Get your kicks... on the M25

July 30, 2003 2:30 AM

Roads We've all heard of lorry spotting and maybe know about bus spotting and have probably indulged in a bit of car spotting but now it's the turn of the roads themselves.

You can travel the UK motorway network without leaving the house, discover rare roads, get your wheels wet, plan your route bend by bend and find somewhere to refresh yourselves.

And don't worry, the US Roadgeek community is not left out..
posted by jontyjago (15 comments total)

[this is good]
posted by metaxa at 4:16 AM on July 30, 2003

Trafficmap from the highways agency. Click on the traffic map link, select an area of the UK from the map. If you hover your mouse over one of the little circles it shows you what's being displayed on the roadside matrix warning screens....
posted by brettski at 4:27 AM on July 30, 2003

cool. this led me to this story about the Skyway bridge collapsing. freaky stuff, i remember seeing that as a child. Not far from where I grew up
posted by shadow45 at 4:43 AM on July 30, 2003

Great Biking Roads for those of us in the UK on two wheels - there's some good ones here but there must be a better site somewhere - any suggestions?. If you're planning a blast, it might be wise to check for cameras (it's all done much better in Wales)
posted by grahamwell at 4:44 AM on July 30, 2003

wow - that skyway story is incredible. I've heard of boats hitting bridges before, but that is scary...
posted by jontyjago at 5:32 AM on July 30, 2003

Anything which encourages people to leave the motorway and seek out somewhere decent to eat is a great idea. Motorway 'service' stations are my idea of hell.
How they have remained immune from some kind of price fixing/monopoly prosecution for so long is a mystery to me. Horrible, horrible places and yet people flock to them.
posted by Markb at 6:01 AM on July 30, 2003

Speaking of Wales and speed..er..sorry 'safety' cameras, the World Rally drivers obviously didn't use the Check Your Speed site during the last British Rally according to this Times article
posted by Markb at 6:14 AM on July 30, 2003

What a bizarre link. The "Motorway Simulator" is either a work of genius or madness. Probably anal-retentitive madness. Still, I couldn't help downloading it and trying a virtual tour up the M40...
posted by salmacis at 6:43 AM on July 30, 2003

I love the "Englishness" of the Motorway Simulator. The author gets all irate that J10 of the M4 and the "jumped up" A329M near where I live merits a full blown "full flow" junction whereas the M1/M62 meeting only gets a roundabout. Makes me laugh every time I think about it..
posted by jontyjago at 6:55 AM on July 30, 2003

Those of you interested in British roads may also enjoy learning more about the Roman Roads that still exist in England. Many current roads are actually just paved-over Roman roads, and sometimes you can still see where the old and new roads split up. Most of our knowledge of the Roman road system comes from a 12th century copy of a Roman map, called Peutinger's Map (click the link to see the actual parchment). Further info: the construction of Roman roads, a detailed map of known roads, some pictures of newly discovered roads, a tree-version for bathroom reading. So next time you're walking/biking in the countryside, keep your eyes on the ground -- there could be Roman roads right under your feet.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 7:11 AM on July 30, 2003

I'm quite wierded out by the prospect of the 'fantasy motorways' on the motorway simulator.

A real fantasy motorway would link New York, Acocks Green in Birmingham UK, Istanbul, Bangkok and Varanassi in 10 miles. As a fantasy motorway, "M65 Original proposed route to A1" doesn't really get me going.

Does that make me a bad person?
posted by Pericles at 7:19 AM on July 30, 2003

It's almost like a throwback to the mid 90s, when there was all kinds of weird stuff on people's personal webpages.
posted by salmacis at 7:57 AM on July 30, 2003

discover rare roads

How does one measure the commonality of roads? Were there only 3 made of a particular road, and they're being held in private collections?

The link referenced goes to rarely used roads, granted.

/snark
posted by thanotopsis at 8:38 AM on July 30, 2003

Nice - thanks all!
posted by plep at 11:38 AM on July 30, 2003

If you go on uk.transport.road or uk.rec.driving or similar newsgroups, they discuss this all the time.. including 'fantasy roads'.

My fantasy road would either be a Central London underground inner ring road, or a true east coast motorway.. Peterborough to Hull to Middlesborough.
posted by wackybrit at 4:05 AM on July 31, 2003