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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To hate those roadworks on the M6

18 replies

user1471517900 · 02/04/2018 12:46

Junction 16-19....upgrading to smart motorways..... Means miles and miles and miles of 50mph driving and congestion. It probably is a good thing in the long run but it takes so long and I hate it. AIBU.

Also rain and sleet. Should be illegal on motorways too.

OP posts:

BrownTurkey · 02/04/2018 12:48

Its hideous, I do that journey several times a year and those roadworks have really got us down recently.

Feckitall · 02/04/2018 12:50

Was stuck in those last week...50mph?? That was a joke...did 3mph through most of it!

Original poster

user1471517900 · 02/04/2018 12:59

I suppose it's something that we got through them without stopping today..... It's soul destroying. Do they need to have the roadworks for such a long distance?!

OP posts:

allthegoodnameshadgone · 02/04/2018 13:07

My partner does this route several times a week. It's awful. It's awful how long they have been going on for.

I hate the M6.

There seems to be an accident every single day in there.

ForalltheSaints · 02/04/2018 13:12

You could use the train?

RandomMess · 02/04/2018 13:21

Only another year to go although will they not just move them up a few more junctions and start on the next stretch...

Original poster

user1471517900 · 02/04/2018 13:23

For all - true. But then again I'd have to spend lots more money and probably get a rail replacement service going through the same stretch anyway....

OP posts:

WhenDoISleep · 02/04/2018 13:28

I hate it too. I'm driving through it tomorrow on the way to visit relatives - I always hope that the traffic just keeps moving on that stretch so at least we are progressing.

We've also had years of the same on the M3 as we use that motorway quite a bit too.

CoraPirbright · 02/04/2018 13:31

Argh I didn’t know they were doing that and I need to use the M6 next week. Is it the toll road bit?

We have had this for ages near us on the M3 but every time I crawl along there is no one working there. Most mysterious but I am going to take a wild guess is that this is why the bloody things take so long!! They are starting on the M4 now too. Sigh.

RandomMess · 02/04/2018 13:33

It's north of the toll road merging in, 4 years and counting!!!

punicorn · 02/04/2018 13:36

I sometimes look forward to road works ahead on motorways (yes, M25, I'm talking to you). It's often the only time you can get a decent speed up - even if it is only 50, it's still 40 mph faster than the rest of the journey. It's the only time everyone drives sensibly too

alfagirl73 · 02/04/2018 13:39

I love driving but if one thing gives me the rage its endless miles of 50mph - apparently for the purpose of "roadworks" but I never see anyone working! On top of that, the constant closing of motorways at night - is no one allowed to go anywhere at night these days?! Smart motorways my arse! Just turning every motorway into mile after mile of variable speed limits that drive everyone insane.

CoraPirbright · 02/04/2018 13:39

Thank you Random. Oh dear looks like I’ll get caught unless the sat nav can magic up an alternative (unlikely - mine is rubbish and I dont trust it!)

ErrolTheDragon · 02/04/2018 13:39

Yes... the narrowness of the lanes within concrete bollards is bad too. DH is making several trips a year with a bike carrier, he's using the M62/A1 rather than the M6 because of the roadworks.

ErrolTheDragon · 02/04/2018 13:44

Google maps will give alternative routes, Cora.

RandomMess · 02/04/2018 13:44

@CoraPirbright where are you headed to? I used to live nearish Pirbright - although it's not quick to get to from anywhere!

Skiiltan · 02/04/2018 13:49

Smart motorways my arse! Just turning every motorway into mile after mile of variable speed limits that drive everyone insane.

The variable speed limits don't drive me insane: I know how & why they're set (to avoid a concertina effect with high speeds between areas of congestion then zero speed when you reach the congestion). What bothers me about "smart" motorways is the regular loss of the hard shoulder, which is phenomenally dangerous. I'm assuming several dozen people will be killed soon as a consequence of a lorry running into the back of a broken-down school minibus on a hard shoulder that people have been ordered to drive on. Then politicians will decide that "something must be done" and the whole process of changing to "smart" motorways will be put into reverse. I don't care about the statistical probability of accidents occurring where there is no hard shoulder (very low): what is important is how horrific those accidents will be.

RandomMess · 02/04/2018 13:59

Sometimes the messages are utter lies!! I once new the opposite carriageway was shut for a major incident 40 minutes up the road their signs were saying "delays" so frustrating as people could have left the M40 there and cut across to the M4 - big fat failure!!!

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