Are busy Motorways back to normal ?

[Deleted member 55947]

I’m travelling South on Friday ( a day I normally avoid at all costs) and was wondering if the roads are back to their normal traffic levels. I’m particularly looking at the M1 North and M42. Just wondering if our seasonEd travellers have noticed any difference over the last few weeks.

 

[Tramper]

Yes, normal service has been resumed.

 

[oldguy57]

Local motorways seem busier than ever.

 

[ChipChop]

The A69 Newcastle to Carlisle and the M6 / M74 North into Scotland were not busy at all on Saturday.

 

[A.J.]

When I lived in Bedfordshire my job involved regular trips to Leeds and Yarm. My preference was always the A1 rather than the M1. I just found that what was a potentially a boring trip slightly more interesting on the A1 due to the fact it wasn't just a straight piece of road. Yes, there were times when you were held up by two lorries going neck and neck for 1,2,3,4 miles but at least the A1 had a bit more interest.

 

[MikeInWimbledon]

I’m travelling South on Friday ( a day I normally avoid at all costs) and was wondering if the roads are back to their normal traffic levels. I’m particularly looking at the M1 North and M42. Just wondering if our seasonEd travellers have noticed any difference over the last few weeks.

Google maps is your friend.

The motorways around London still seem quieter to me, with hotspots at curious times. Think “curate’s egg:” aka “good in parts.”

But Google maps is usually pretty accurate at telling you how long a journey will take at any one moment in time.

 

[Rory]

There's a Coronavirus traffic survey here: Transport use during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic which I think is mildly intereting.

For Friday 7th May it shows cars at 91% and commercial vehicles over 100%. Overall 95%.

 

[JB052]

As a regular user of the M1 and M25, I can report that although getting busy they are still quieter than pre-lockdown but this seems mainly due to less traffic heading to and from the airports. In particular it's much easier getting past Luton and Heathrow than in the past, I expect this to change following the easing of restrictions today.

 

[m80]

The levels have certainly increased, but not consistently as heavy as was.
I'm finding more clowns who seem to have escaped confinement now behaving like the in a rush Sunday outing type drivers.

There were more accident and hold up reports on the radio than I've been used to for a good while. Those clowns learning to drive again would be my guess.

 

[Deleted member 65149]

Google maps is your friend.

The motorways around London still seem quieter to me, with hotspots at curious times. Think “curate’s egg:” aka “good in parts.”

But Google maps is usually pretty accurate at telling you how long a journey will take at any one moment in time.

Is it? All it can tell you is what holds up are at any particular point at the moment you look. Even Google can’t tell you what the hold up will be in say two hours time when you eventually get there.

 

[Wheelnut58]

M1 north and M42 always busy on a Friday, I’m usually going south then thinking to myself glad I’m not going north

 

[MikeInWimbledon]

Is it? All it can tell you is what holds up are at any particular point at the moment you look. Even Google can’t tell you what the hold up will be in say two hours time when you eventually get there.

Yes, it is, because Google maps is telling you is what hold ups are at the particular moment you look at it, or at an expected point in time - like departure at 2pm tomorrow afternoon.

Unlike Uncle Mike in Wimbledon, who might be able to say "well, the last time I did exactly that journey at 9am on a Tuesday on a wet May morning, it took me four hours, but I did have a coffee and a bun at the Watford Gap."

It's amazing at how accurate its forecasts are for any journey. Albeit that if some dipstick BMW driver ploughs into an Audi in the middle lane of the A1 in an hour's time, it will muck up that forecast.

Google maps is your friend for journey planning. But obviously WAZE or Iphone maps are the two best solutions for real-time journey SatNav work to get you around anything that goes wrong on your journey.

 

[MEMERC7]

I have no idea nor do I wish to know. The motorway nearest to me which I occasionally use is now a SMART-**** one & despite owning reliable vehicles I prefer the security of cluttering up the local 'B' roads giving myself lots of extra time to reach my destination. Happy to bumble along at 40mph in a queue with others doing the same thing rather than risk life & limb. I just pity those with no choice, long may they live.

 

[BenA]

I went up the M1 and back on Saturday - seemed quite light on the whole compared to the last few times I have done that trip

 

[Trickythemerc]

Yes the Motorways are busy again, and the Fookin clowns are driving like super clowns.

 

[Jukie]

The A69 Newcastle to Carlisle and the M6 / M74 North into Scotland were not busy at all on Saturday.

My commute for the last six years has involved the M6 J43 to J40 outbound and reversed inbound.

Traffic appears heavier now than ever it was before the pandemic, most particularly HGVs, trucks and wagons.

 

[Alfie]

I’m travelling South on Friday ( a day I normally avoid at all costs) and was wondering if the roads are back to their normal traffic levels. I’m particularly looking at the M1 North and M42. Just wondering if our seasonEd travellers have noticed any difference over the last few weeks.

I used both today. Light traffic. No hold ups at all. M6 toll is great!

 

[Spider10]

I've used A1 ,M62 fri and today very busy and for the weather some serious idiot's
At times i couldn't read the number plate in front and still flying by,No 1 can be in that much of a rush,
My dad has always said to me, there is a black box at the end of every road,make sure you dont end up in it

 

[Tonye]

Hi all, i work on the roads at night and yes, the idiots are still there but in more of a rush than ever, probably caused by lock down, now there loose they've lost the plot.

 

[ChipChop]

My commute for the last six years has involved the M6 J43 to J40 outbound and reversed inbound.

Traffic appears heavier now than ever it was before the pandemic, most particularly HGVs, trucks and wagons.

I must have been lucky then last Saturday, hardly any traffic at all going north on the M6 / M74 from Carlisle up to the turn off for Ayr.