capable of carrying what it using them now....its easy to blame lorries overtaking etc...but the fact remains there are just too many cars with 1 person sat in it on the rds.

[clarevoyant.]

spireitetoo, on 31 January 2015 - 08:24 AM, said:

The real reason is cos people are so dependant on their car that they won't share....how many people do we all work with that could travel to work together...the amount of cars on the road increases yearly yet the roads are not capable of carrying what it using them now....its easy to blame lorries overtaking etc...but the fact remains there are just too many cars with 1 person sat in it on the rds.

If that's the case I blame a bloke called Beaching. There's definitely to much freight on the roads.

[isleaiw]

I drive J29 to J7/8 three times a week. Sometimes to J4 of M42 as well. The journey you get is a lottery and in the hands of the gods... Or at least some dodgy driving by impatient people in a hurry.

Set off early to allow good time, if you get held up its bad luck and whatever you were heading to will either wait or be rearranged....

The commutes for me are work - it can always wait. We are a very crowded country with poor transport options so the roads will suffer...

[spireitetoo]

clarevoyant., on 31 January 2015 - 08:59 AM, said:

If that's the case I blame a bloke called Beaching. There's definitely to much freight on the roads.

But without lorries how do the thousands of supermarkets, retail parks etc get serviced..you can only get freight so far by rail

This post has been edited by spireitetoo: 31 January 2015 - 08:51 PM

[Mr Mercury]

spireitetoo, on 29 January 2015 - 07:38 PM, said:

They are making jct28-31 four lanes, the hard shoulder will become a live lane during busy periods. ...they are installing signal gantries and also emergency laybys for such periods. ....a similar system is in operation has been in operation along the M42 so well it is now one of the safest stretch's of motorway in the country and has been extended to the M6 to the north of birmingham......work is due to end later this yr with the 1st phase around jct 30 to open about april time.....be patient folks its coming to an end

Initially it was to be a proper four lane motorway complete with hard shoulder, but the money ran out , so in effect they did the wrong stretch first .

[Skywalker]

I do on average 3000 miles per month covering most of the UK. Pretty much every day there is a crash on either the M1 or M25. My only recommendation is to purchase a good sat nav with live traffic updates.

[spireitetoo]

Skywalker, on 01 February 2015 - 09:03 AM, said:

I do on average 3000 miles per month covering most of the UK. Pretty much every day there is a crash on either the M1 or M25. My only recommendation is to purchase a good sat nav with live traffic updates.

Who do you drive for?

[Skywalker]

spireitetoo, on 01 February 2015 - 11:39 AM, said:

Who do you drive for?

I'm a field service engineer for a life science company.