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Old February 24th 04, 04:08 PM posted to uk.transport.london,uk.transport
Martin Underwood Martin Underwood is offline
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First recorded activity at LondonBanter: Nov 2003
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Default The abandoned M1 slip north of Junction 2


"Cast_Iron" wrote in message
...
Martin Underwood wrote:

Interesting that the junction was
constructed with single-lane slip roads leading from a (presumably)
3-lane M1 to a (presumably) 2-lane A1, rather than making the slip
roads 2-lane as you'd get at any motorway junction nowdays.


But it wasn't built "nowadays". It was built at a time when the amount of
traffic on the road, and especially the amount of long distance traffic,

was
so much less than now that a time traveller going back would think all
drivers were having a non-driving protest day of some sort.


Yes, but it was the point at which all the traffic coming south would have
come off the M1 (assuming it hadn't come off at previous junctions, of
course!) and I'm surprised that a single lane was judged to be sufficient
even in the mid 60s, especially since it would have only taken one
broken-down vehicle to close the exit entirely.

Other slip roads on the M1 are all 2-lane - or have they been widened since
they were originally built?

I'll have to ask my dad: in the late 60s and early 70s he was regularly
commuting from Leeds to West London each week, which must have been a
nightmare before the Leeds-Sheffield bit was built. The article doesn't give
any indication when that was built, except that it was some time after the
M1 opened. I can remember the extension from Stourton (south Leeds) to
central Leeds being built - probably early 70s.

I hadn't realised that the extension south to Staples Corner was built as
late as 1977. Whereabouts was the bit further south that was never built?