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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

AIBU The hell that is the Dartford Crossing

60 replies

Magicpaintbrush · 19/08/2016 19:36

What would it take for the government to put their hand in their pocket and build an alternative crossing to the hellish stretch of road that is the Dartford Crossing??? This has surely got to be in the running for the worst and most stressful road in the UK. Once you are on the approach to it there is no escape if it all goes tits up, you can be stuck for literally hours. If only there was another route, or even a car ferry.

It is absolute shite. I hate driving it. I doubt I'm the only one.

OP posts:

PikachuSayBoo · 19/08/2016 19:43

I've only been over it a few times but liked it, wasn't stuck in traffic though.

I had a slightly bad experience years ago when been at the far right ticket booth when they were still there and realised I needed the exit about 100yds after the booths! I was in an old,slow camper van and practically did a left turn across about 15 lanes of traffic!

AmandaIsHere · 19/08/2016 19:48

It's not that bad but it depends on what time you cross I never go on M25 in rush hour it's awful.

gettingbythistime · 19/08/2016 19:56

I try and stay in the right hand lane to avoid the slow lorries but then last minute nip into the left hand lane for travelling through the tunnel as otherwise I usually find a bastard audio and/or a 4x4 tailgating me

gettingbythistime · 19/08/2016 19:56

Audi 😊😋😋

Tastesjustlikecherrycola85 · 19/08/2016 20:00

I live about 15 mins away from the crossing and when there's a problem (which seems like a very regular occurrence) with it the traffic backs up everywhere. It took DH 45 mins the other day to reach 5 mins into his normal journey

Tastesjustlikecherrycola85 · 19/08/2016 20:01

I thought they were currently proposing an alternative crossing?

bookgirl1982 · 19/08/2016 20:04

There is a proposal to build another crossing at Gravesend.

It is awful at the moment. We live on the Kent side and it causes all the local roads to be clogged up as people try and avoid the worst of the queues.

bloodynoris · 19/08/2016 20:04

I live on top of it in Dartford and it's a joke! Twice this week I haven't been able to go anywhere as once the crossing starts building up Dartford comes to a standstill. It makes me don't want to go out as I never know how long or if I can get back home. Something seriously needs to happen regarding another crossing but no one else wants it but are happy to cause Dartford residents problems by still using it.

TheSkiingGardener · 19/08/2016 20:07

Try the woolwich ferry or Blackwall tunnel?

HarrietVane99 · 19/08/2016 20:11

If they do build the proposed new crossing east of Gravesend, I don't know where they think all the traffic's going to go on the Kent side. If it's heading for London it'll still have to negotiate the M25 interchange.

Then there's the theme park they're talking of building at Swanscombe, and I believe there was a proposal to expand Bluewater. Let's just tarmac over the whole of north Kent.

And then there's Operation Stack, although we haven't seen so much of that this summer.

PitchFork · 19/08/2016 20:14

woolich ferry and blackwall tunnel
if there is trouble in darford se london is in gridlock.

GinandTits · 19/08/2016 20:14

I fucking hate it!!! I live near canterbury but all my family live in Romford and Dagenham so I have to use that fucking bridge!! Everytime I go to that bugger there is traffic

GinandTits · 19/08/2016 20:16

Don't get me started on blackwall. If the traffic is terrible we've gone that way but everyone has the same idea and it's also shite.

70isaLimitNotaTarget · 19/08/2016 20:17

It was a bloody nightmare today (DD and I went to Bluewater)
The roundabout where you leave the M25 and get back onto the slip road to the M25 were gridlocked and a Free For All at the same time

I got cut up by huge lorries changing lanes and drivers ignoring the "Give Way to The Right" .

Original poster

Magicpaintbrush · 19/08/2016 20:30

I hadn't heard about the proposal for another crossing at Gravesend, I will look it up and find out more. I won't hold my breath that a decision will be made on it any time soon though.

The Woolwich ferry and blackwall tunnel are no good for those coming from the direction of Kent, they are miles in the wrong direction - although a good alternative if you are travelling from London.

The thing about the Dartford Crossing is that not only is it terrible for those who are using it if it becomes gridlocked, but it has a domino effect for miles around. We've had to abandon our journey and go home in the past as we couldn't get any further than Gravesend, the A2 being complete gridlock. Just on Wednesday a friend's husband travelling from Sittingbourne to his job in Essex left the house at 7.30am and arrived at his destination at 12 noon because of an accident at the crossing and the gridlock that had ensued - he could have driven to Cornwall in that time! My sister has been stuck in stationery traffic on the crossing with a tiny baby on a roasting hot day and no way of getting home - I could go on and on.

A car ferry wouldn't solve the problem but it would maybe be a bit of a help and take some of the traffic out of the equation, at least it would be a choice. There is a ferry that I think takes pedestrians and motorbikes but not cars, going between kent and tilbury.

I only have to use the crossing occasionally to visit family but I feel really sorry for those who have to use it every single day for work, they must get so sick of it.

And yes, the new theme park at Swanscombe....pretty close to Bluewater...and the Dartford Crossing......I think the traffic situation could get pretty interesting. And there are proposals to build masses of new housing developments over the countryside around the area where I live so that won't help the traffic in kent. Thank God we haven't seen Operation Stack recently.

OP posts:

Palomb · 19/08/2016 20:34

The A34 is the biggest road abomination in the UK. Miles and miles of misery :(

HarrietVane99 · 19/08/2016 20:52

Magic, there used to be a car ferry at Gravesend. But as you say, it's just for foot passengers now.

There are all sorts of environmental and planning issues to be overcome before work on a new river crossing can begin. It's a long way off.

As an alternative to roads, there is HS1 from St Pancras and Stratford Intl. to Ebbsfleet and on into Kent.

Doyouthinktheysaurus · 19/08/2016 20:58

While the government are fixing the dartford crossing problem, if they could kindly fix the car park that is the west side of the M25 I'd be very grateful!

Maybe we could have a second m25 alongside the first!

I live south of the M25, I have no respite from the fucker whenever I want to head above London, it's shit.

I actually breathe a sigh of relief if I have to go dartford way as its the lesser of 2 evils compared with the west, and that saying something.

Doyouthinktheysaurus · 19/08/2016 21:01

It took us 9 hours to get back from Norfolk to near Brighton a few years back in part due to the most serious accident of that year on the M25. We have had so many crap journeys on the M25 I can recall the good runs we had easier than the bad ones!

TheABC · 19/08/2016 21:03

And this is the reason why I take the train instead of the motorway into London. Even negotiating the Underground with a baby is preferable to sitting in a traffic jam and listening to them scream.

BigGirlsDontCry1 · 19/08/2016 21:04

Rotherhite tunnel?

Mumble29 · 19/08/2016 21:07

Bane of our lives, it is a nightmare (I'm in Greenhithe) what with that and the shit that is Southeastern trains it is a wonder how the fuck I ever get anywhere!

Spectre8 · 19/08/2016 21:08

The Silvertown Tunnel has been proposed to help relieve traffic at Blackwall Tunnel

CatThiefKeith · 19/08/2016 21:09

Option C, the new crossing, has already been agreed, it is just which route it will take through Thurrock that is being thrashed out. It will join the M2 at junction 1, or just before it, by cobham services, and there are plans to upgrade bluebell hill so that traffic can cut across to the M20 I believe.

Between that, the Ebbsfleet Garden City, the theme park and the Bluewater expansion it's going to be a nightmare few years on the roads I think. And that's without all the building planned for the Hoo Peninsula.

bbcessex · 19/08/2016 21:10

Couldn't agree more.. it has been better since the toll booths were removed (especially from Essex to Kent) but recently it's been horrendous again.. took me 1.5 hours to get from Junction 4 to the tunnel today for no apparent reason. GRRRRRRRR.

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