No-one else looks as though they're going to say it, so I'll do the honours.
Gravelly Hill Interchange, to give its proper name, otherwise known as Junction 6 on the M6, is forty today!
Beautiful or not (and it has been called many things), you cannot ignore such a notable part of motoring history.
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They said on the wireless this morning that it is 72 miles of road. Seems a bit unlikely?
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Yes, I heard that too and thought the same thing. Never actually been over(?) it.
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"Forty years on, 210,000 vehicles rumble along this complicated labyrinth of steel and concrete every day.
It serves 18 different routes, and you would have to drive 73 miles to travel the entire junction – even though it covers less than a mile of the M6."
tinyurl.com/dxbrck3 (Express and Star - Birmingham)
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I must have run through it at least three or four times over the years, only once 'consciously' so to speak.
It must be well designed because I don't remember any complications.
Some drivers make a ballsup of the simplest interchange though. You would think the idea of being in the 'right lane for where you are going' would be fairly easy for drivers to grasp. But for, say, 20 per cent at a kind estimate, it very clearly isn't.
Had to toot at some fool on the way out of town through Hammersmith roundabout this evening as he waddled idiotically crabwise from the lane he was in towards the side of my car. The twerp looked really indignant too. You can see them all lining up in the wrong lane and hoping to nip across later. It often looks like the thing to do. But if you're going to do it, you have to do it with speed and finesse, and be ready to back down. That's what press-on traffic driving is really like.
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As an adopted - and now exiled - Midlander, I've always found Spaghetti a satisfying piece of design. Provided you know your intended exit road and its compass direction, and don't mind looking up to read the overhead signs, all the information you need is there and the lanes guide you smoothly round.
If we went into Birmingham for the evening, even though we approached from the south it was easier to go round to Spaghetti and into town on the Aston Distressway than to crawl through Kings Heath. Happy Birthday!
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Did the run through Kings Heath into Moseley for nineteen years, traffic moved in blocks between the 50 buses.
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I remember visiting Spaghetti Junction just before it was opened as part of a school trip to look at the architecture. Were able to walk along the carriageways, up the embankments, cross from one side to the other on foot, etc. When we left we drove the 'wrong' way on the right hand carriageway, until we left the site.
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Here's an aerial view of it, complete with moving traffic. tinyurl.com/bq26qgv
Last edited by: L'escargot on Fri 25 May 12 at 07:25
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>> Here's an aerial view of it, complete with moving traffic. >>
I havn't quite worked out what interchange that video is showing but I'm pretty sure that it's not Spaghetti Junction.
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There's a few that share the name, although this implies the UK one was the first:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spaghetti_Junction
I reckon L'Es's is one of those in the States.
Last edited by: Focus on Fri 25 May 12 at 08:55
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I've worked it out.
Driving on the left, plenty of space, slightly arid surroundings and with the help of Google...
It's the N2/N3 junction near Durban in S. Africa.
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>> I've worked it out.
>>
>> Driving on the left, plenty of space, slightly arid surroundings and with the help of
>> Google...
>>
>> It's the N2/N3 junction near Durban in S. Africa.
Oops!
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Try this:
www.bbc.co.uk/britainfromabove/stories/rewinds/spaghetti.shtml
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I sometimes wonder what would be involved in changing the UK over to driving on the right. Most junctions could simply (!) be reversed by repositioning the signs and repainting the stop lines, but how would a complicated interchange like this one be done? I've not tried to work it out, but could it be reversed without having to build any new road?
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wouldnt those awkward junctions be death traps , causing blind spots ...or would we all have to have the steering wheel and pedals swapped over?
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>> I sometimes wonder what would be involved in changing the UK over to driving on
>> the right.
Why?
What for?
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Spaghetti Junction is 40 today! - Manatee
