What is the worst stretch of road in the UK?

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mikeossy80@reddit

There's a stretch on the M25 that literally feels and sounds like you have 4 flat tyres

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Darthblaker7474@reddit

TL:DW, it's made to be harder wearing.

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Comcastle@reddit

Saw the YT link, knew it would be AutoShenanigans’ vid on what that stretch of motorway is crap.

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NuclearMaterial@reddit

Required viewing for anyone who's ever had the misfortune of driving there. We've all thought it, and he has the answers.

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Footner@reddit

Goes on for miles aswell then keeps stopping and starting

Shite bit of decision making whoever built that

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Unhappy_Clue701@reddit

Much, much cheaper to install. The concrete is a big strong platform, that floats over crappy ground whereas tarmac (being softer)would sink into it. That’s why it’s concrete there.

I’ve visited the US a lot. They have a lot of concrete highways there, but they surface them differently. The grooves for water dispersion go lengthways, same direction as the road goes. It’s really noticeable the difference in road noise. I’ve noticed a short section of the M25 now has that - not long, maybe 50 meters or so, but it definitely goes quieter when you reach that bit. It’s the side-ways grooves that make all the noise. Maybe, with a bit of luck, they’ll start surfacing them like that here too. Concrete does have advantages, it lasts far longer, so maybe that’s a route forwards.

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Penderyn@reddit

It's not that. The road has sideways grooves because it's laid in slabs. It's not a surfacing machine making them like in the US.

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Iwantedalbino@reddit

Spilled nails would have also been cheaper by both counts and only marginally worse

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TikiKie92@reddit

The bit near Cobham?

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WeezyNetwork@reddit

They used M6 jcn 7-8 stretch around Birmingham as a model for that bit

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Evening-Tomatillo-47@reddit

The road itself is fine, its all the cars on it that's the problem

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powpow198@reddit

It's the same surface as the ilminster bypass

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4tunabrix@reddit

https://youtu.be/_YBY8EHkZK8?si=ikySDTrhLxZCsC3B

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Familiarsophie@reddit

Oh god yes I drive over this so often and it’s awful. There’s an interesting video about it somewhere about how it’s concrete and made differently.

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ZekkPacus@reddit

Sets off my car's TPMS every time. I ignore it every time. One day I am going to actually blow a tyre on that stretch and not know about it.

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EnbyArthropod@reddit

The A12 around Colchester is like that. I pulled over one night terrified I didn't have enough spare tyres. It was just a concrete road.

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No-Medicine1230@reddit

Best bit of the road in the country. Never meds replacing and excellent grip in the wet

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BillWilberforce@reddit

Clockwise going through Surrey. Where it's raw concrete with an expansion joint every 10 feet and has barely been touched in 40 years.

Officially it's because the soil is unstable and shifting. So that tarmac would just break apart within a few years. However it's because it was done by the cheapest contractor with the concrete slabs being made off site. If the slabs had been a lot bigger and they'd grooved the concrete. It would have lasted longer and been a hell of a lot quieter.

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Wiltix@reddit

I’m glad this is the top answer, hate this stretch of road.

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luker1771@reddit

I was on this a few weeks back and heard the noise, I drive it most weeks but it sounded a bit different.... 5 secs later I was on the hard shoulder with 3 tyres on my van.

And brown pants.

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HouseOfWyrd@reddit

The "temporary" road surface.

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2stewped2havgudtime@reddit

A180 / M180 out of Grimsby is like this (if I’m thinking of the right road). So bloody loud.

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Jayflux1@reddit

Dg dg dg dg dg dg

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Mental_Musky@reddit

And by stretch, he means about 20 miles of badonk, badonk, badonk, badonk....

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Davski88@reddit

This is the only answer. Bloody awful stretch of road.

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hotbutnotathot@reddit

real, this guy knows ball

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Gullflyinghigh@reddit

A303 always seems pretty shocking. I'm not local to it but had to use it a fair bit for work a while back and it was just a ballache.

A closer example, though nothing compared to many others on the list, is the Arundel Road section of the A27. It is a singularly soul destroying slog.

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SlowRs@reddit

A9. Worst most dangerous road in uk

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DJShaw86@reddit

It's the A9 and it's not even close. Nearly got killed by lunatics overtaking in dangerous places so many times on that road

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yarders1991@reddit

100%. Ive been stuck in ques of traffic jams far too many times on that stretch of road due to major accidents, unfortunately a fair few of them being fatal.

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kryters@reddit

Interestingly, the single carriageway sections of the A9 were built with the turn radii of a dual carriageway to make it easier to dual in the future. I think this ultimately makes it more dangerous because the sight lines feel deceptively generous.

It was way worse before they installed the average speed cameras.

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SlowRs@reddit

To be fair, I think it was better pre cameras as people would overtake the caravans etc doing 45 mph. Now everyone sits frustrated then do stupid moves to overtake 3 cars at once .

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240psam@reddit

I witnessed 3 separate "failed" overtakes where the car in the right lane had to brake, all in the space of 1 journey last year.

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Amositey@reddit

At least the scenery is nice

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ginbandit@reddit

A17, primary route up north out of East Anglia, single carriage way filled with tractors, lorries and the occasional caravan.

This means that people get stupid and misinterpret the straight sections and slightly wider roads as somewhere to overtake, leading to accidents. It averages about 35 serious injuries or fatalities ever year.

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pburgess22@reddit

This has to win for me. Have to drive north out of East Anglia up this road a lot. It can be a miserable time getting stuck behind farm machinery for hours on end.

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douggieball1312@reddit

Is that the one with that roundabout from hell near Kings Lynn?

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_chris_w@reddit

Came here to say A17. Our village is next to it. The staggered crossroads to get onto it sees a major accident multiple times a year and there have been several fatalities since I moved here.

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Mustard_Dimension@reddit

Honourable mention to the M4 between Newport and Cardiff. Slow, always congested and an absolutely terrible road surface.

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Darthblaker7474@reddit

50mph for air quality my arse.

Port Talbot steel works is right down the road!

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PartyPoison98@reddit

Came here to look for this. You think its got as bad as it gets, then all of a sudden all the traffic has to go slow for ages. There were times I've driven from the East Midlands to Cardiff when half my travel time was stuck on that stretch of motorway.

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MeenaBeti@reddit

M5 North merging with the M6 at 5pm most days of the week

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alphacentaurai@reddit

I present to you A38 merging on to M6 north at spaghetti junction

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TheScientistBS3@reddit

I came here to say the same thing. The Birmingham area is a bloody nightmare, seemingly all the time.

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ASGT908@reddit

Really need a motorway going from Bromsgrove round the west of Wolverhampton and finishing at the M54 near JLR i54.

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levezvosskinnyfists7@reddit

The A5 going into Wales, from Llangollen onwards. Guarantee you’ll get stuck behind a caravan going at 3mph but then as soon as you get to one of the few straight bits where you can actually overtake they discover the accelerator…

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SkittlesHawk@reddit

A9 for sure, followed very closely by the M6 two utter bastards I have to drive on regularly.

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Ok_Lack5442@reddit

You need to drive the M6 between Preston and Carlisle. Probably the best stretch of motorway in England

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Evening-Bill-9323@reddit

Once you get past Preston the M6 is lovely. The stretch I've been doing recently from 17 down to Coventry/Rugby on the other hand...

All I have to say is God Bless the Toll Road (and my company paying for it!)

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Useless-Photographer@reddit

I read an article a few years ago which claimed junctions 16 to 19 (I think) on the M6 were “Cheshire’s Bermuda Triangle”. Would explain why the traffic is so shit every time I have to drive up to Manchester

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TheRealFriedel@reddit

Preston to Glasgow is a stunning road. Fast, quiet, scenic. Tebay.

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Elegant_Mind7950@reddit

Is the M6 a bad road or is it just far too busy?

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Timely_Egg_6827@reddit

Once past Charnock Richard services, it tends to suddenly be empty and a nice stretch to the M74.

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Amositey@reddit

Way over congested and being in the outside lane is a game as it randomly comes to a sharp stop

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Pusser52@reddit

Fuck the A17.

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andyollings@reddit

A50, Stoke to Derby. It's like they've used it as an experiment for different types of road surfaces. It gets so noisy you turn the music up and then deafen yourself when it goes quieter.

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obscureoregano@reddit

The motorway that never was. Would have prevented the m6 Birmingham hell.

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obscureoregano@reddit

M6 junction 11-7 around Birmingham. Always hell but I never pay for the toll

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Pilot_1998@reddit

M1 , Junction 21, Southbound

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bradcobra@reddit

my commute for 3 long years 🙃

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Fine_Structure5396@reddit

To drive hardknott pass in the lakes.

A19 in North east is a horrible bit of road.

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Smeg84@reddit

Only issue I have with the A19 is the flyover in Middlesbrough heading Northbound where the A66 merges. Drivers treat it like a slip road, merging onto the A19 immediately at 50mph instead of staying in the left lane and merging later.

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Constant-Estate3065@reddit

Hardknott Pass is a white knuckle ride. I have this vivid memory going round corners and just seeing sky, while hoping my wheels were still somewhere on the tarmac.

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Flaky-Philosophy7618@reddit

A19 is absolutely fine other than rush hour

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Jorge-Esqueleto@reddit

A6116 round Corby. There are occasional short stretches of road between the potholes.

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Iceman_2004@reddit

The A15 north of Lincoln, I hate that road with a passion. Flat, boring, straight but not actually straight (meaning it's easy to lose focus and veer off), always stuck behind a lorry, tractor or caravan, flat crossroads across the shop, just dreadful in every single way. Would probably put the A1079 in second.

In terms of dual carriageways, the A180 just for the terrible surface. My ears were ringing after the first time I drove that road, I at one point was looking at working in Grimsby and thought I'd probably have to invest in ear defenders lest my commute makes me deaf.

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JobAnxious2005@reddit

Any road which takes you to Hull

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mind_thegap1@reddit

The A5 Northern Ireland is incredibly dangerous considering how busy it is

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ajfromuk@reddit

All of them?

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ForesterDean23@reddit

It was pretty goddam hazardous, out on the Ilminster bypass

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MyDadsGlassesCase@reddit

Rest and Be Thankful.

Landslides every time it rains and it's the main artery from Glasgow through Glencoe.

It needs to be rebuilt but the BCR is woeful so they just keep putting up more netting to catch rockfall

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Timely_Egg_6827@reddit

A303 personally - it is always congested around Stonehenge and on a bank holiday it is a nightmare. The two lane to one lane then two and then one again always creates bottlenecks.

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sarahc13289@reddit

Illminster bypass is part of the a303, just about 50 miles further west.

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Timely_Egg_6827@reddit

Thanks - Thankful I rarely need to go down past Yeovil. That entire road is badly thought out.

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sarahc13289@reddit

It is. Better now Sparkford to Podimore is dual carriageway now.

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NaaNaaRitRit@reddit

Why did those bloody druids build Stonehenge so close to the 303 in the first place, that’s what I ask myself every time we pass by.

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JayMak78@reddit

The same reason they built Windsor Castle under the flight path to Heathrow.

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fohggy@reddit

I had a friend who worked at Windsor Castle and a group of American tourists actually said "I guess they built the castle here because of the easy access to the airport"

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Illin_it@reddit

I was thinking A303 and then realised that’s what OP is talking about

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WrongExplanation1065@reddit

Ironically it's quicker to go thru ilminster

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zzkj@reddit

A406 North Circular. I genuinely think nobody on that road has a driving licence.

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foxheadsonsticks@reddit

Puts hairs on your chest, the North Circular. Bit of three lane 40-50mph work to ease you into London, Hanger Lane Gyratory as a palate cleanser, then plenty of fun lane merging before the final boss level of the Chiswick Roundabout.

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zzkj@reddit

The area between the M1 and Edmonton is genuinely lawless. If you value your paintwork you'll go another way!

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Timely_Egg_6827@reddit

The one saving grace is it is slow so crashes aren't likely

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OriginalPlonker@reddit

That stretch of slowlane on the A180 westbound before it meets the M180. Fuck that fucking thing.

A 40+ year old "temporary road surface" of sectional brown concrete with so many patches it's like driving over a demolished building. The noise isn't as bad as the vibration (though that's not saying much) but it's relentless. I've seen loaded artics and transporters being bounced around.

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sarahc13289@reddit

I’m familiar with the Illminster bypass. That camera hasn’t worked in years. It’s a crap road, it was planned to be a dual carriageway but dodgy dealings and corruption meant the plans got downgraded and the money saved lined some pockets. Or that’s the reason according to my dad who knew someone in the know back in the day. Could be bullshit but I wouldn’t be surprised.

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lowercasejs@reddit

A456 going into Birmingham off J3 of the M5. I have to do this weekly and I hate it so much I've resorted to taking a longer more relaxed route in on a 20mph stretch.

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majomista@reddit

The m42 is literal hell

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D0wnb0at@reddit

I don’t know your definition of “stretch” but can we just agree the entire inner Leeds ring road is just a shitshow? It’s like whoever planned the roads got a map of the city, dropped spaghetti on it and decided that’s the new plan. Then decided to make half of it one way just for shits and giggles. Even worse with a satnav. “In 200 yards, take the next left”. Yet you need to be in the 3rd lane to take that left. It’s confusing as fuck.

I once got so lost in Leeds (before satnavs were a thing) I ordered a taxi to pick my passenger up and I just followed the taxi.

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TigerTiger311@reddit

M42

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No-Mark4427@reddit

Brynglas tunnels on M4 at Newport.

They finished the tunnels in the 60s as two lanes, but by the time they were finished the traffic had already increased so much they began work extending the M4 to three lanes, but didn't do the tunnels.

So you have a 3 lane motorway that bottlenecks to two lanes for the tunnels, which means every single rush hour is guaranteed extreme congestion as everyone has to slow to a crawl for a few miles til they get by, often adding 30 mins to your journey if you need to go through there when its busy.

It's bad enough that it's now permanently 50mph on that section of the motorway to try and ease it.

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NoisyGog@reddit

The Britannia bridge.
There’s absolutely no reason for traffic to be as bad, given the volume of vehicles involved, apart from:
1. There are far too many merges close together, right at a speed limit reduction - meaning it effectively goes from 4 lanes into 1, at the same time as dropping to 50mph restriction.
2. Fucking NOBODY gets up to a sensible speed once they’re out of the chaos and actually on the bridge, so traffic cannot flow freely. 3. Not a single living soul knows how to fucking merge.

Traffic there could be eased hugely by just mitigating the first point. 2 and 3 just need public education, so that’s never going to get fixed.

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TheRebelPercy@reddit

A1 in Northumberland.

Single carriageway, tractors, multiple crossings and multiple fatalities every year.

It’s far away from London so nobody gives a fuck.

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EnbyArthropod@reddit

I weirdly like it. If you're not in a huge hurry it feels like no one else is. That said, it goes on forever

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gerrineer@reddit

I loved the a1 Mansfield to Yorkshire ish

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mattjimf@reddit

This, especially the Longhorsley junction north, where there's usually traffic as it goes from two lanes to one.

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pickindim_kmet@reddit

That's the one I had in my mind. Doesn't feel like the A1. Always get stuck behind a tractor too.

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Emotional_Butterf1y@reddit

The one that goes to work. Which is weird, as it’s also the best road when leaving work.

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Browneskiii@reddit

A17 is awful. Single carriageway for enough traffic for a dual carriageway at the minimum. Goes on forever and is full of crests and blind corners so no overtaking possibilities.

I hate it.

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Holska@reddit

Got stuck on it earlier this year. Two hours of stationary traffic, I’m in 0 hurry to go back

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Forward_Package3027@reddit

M11 between Bishops Stortford and A11/Duxford.

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SnooBooks1701@reddit

A27 Chichester bypass

Horrendous design (who puts roundabouts on a fucking bypass?)

No-one on it can drive (randomly changing lanes because of the fucking roundabouts)

Perpetually in a traffic jam

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Constant-Estate3065@reddit

I live in Hampshire and I rarely venture east of Chichester, just because that festival of roundabouts is such a chore.

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SnooBooks1701@reddit

Lots of people now go the northern route past Lavant and Goodwood, so it doesn't even really bypass Chichester anymore

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Mission_Escape_8832@reddit

The speed camera there hasn't worked for over a decade.

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douggieball1312@reddit

There is an absolutely grim roundabout close to Junction 15 on the M6 near Stoke when you're trying to get onto the Queensway road. The traffic always seems to be horrific whichever way you tackle that roundabout and you need the precision timing of a ninja in order to safely join it as there is always heaps of motorway traffic approaching from the right. It took me a while to get comfortable with roundabouts when I was learning to drive and I'm fine with them now, but that roundabout remains the exception. Never again.

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Ill-Basil2863@reddit

People don't believe me when I tell them the A1 is 1 lane where I live and it's like that for miles.

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Howtothinkofaname@reddit

No mention for the eastbound A40 heading towards Oxford? Doesn’t matter when.

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l8yters@reddit

How would anyone know? Might as well just ask 'what bad road near you?'

This is the problem with the internet these days innit.

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Constant-Estate3065@reddit

The M271 is a miserable streak of excrement.

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New_Line4049@reddit

The stretch that takes me to work. Its weird how yhe opposite side of the white line is so much better.

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CauseOptimal8501@reddit

It is because of intrusive thoughts of turning the wheel into traffic or the travel home? It matters 😆

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New_Line4049@reddit

Hahaha, I was going with the journey home,.... although now that you mention it.... (To be clear this is a joke, please dont send the men in white coats again!)

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CauseOptimal8501@reddit

I don’t care want anyone says. We all have intrusive thoughts. Thanks for not concerning the subreddit though haha

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New_Line4049@reddit

See, my intrusive thoughts are less "lets steer head on into traffic" and more "I wonder if I could hand brake turn this next junction" I know the answer is no....... but I still wonder....

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Psychological-Bag272@reddit

South Fen in Bourne Lincolnshire

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Unhappy_Clue701@reddit

The Ilminster bypass used to be two lanes for its whole length, back in the 90s. Two very wide lanes. Timid drivers and HGVs used to keep far over to the left, leaving a big wide strip that was about two cars wide in the middle. Confident drivers would face each other off as they drove almost head-on towards each other at a closing speed of *at least* 120mph. No cameras back then either.

Fucking loved that road back then. You’d get past sooo many HGVs that you’d been stuck behind going across the Blackdown Hills from Monkton. It’s a ball-ache now.

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Curedmeat91@reddit

There’s a section just past Donyat that is two lanes but wide enough for a cheeky overtake down the middle of other drivers give you space

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Nikotelec@reddit

Coventry ring road. All of it, but especially the entry and exit slip roads which are arranged such that those entering and those exiting are slingshot red through each other.

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professorgenkii@reddit

The exit slip roads are so close to the entry slip roads that I’ve missed my turning before and had to just accept my fate of doing a whole lap of the centre to get back round

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RiceeeChrispies@reddit

A1 Newark to Stamford stretch is the worst for me.
Stupidly short slip roads, naff drainage so loads of standing water and central reservation crossings (who thought that was a good idea?).

Always loads of crashes leaving you stuck for hours, only one speed camera on that entire stretch so people are a bit silly.

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anotherblog@reddit

Loads of sex shops though

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RiceeeChrispies@reddit

Pulse and Cocktails is the GOAT

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Whithorsematt@reddit

Why is the whole of the A303 not dualled?

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djferris123@reddit

Oh it's the westlink in Belfast, if it has any traffic or accidents on it which is constantly then the whole of Belfast is affected.

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Unhappy_Clue701@reddit

The Ilminster bypass used to be two lanes for its whole length, back in the 90s. Two very wide lanes. Timid drivers and HGVs used to keep far over to the left, leaving a big wide strip that was about two cars wide in the middle. Confident drivers would face each other off as they drove almost head-on towards each other at a closing speed of *at least* 120mph. No cameras back then either.

Fucking loved that road back then. You’d get past sooo many HGVs that you’d been stuck behind going across the Blackdown Hills from Monkton. It’s a ball-ache now.

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yearsofpractice@reddit

Specific to me living in the Newcastle , but the A1M north from around Leeds. It’s just so long and boring.

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gerrineer@reddit

The road to Glastonbury from Wells makes me sea sick!

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ginbandit@reddit

That road is a hoot!

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Happily-Incorrect@reddit

The A30 can get fucked. It's like that song in South Park where there's "Only One Road in Canada." Except it's Cornwall and if some div turns their car over on it a three hour drive becomes a five hour one.

Someone needs to build a bridge from Cornwall to South Wales so there's another way in/out.

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Chrisaudi27t@reddit

The A22 is my nemesis, it's just full of bloody horseboxes and idiots driving erratically in their Toyota's.

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Mental_Musky@reddit

Putney High Street and the bridge, and the preceding 5 or so miles of the A3 every morning.

Essentially a carpark every morning, without fail.

Even the side roads turn into an absolute clog of impatient and entitled knobheads who have to emerge 2 cars up at ALL COST!

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0ttoChriek@reddit

The A75 from Dumfries to Stranraer/Cairnryan is a slog. Single lane carriageway, for almost the whole stretch, with loads of lorries heading for the ferry terminal, and it just takes forever.

We travel to Northern Ireland a couple of times a year, and have taken that route through Scotland more than once. But I'd much rather drive through Wales, get the boat to Dublin and drive up.

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Mglfll@reddit

Locally for me it has to be the A19 fly over to Wolviston turn off, also including the A66 after Teesside park (the section joining fly over) to the Newport bridge Seconded by portrack round about under the a19.

Nationally I hate the part on the M62 coming downhill towards Manchester, not too often I’m over that way, but every time it’s like Mario kart and there’s always at least 1 crash

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Boom-boom56@reddit

Take your pick Stratford or Warwick road Birmingham

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OneCheesecake1516@reddit

The A75 has a very limited number of passing places. In 70+ miles you can count on less than 10 fingers the number of passing places in each direction. This is the main route to the Irish Ferry from Gretna.

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MrBananaStand1990@reddit

M26. Boring as fuck.

Also, it has the longest stretch of motorway in the uk without a junction

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ImpactAffectionate86@reddit

M621 merge onto the M1 South of Leeds.

3 lanes of motorway traffic merging with 2 lanes from a slip road, which quickly becomes the exit to the M62.

Leads to multiple lanes of traffic having to frantically get over to the left / right, in under half a mile before the turn off.

Hate it on my commute home.

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