AIBU The hell that is the Dartford Crossing

[Magicpaintbrush]

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.

There were additional crossings proposed in 2015, see here content.tfl.gov.uk/new-river-crossings-for-london-dec-2015.pdf

Although the need for additional road bridges is clearly there, I think political opinion against building much in the way of roads/road crossings is pretty strong. There are also some issues around supporting roads for east London river crossings because the Highways Agency have apparently said they will not be doing anything to improve road connections to any of the proposed river crossings (at least that was the case a year or two ago).

This article gives a good overview, though it's written by someone who's organising the campaign group against Silvertown so make of it what you will.

www.citymetric.com/transport/no-london-not-getting-13-new-river-crossings-1654

Re paying we have our account set up to auto deduct the fees. Bit like oyster cards. You can register multiple vehicles ( we have 3 - one is a family friends car who uses it to visit us for babysitting mainly!).

Stops the risk of fines.

Thanks for advice on fines. We will probably never make the Dartford Crossing again, so will just have to suck up any fines. Hopefully, it will,just be an additional £2.50

I use the Tyne Tunnel a lot and have a pass, saves looking for change, but at least you can always pay with cash up here.

Have to say though, apart from a slow approach, it was not that busy 🤓

Sounds like the Mersey tunnels up here. The charges were meant to stop as soon as the tunnels had paid for themselves. Guess what, it never happened.
We are getting a second bridge over the Mersey but as soon as it's open, the first bridge is closing for maintenance and both bridges will then be tolled.
Bloody joke- I wonder what I pay my road tax for sometimes.

Those Silvertown proposals look like a revival of the ELRIC idea from a few decades ago, which was abandoned partly due to the problem of what to do with the traffic once it was south of the river. It's all either heavily built up, or of historic or natural significance; there's nowhere to put new access roads without upsetting someone, and without adding to the pressure on already congested existing roads.

I do use the crossing regularly and haven't noticed any improvement in traffic problems since the toll booths were taken away.

I hate it. I've done it once a year for the last few years and it's always been terrible. Coming back from Canterbury, it took longer to get through the tunnel than it did to do the last part of the trip home!

Yanbu. That crossing is a nightmare. I live in the midlands but have spent so many hours trapped in traffic at that crossing with young kids in the car on the way to see my in laws in Kent. My in laws are sadly gone now and I no longer have to do that journey. I feel so sorry for people living around that area.

For me, the real bastard is when they close the right hand tunnel and the height limit drops. Puts on an extra 70 miles with a double deck trailer, as there is NO night route through London over 15'9".