A38(M) motorway

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A38(M) Motorway

Road of the United Kingdom
Length 2 miles (3.2 km)
Direction North - South
Start Gravelly Hill
Primary destinations Birmingham
End Birmingham
Construction dates 1972 - complete motorway
Motorways joined
M6 J6

The A38(M) is a motorway in Birmingham, England. It is 2 miles (3.2 km) long and was opened on May 24, 1972.[1] It forms part of the A38 and is also known as the Aston Expressway.

It is extremely unusual among UK motorways, as it consists of seven lanes with no central reservation, and operates a tidal flow system in an attempt to minimise congestion.

Contents

[edit] Tidal flow

The Expressway was the first road in the UK to introduce tidal flow to allow better management of traffic.

In the morning, four of the seven lanes are designated for use by traffic heading toward Birmingham city centre, and two lanes for traffic out of the city. In the evening rush hour, this pattern is reversed and four lanes are made available to outbound traffic and two lanes towards the city centre. At all other times, the road runs with three lanes in each direction.

At all times a central buffer lane is maintained to ensure that traffic does not pass in adjacent lanes. The central lane, used as the buffer when running 3 lanes in each direction, is painted red. Motorbikes are banned from this lane regardless of how it is being used after an accident (see below).

When construction work of the motorway began in the late 1960s, many late 19th century and early 20th century houses in the Aston area had to be demolished to make way for the new route.

[edit] Route

The A38(M) runs from the A5127 through Spaghetti Junction where the A38 joins and then shortly after traffic from the M6 motorway also joins. It then enters a tidal flow section with a total of seven lanes. Lane use is controlled by means of electronic overhead signs, with one lane always closed to create a buffer between the two directions of travel – there is no central reservation. Access to the centre lane, which contains a drainage channel, is now forbidden to motorcycles because of a fatal accident which happened when one of the drainage covers dislodged.[2]

The route is on a bridge as it passes through Aston; this section cuts through the grounds of Aston Hall.[3] The road passes through its first junction after one mile. It then enters a cutting before reaching the second junction, where the tidal flow ends as does the motorway. The motorway is curved in Aston to avoid an Ansells brewery. The brewery was demolished before the road was finished.[3] The motorway is also crossed by a gantry which used to house a vinegar pipeline, carrying the condiment from one part of the HP Sauce factory to the other. Once, in the 1970s, this leaked, damaging the paintwork on several passing cars.

Due to the nature of the road, the speed limit is reduced to 50 mph (80 km/h). There are no speed cameras.

[edit] Junctions

A38(M) Motorway
Northbound exits Junction Southbound exits
Road continues to Erdington as A5127 M6 J6
(Spaghetti Junction)
(52°30′40″N 1°51′58″W / 52.511, -1.866)		 Start of Motorway
Lichfield, Tamworth A38 No Exit
The SOUTH, Coventry
The NORTH WEST, Wolverhampton M6
Aston A5127		 No Exit
No exit Park Circus
(52°30′08″N 1°53′02″W / 52.5021, -1.8839)		 Aston B4132
Start of Motorway Dartmouth Circus
(52°29′32″N 1°53′19″W / 52.4923, -1.8887)		 Handsworth, Ladywood, Aston, Small Heath A4540
(Birmingham Inner Ring Road)
Handsworth, Ladywood, Aston, Small Heath A4540
(Birmingham Inner Ring Road)		 Road continues as A38 to Birmingham City Centre

The traffic island at Dartmouth Circus houses a preserved Boulton and Watt steam engine.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ The Motorway Archive A38(M) - Dates
  2. ^ CBRD Motorway Database - A38(M)
  3. ^ a b The Motorway Archive - A38(M)

[edit] External links

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