ROADS
The first thing that caught me out when I arrived here in the UK was the road signs.
Oxford 42m
What?
Not possible. Oxford cannot be forty-two
metres away! Oh! MILES!!!!
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/the-highway-code/traffic-signs
Most road signs are universal and intuitive. The one that is not, in my opinion, is the round white sign, with the thick black bar that runs diagonally from top-right to bottom-left. It means the National Speed Limit applies. So what’s the National Speed Limit? It’s complicated. It depends on the type of vehicle you are in and the type of road you are driving on. When in doubt… do 50mph.
https://www.gov.uk/speed-limits
|
Built-up areas
mph (km/h) |
Single carriageways
mph (km/h) |
Dual carriageways
mph (km/h) |
Motorways mph
(km/h) |
|
|
Cars, motorcycles,
car-derived vans and dual-purpose vehicles |
30 (48) |
60 (96) |
70 (112) |
70 (112) |
|
Cars, motorcycles,
car-derived vans and dual-purpose vehicles when towing caravans or trailers |
30 (48) |
50 (80) |
60 (96) |
60 (96) |
|
Motorhomes or
motor caravans (not more than 3.05 tonnes maximum unladen weight) |
30 (48) |
60 (96) |
70 (112) |
70 (112) |
|
Motorhomes or
motor caravans (more than 3.05 tonnes maximum unladen weight) |
30 (48) |
50 (80) |
60 (96) |
70 (112) |
|
Buses, coaches
and minibuses (not more than 12 metres overall length) |
30 (48) |
50 (80) |
60 (96) |
70 (112) |
|
Buses, coaches
and minibuses (more than 12 metres overall length) |
30 (48) |
50 (80) |
60 (96) |
60 (96) |
|
Goods vehicles
(not more than 7.5 tonnes maximum laden weight) |
30 (48) |
50 (80) |
60 (96) |
70 (112) |
|
Goods vehicles
(not more than 7.5 tonnes maximum laden weight) if articulated or towing a trailer
|
60 (96) |
|||
|
Goods vehicles
(more than 7.5 tonnes maximum laden weight) in England and Wales |
30 (48) |
50 (80) |
60 (96) |
60 (96) |
|
Goods vehicles
(more than 7.5 tonnes maximum laden weight) in Scotland |
30 (48) |
40 (64) |
50 (80) |
60 (96) |
There are essentially three types of roads in the UK.
Motorways (known in other countries as “freeways” or “highways”.)
“A” roads – usually wide, main roads that connect significant
places. They could be single or dual carriageway – or a combination thereof. Unlike
motorways, there will be roundabouts, traffic lights and cross roads.
“B” roads – usually smaller, back roads, sometimes even single-track
with passing places.
Every town has a high street. Not a street named High,
necessarily. Rather this is a colloquialism for the main shopping street in the
town.
Some significant roads around the UK:
The dreaded M25. This is the outer orbital ring that encircles the greater London area. It is 117 miles all the way around. The M25 is notorious for heavy traffic, especially at peak times. Heathrow airport is on the western edge of the Greater London circle (the 9 o’clock position), where the M4 meets the M25. On the eastern side (the 3 o’clock position) it crosses over the Thames at the Dartford Crossing. You’ll use the Queen Elizbeth II Bridge in a southbound direction, and the tunnels going northbound. This crossing of the Thames is one of the few toll roads in the UK.
On the motorways the Junctions are numbered, and you’ll often
hear directions like “take junction 17…”
Radiating out from London in all directions are other major routes. Starting at the top:
A2 – (Junction 2) just south of the Thames becomes the M2 and
takes you to Canterbury and Dover.
M20 – (Junction 3) goes past Maidstone and on to Folkstone, which
is where you can get onto the Channel Tunnel.
M26 – (Junction 5) heads directly south and will take you to
Gatwick airport, Crawley and Brighton.
A3 – (Junction 10) takes you past Guildford to Portsmouth.
M3 – (Junction 12) will get you to Southampton. (Not to be confused
with the A3(M) a short stretch of motorway near Portsmouth that connects to the
A3. The M27 links Southampton and Portsmouth.
M4 – (Junction 15) goes West. You’ll pass Slough, Maidenhead,
Reading, Swindon, and cross the River Severn into Wales. (There are two bridges – M4 and M48 – both are
impressive engineering feats.) Once in Wales
you can get to Newport, Cardiff and Swansea on the M4.
M40 – (Junction 16) goes to Oxford and the southern parts of
Birmingham.
M1 – (Junction21) goes north to Luton airport, Northampton, Leicester,
Nottingham, Sheffield and Leeds
A1(M) – (junction 23) not to be confused with the A1 or the M1,
this is a motorway that heads directly north through Stevenage to Peterborough,
and then becomes the A1 to Doncaster where it becomes the A1(M) again towards Leeds
and all the way up to Newcastle upon Tyne.
M11 – (Junction 27) towards Cambridge.
A12 – (Junction 28) towards Chelmsford and into Essex and Suffolk.
A13 – (Junction 30) on the north side of the Thames, heading
east towards Basildon in Essex.
I’ve mentioned these routes going from the M25 outwards into
the rest of England. Most of these roads
go inwards, back towards central London too.
A406 – also known as the Northern Circular, it runs on the inside
of the M25 in an arc across the northern suburbs of London, from the M4 in the west
to the A13 in the east.
M42 – motorway around Birmingham.
M6 – has a toll road near Birmingham. Going north from Birmingham, the M6 runs in between
Liverpool and Manchester, past Preston and the Lake District, all the way to the
Scottish border at Gretna Green. The road
then continues as the A74(M) into Scotland to Glasgow. The M6 at Birmingham also goes east, past Coventry,
where it becomes the A14.
M8 – connects Glasgow and Edinburgh.
M5 – heads south from Birmingham, passing Gloucester, Bristol,
and heading further south into Devon to Exeter.
A303 – starts as the A30 in Exeter, heading in a north-easterly
direction, past Stonehenge in Wiltshire, and eventually joins the M3 to get you
back into London.
A66 – “route 66” runs east-west across England perhaps at one
of the narrowest points across the width of the country, from Middlesbrough to Workington.
A1 – from Newcastle (remember, you got here on the A1(M)), continues
north all the way to Edinburgh.