In article ,
Petert wrote:
On Mon, 18 Aug 2008 23:48:51 +0100, "Mortimer" wrote:

That tactic is not confined to London and Mad Ken. The A329(M)
Reading-Bracknell-via-M4 motorway was downgraded to an A road - I think just
the bit between Winnersh and the A4 - so they could designate Lane 1 as a
bus lane for exclusive use by park and ride buses.


Why did they need to downgrade it? They didn't downgrade the M4 when
they put the bus/politician lane in from Junc2(?)

AIUI motorways don't come under the ordinary traffic regulations but have
their own special legal status, which at the time didn't allow traffic to
be excluded from particular lanes. Berkshire Council / Reading Unitary
Authority (forget which it was at the time) didn't have powers over
motorways anyway so the simplest thing was to downgrade the last mile
and-a-bit to A3290. The motorway regulations were only amended to permit
special lanes when the M4 bus lanes were introduced some time later.

I was living in BrackNull and working in Thames Valley Park at the time
of the conversion so drove the entire length of the A329(M) each day.
Ironically, a year or so after I moved to Reading to reduce travelling,
the offices moved to BrackNull so I still had to trek up and down the
A329 ...

Nick
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