Ooh! Thats a great picture. Pretty sure it’s M1 junction 14, looking north. You can see the several flood culverts under the motorway on the straight beyond the junction. Probably taken in 1959 just before opening because the wear marks on the roundabout don’t show any traffic to the sliproads.
July 7, 2026 at 6:33 PM
Ooh! Thats a great picture. Pretty sure it’s M1 junction 14, looking north. You can see the several flood culverts under the motorway on the straight beyond the junction. Probably taken in 1959 just before opening because the wear marks on the roundabout don’t show any traffic to the sliproads.
There's a lot there to unpack - and some things you can't unsee! For example, you'll find out just why the eastern set of sliproads at M8 junction 13 have those strange and seemingly unnecessary curves.
November 10, 2025 at 6:01 PM
There's a lot there to unpack - and some things you can't unsee! For example, you'll find out just why the eastern set of sliproads at M8 junction 13 have those strange and seemingly unnecessary curves.
Ever doodled your own junction designs? In the late 1950s one man did... and then turned it into a set of plans that he sent to the Ministry of Transport. He named it after himself - the "Foulkesway". We don't think it's ever been published before now! /🧵
May 16, 2025 at 4:48 PM
Ever doodled your own junction designs? In the late 1950s one man did... and then turned it into a set of plans that he sent to the Ministry of Transport. He named it after himself - the "Foulkesway". We don't think it's ever been published before now! /🧵
I drove there back then to see a friend's performance in a pub. There was the most awful system of roundabouts and underpasses and sliproads to get onto the Island - and then you suddenly emerged to be confronted with this. /2
August 23, 2026 at 2:17 PM
I drove there back then to see a friend's performance in a pub. There was the most awful system of roundabouts and underpasses and sliproads to get onto the Island - and then you suddenly emerged to be confronted with this. /2
It branded itself the Motorway City of the Seventies, but Leeds was still building motorways in its heart in the 90s. Join us for a look at the huge, easily-overlooked and surprisingly new interchange at the heart of the city, M621 J3. #leeds www.roads.org.uk/photo/juncti...
September 4, 2025 at 5:41 PM
It branded itself the Motorway City of the Seventies, but Leeds was still building motorways in its heart in the 90s. Join us for a look at the huge, easily-overlooked and surprisingly new interchange at the heart of the city, M621 J3. #leeds www.roads.org.uk/photo/juncti...
Construction work has begun at the Lodge Hill interchange outside Abingdon, where new sliproads are being added so that residents in the north of the town can access both directions of the A34 without driving through the town centre. Work is expected to be complete by the end of 2026.
September 5, 2025 at 9:27 AM
Construction work has begun at the Lodge Hill interchange outside Abingdon, where new sliproads are being added so that residents in the north of the town can access both directions of the A34 without driving through the town centre. Work is expected to be complete by the end of 2026.
Once saw someone describe Nigel Farage, here as ever in objectionable blazer, as the shifty toff in a Prime Suspect about a sex trafficking ring, who Helen Mirren wants to arrest but can't because he plays golf with the chief constable.
I think of him as a the Nazi wing of the rotary club.
I think of him as a the Nazi wing of the rotary club.
May 1, 2025 at 6:29 PM
Once saw someone describe Nigel Farage, here as ever in objectionable blazer, as the shifty toff in a Prime Suspect about a sex trafficking ring, who Helen Mirren wants to arrest but can't because he plays golf with the chief constable.
I think of him as a the Nazi wing of the rotary club.
I think of him as a the Nazi wing of the rotary club.
Two new sliproads opened today at Shores Green, Witney, at a cost of £26.8m. They enable Witney traffic to use the A40 from one end of town to the other, bypassing the congested Bridge Street. They had been proposed since 2012 as an alternative to the rejected scheme for a Cogges Link Road.
July 17, 2026 at 4:43 PM
Two new sliproads opened today at Shores Green, Witney, at a cost of £26.8m. They enable Witney traffic to use the A40 from one end of town to the other, bypassing the congested Bridge Street. They had been proposed since 2012 as an alternative to the rejected scheme for a Cogges Link Road.
From the late 1960s, a Scottish 'O' Grade school textbook on the new towns (for Geography or Modern Studies, a subject that doesn't exist in England).
March 20, 2025 at 8:10 AM
From the late 1960s, a Scottish 'O' Grade school textbook on the new towns (for Geography or Modern Studies, a subject that doesn't exist in England).
The main construction contract for the A40 Shores Green works at Witney has been signed. Oxfordshire County Council has engaged M Group Highways to carry out the work. The works will see new west-facing sliproads built to relieve congestion in Witney town centre.
June 3, 2025 at 2:28 PM
The main construction contract for the A40 Shores Green works at Witney has been signed. Oxfordshire County Council has engaged M Group Highways to carry out the work. The works will see new west-facing sliproads built to relieve congestion in Witney town centre.
No but once, on the M6 northbound aiming for Chorley, I exited the motorway, got confused w the sliproads & found myself back on M6 but this time southbound. Had to go all the way back to the Wigan turnoff before I could turn round... 🙄🤣
February 20, 2026 at 7:33 PM
No but once, on the M6 northbound aiming for Chorley, I exited the motorway, got confused w the sliproads & found myself back on M6 but this time southbound. Had to go all the way back to the Wigan turnoff before I could turn round... 🙄🤣
His design was essentially a whirlpool or turbine junction in layout, in that it was free flowing with sliproads all cycling around the central point to reach their destination - this page describes the modern version: www.roads.org.uk/interchanges...
Whirlpool
Free-flowing, resizeable and also quite pretty.
www.roads.org.uk
May 16, 2025 at 4:48 PM
His design was essentially a whirlpool or turbine junction in layout, in that it was free flowing with sliproads all cycling around the central point to reach their destination - this page describes the modern version: www.roads.org.uk/interchanges...
It was meant to run further west and further east, has space for lanes that were never built, was meant to get more sliproads at junction 5 and it's missing junction 2 entirely. The M58 has so much unfinished business that it's a wonder you can drive it at all.
M58
The M58 is the motorway from north of Liverpool to Skelmersdale, Wigan and the M6. It's not all it was meant to be - in fact it's one of those motorways that is unfinished at both ends.
www.roads.org.uk
July 12, 2025 at 2:20 PM
It was meant to run further west and further east, has space for lanes that were never built, was meant to get more sliproads at junction 5 and it's missing junction 2 entirely. The M58 has so much unfinished business that it's a wonder you can drive it at all.
The (ok, arsebook) replies to an article about how many accidents are occuring on a nearby stretch of dual carriageway (essentially straight off the end of the M4) are all 'bigger sliproads' and 'another lane' kind of comments.
Nobody* saying 'are there too many cars on it?'.
* Ok, one. Me :-)
Nobody* saying 'are there too many cars on it?'.
* Ok, one. Me :-)
October 27, 2025 at 10:28 AM
The (ok, arsebook) replies to an article about how many accidents are occuring on a nearby stretch of dual carriageway (essentially straight off the end of the M4) are all 'bigger sliproads' and 'another lane' kind of comments.
Nobody* saying 'are there too many cars on it?'.
* Ok, one. Me :-)
Nobody* saying 'are there too many cars on it?'.
* Ok, one. Me :-)
Nobody merges. Everybody negotiates.
UK slip roads: where the Highway Code becomes a hostage negotiation.
#UKDriving #UKRoads #BritishDrivers #MotorwayLife #SlipRoads #DrivingHumour #UKHumour
UK slip roads: where the Highway Code becomes a hostage negotiation.
#UKDriving #UKRoads #BritishDrivers #MotorwayLife #SlipRoads #DrivingHumour #UKHumour
September 30, 2026 at 1:00 PM
Nobody merges. Everybody negotiates.
UK slip roads: where the Highway Code becomes a hostage negotiation.
#UKDriving #UKRoads #BritishDrivers #MotorwayLife #SlipRoads #DrivingHumour #UKHumour
UK slip roads: where the Highway Code becomes a hostage negotiation.
#UKDriving #UKRoads #BritishDrivers #MotorwayLife #SlipRoads #DrivingHumour #UKHumour
But the Foulkesway differs from modern junctions in just how small it was - its designer packed it into the space of an ordinary roundabout using steep slopes, tight corners and towering retaining walls.
May 16, 2025 at 4:48 PM
But the Foulkesway differs from modern junctions in just how small it was - its designer packed it into the space of an ordinary roundabout using steep slopes, tight corners and towering retaining walls.
It was the UK's last major motorway project, a new link from London to Birmingham. Revisit the optimism (and the slightly naive greenwashing) of 1991's grand opening with the M40's commemorative booklet. www.roads.org.uk/opening-book...
August 28, 2025 at 5:41 PM
It was the UK's last major motorway project, a new link from London to Birmingham. Revisit the optimism (and the slightly naive greenwashing) of 1991's grand opening with the M40's commemorative booklet. www.roads.org.uk/opening-book...
Some pictures from the construction of the M4 Brentford Viaduct circa 1963. On Friday I posted part 2 of my history of this pioneering, highly experimental project that got so much right - and one very important thing very wrong. roadsorguk.substack.com/p/the-foreve...
March 22, 2026 at 3:03 PM
Some pictures from the construction of the M4 Brentford Viaduct circa 1963. On Friday I posted part 2 of my history of this pioneering, highly experimental project that got so much right - and one very important thing very wrong. roadsorguk.substack.com/p/the-foreve...
The first section of the M602 opened in 1971 to great fanfare - the first stage of a whole network of urban motorways for Greater Manchester that mostly never happened. Get a feel for the pride and the optimism in the book that marked its opening. #eccles #salford www.roads.org.uk/opening-book...
August 7, 2025 at 5:41 PM
The first section of the M602 opened in 1971 to great fanfare - the first stage of a whole network of urban motorways for Greater Manchester that mostly never happened. Get a feel for the pride and the optimism in the book that marked its opening. #eccles #salford www.roads.org.uk/opening-book...
Stuck for 40 mins getting out of Sale as TWO SEPARATE MOTORWAY SLIPROADS MERGE INTO **ONE** LANE.
Which backed up all the way to the Trafford Centre.
Why? For a cycle lane - which has been cones since 2020.
One I've NEVER seen used. EVER. BECAUSE ITS A MAD ROAD AND **RAIINN**
Andy Burnham. Meh.
Which backed up all the way to the Trafford Centre.
Why? For a cycle lane - which has been cones since 2020.
One I've NEVER seen used. EVER. BECAUSE ITS A MAD ROAD AND **RAIINN**
Andy Burnham. Meh.
December 17, 2024 at 10:17 PM
Stuck for 40 mins getting out of Sale as TWO SEPARATE MOTORWAY SLIPROADS MERGE INTO **ONE** LANE.
Which backed up all the way to the Trafford Centre.
Why? For a cycle lane - which has been cones since 2020.
One I've NEVER seen used. EVER. BECAUSE ITS A MAD ROAD AND **RAIINN**
Andy Burnham. Meh.
Which backed up all the way to the Trafford Centre.
Why? For a cycle lane - which has been cones since 2020.
One I've NEVER seen used. EVER. BECAUSE ITS A MAD ROAD AND **RAIINN**
Andy Burnham. Meh.
Obscene waste. Imagine if we had a few of these on the motorway sliproads on the regular.
September 13, 2026 at 3:23 PM
Obscene waste. Imagine if we had a few of these on the motorway sliproads on the regular.
Have you heard? Our epic Ringways Map was finally published last week, laying out London's unbuilt urban motorways in full detail for the first time ever. Our blog post has all the details: www.roads.org.uk/blog/ringway...
November 13, 2025 at 6:41 PM
Have you heard? Our epic Ringways Map was finally published last week, laying out London's unbuilt urban motorways in full detail for the first time ever. Our blog post has all the details: www.roads.org.uk/blog/ringway...
And the location of the two modern bridges makes no sense for the unfinished GSJ at Crab Lane - they don't work for either mainline or sliproads. So my guess is that Birchwood Way originally had a new bridge for westbound traffic, with the original meant to eventually become an entry sliproad...
May 23, 2026 at 9:44 PM
And the location of the two modern bridges makes no sense for the unfinished GSJ at Crab Lane - they don't work for either mainline or sliproads. So my guess is that Birchwood Way originally had a new bridge for westbound traffic, with the original meant to eventually become an entry sliproad...
Does that have anything to do with British vs French sliproads? Some of the latter require you to go from 130 to 50 in 100m.
October 27, 2025 at 7:23 AM
Does that have anything to do with British vs French sliproads? Some of the latter require you to go from 130 to 50 in 100m.
It’s not just the dualling though. It’s also building sliproads and bridges so you don’t have to cross the carriageway. And I know that’s all incredibly expensive.
July 31, 2026 at 7:35 AM
It’s not just the dualling though. It’s also building sliproads and bridges so you don’t have to cross the carriageway. And I know that’s all incredibly expensive.