So, HS2

[SPECIAL LOCATION]

HS2...    Solving a problem that doesn't exist IMHO....

So I live approx. 13 miles from Birmingham...

Vast swathes of the local population commute into B/ham from my neck-o-the-woods..  (Bugger all want to go to London!!! except maybe once or twice a year)...

I know this as traffic grinds to a near halt if you are trying to get to a job or from a job, on any of the arterial routes into the second city anywhere near morning or evening rush-hour!

I am guessing that equivalent proportions of the UK population also commute from the other  3/4 + of the arc scribed round from the centre of B/ham out on the opposite sides from Spec-Loc land...

So we NEED better local services into/out of B/ham from approx 20-25mile radius..

NOT a city-to-city line London-Bham!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

headbang    :mellow:

 

[Rob.]

Just to put the spending into context I did some quick math. 

Population of the entire UK is 66 million, I rounded up to 70 million. 

The overspending, not including the original amount tendered of 30 billion. 

Equates to everyone of these  70 million people  paying 430 quid each for the overspend alone!

 

[binky]

and that money benefits me, in Devon, how?

 

[Sharpend]

This is a typical example of a government thinking without consulting those they expect to use it? So of the 66million people how many actually need it want it or will use it? 

A dar better proposal in these times of austerity?! would have been to invest in the local and general infrastructure. I regularly drive the length and breadth of this country of ours and recently I’ve had the pleasure of commuting via the A14 in Cambridgeshire, now this has been for the past few years being upgraded not due to finish until 2020, which will make that part of the journey much quicker or will it? There seems little point in enlarging one road if the roads that it joins at either end remain the same? Pinch points will still remain only a little further down the line. So improvement should be a continual thing not a one off project. 

 

[kerching]

Maybe we are not being told the truth

Maybe  it is NOT to get people into London quicker BUT it is to get the politicians OUT of London quicker so they can run away up north and hide

 

[Andy™]

should be building more roads, not making the ones we already have 'smart'. still loads of traffic, and no redundancy if there's an incident that closes the road

 

[Murdoch]

On major roads you would have thought that the A303 would be a priority to get to be dual carriageway all the way ................ but no some old stones and nimbies get in the way of progress.

And Surrey - not had a new road of any real consequence built since the M25 in the late 70's / early 80's or the A331 in the late 1980's

Its not just politicians not living in the real world,  its the Civil Servants too 

 

[Geoff1946]

should be building more roads, not making the ones we already have 'smart'. still loads of traffic, and no redundancy if there's an incident that closes the road

I'm with you there. I hate the smart sections. How can it be seen as safe to have no hard shoulder as emergency refuge?  Those small lay-bys are perhaps OK if you sense a problem developing, but what if you can't reach one?  I'm not on the roads enough these days to have witnessed a breakdown on a "smart" section, but I can visualise hazardous chaos if a lane stops, with all the impatient drivers trying to push into the other lanes, etc.

 

[Andy™]

usually they will close a lane with the red X. usually with a 40mph limit for 3 miles before & 2 miles after, because the smart system is so smart, they know someone is broke down, they just dont know where...

and by the amount of unnecessary low speeds (i.e 50 because of 'debris on road' that is a bit rubbish int he trees at the side, 40mph because there's a bit wind off the coast of scotland), id say its also used more to top up the police / governments speeding fines....

 

[binky]

the speed cameras work when the sgns are off to boot!  I drive through Birmingham a couple of times a year, I have to say I quite like the smart section, it's calmed the traffic down and makes merging M5-M6 much easier than it was.

According to the news this morning £7 billion spent on HS2 already, yet they can't find the £30 miilion to re-enforce the sea wall at Dawlish and stop the SW's only rail link being cut off.

 

[Evans Electric]

Pinch points will still remain only a little further down the line. So improvement should be a continual thing not a one off project. 

They do that in Brum all the time .  And as I may have mentioned before  they ignoring the wishes of the people by me and demolishing a flyover on the A34  that they built  to ease & cope with  today's traffic .  

 

[Evans Electric]

  I'm not on the roads enough these days to have witnessed a breakdown on a "smart" section, but I can visualise hazardous chaos if a lane stops, with all the impatient drivers trying to push into the other lanes, etc.

Scares me too , unbelievable  to find no hard shoulder .   Its done  on the M6 in the Midlands  because the traffic is now of humungous  proportions .  

 

[Evans Electric]

id say its also used more to top up the police / governments speeding fines....

That is definitely the case with bus lanes in towns & cities  .  You can't tell me it fair on the people  to fine them £60  for drifting into a bus lane .  

Theres a cracker in Brum ,   I'd have to check if its still the same .........  in the city , imagine you are a  visitor so not familiar with the roads & the traffic ,  you think  Ah I need to turn left here  , round you go , straight into a bus lane  , camera  flashes  and a £60  fine is on it's way .     Highway robbery  it must generate  the overspend on the HS2  every year.     

 

[Rob.]

That is definitely the case with bus lanes in towns & cities  .  You can't tell me it fair on the people  to fine them £60  for drifting into a bus lane .  

Theres a cracker in Brum ,   I'd have to check if its still the same .........  in the city , imagine you are a  visitor so not familiar with the roads & the traffic ,  you think  Ah I need to turn left here  , round you go , straight into a bus lane  , camera  flashes  and a £60  fine is on it's way .     Highway robbery  it must generate  the overspend on the HS2  every year.     

There was a bus lane in Preston similar. Enough people complained that they removed the camera.

 

[Evans Electric]

Woah!!  Power to the people !!!

 

[Rob.]

Woah!!  Power to the people !!!

However, after reading this, it looks like they switched them back on!

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-lancashire-45497924

 

[kerching]

Preston town centre 2 years ago...main Rd through town centre. At Xmas Stuck a "buses only" sign up for certain times in the day.....it was about 40 m long if that

Robin Tw@s

 

[Sharpend]

Interestingly for those who know how to communicate, if you are a visitor to the area you can get these such things quashed if you know who to speak too. 

I travelled through the Rotherhithe tunnel several times earlier this year and it was only after the third time that the first fine appeared on my doorstep. Was not happy as had used the same tunnel for 18 months prior with no ill effect. 

So a call to the London mayors office and then the House of Commons as he wasn’t at his office, a couple of conversations later and all had been quashed! 

Well I don’t live in London so how am I supposed to know what’s changed regarding their road systems? 

Apparently it’s all sign posted, so I explained - perhaps you should try and drive in an unknown area with drivers that are so keen to get to work, road etiquette is more a finger gesture as opposed to politeness. He lost his argument. 

 

[Andy™]

the speed cameras work when the sgns are off to boot!  I drive through Birmingham a couple of times a year, I have to say I quite like the smart section, it's calmed the traffic down and makes merging M5-M6 much easier than it was.

According to the news this morning £7 billion spent on HS2 already, yet they can't find the £30 miilion to re-enforce the sea wall at Dawlish and stop the SW's only rail link being cut off.

happened a while back but recent news story... highways 'accidentlly' left the signs at 20mph for 14 hours then police prosecuted drivers for speeding...

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7422285/Almost-100-drivers-hit-speeding-fines-20mph-limit-set-motorway-mistake.html

 

[Sharpend]

I suspect that the prosecuted drivers were going above the 50mph that it should have been, as it said that out of 439 caught only 97 were fined??