Am considering a job offer in Wolverhampton. Good job, quite keen. Would mean a 60 mile each way commute from Northampton which is not so bad per se but a good portion is M6 elevated section.
Never tried this stretch of road in rush hour but by reputation it is madness.
Anyone any experience? Is it that bad? Are there reasonable alternative routes?
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I can't quite help you, but I can tell you that Northampton to the M40/M6 junction is no problem. Quite what its like after there I wouldn't know.
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Dante's 4th Circle of Hell?
As Mark says, the M6/M42/M40 interchanges rarely pose a problem, but north of this is living hell from junction 4 thru to Junction 8 (M5 interchange).
Coming back is usually worse as the traffic is queuing from Hilton Park service, just north of Wolverhampton all the way down to the M5 junction once again. After this would usually be okay but that stretch could take a whole lot of time!
This applies for all of rush hour, at least 30 mins either side and on Friday quite often the jams can start 3pm onwards.
My commute has gone recently from 30 to 45 miles but although the mileage is not significant, I sit through so much traffic (2.5 hours a day in the car frequently) that it is effecting my quality of life as far as I'm concerned and I'm looking for a job change as a result. If this job really is worthwhile my suggestion to you is give the drive a go one day before you make your mind up.
No point in getting the near perfect job if you end up hating it due to a horrific commute!
Good luck...
Dan J
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Sorry, I meant Northampton to the M6/M42 junction is no issue.
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I don't know the area intimately, but my instinct tells me that 'you can't get there from here'. As to your last question, no.
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Don't do it! Life is too short to spend that long commuting to work and back.
No Dosh ** Quick, talk motoring, Mark's coming! **
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The M40 is ok although not a nice bit of road in winter.....frequently fog bound and surface water a problem in wet conditions.
The M42 Junctions 3-7a is all up in roadworks at the moment, M6 is a nightmare once you get onto it.
I only use these routes on frequent business/family trips not as a regular commute so I try and avoid rush hours.
Would you have flexible hours so that you can stagger your journeys to avoid the worst of the traffic?
Ian L.
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I'd class this as one of the worst possible commutes in the world ever, BUT once the M6 relief road is opened (later this year, anyone?) it might become a breeze before it clogs up again over a few years.
V
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Nightmare! Don't do it. I used to have to go up north thru that stretch, all the above comments sum it right up. It will do your head in!
Baz
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Thommo
Don't know whereabouts in NH you start from but the old line of the B4525 Bugbrooke/Litchboro'/Canons Ashby etc through to Banbury for the M40/M42 is as fast as M1/M42 for visiting SWMBO's relaives in the Stourbridge area. But 6th sense says Wolves is a step too far.
Tongue in cheek mode on:
There is of course a reasonable train service from NH to Brum and one at 06:40 goes through to Wolves. No return working but even with a change at Brum most are well below 90 mins. And the season ticket is a hell of a lot less than the same distance to London.
TIC mode off
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Hi Thommo
I used to commute from Cheshire down to M6 J4 nearly every day for 3yrs and would only do so again if a similarly serious amount of dosh was on offer or if I wished to spend more time in the car than I would at home in the evenings.
J4 to J11 is at best permanantly "heavy"; at its worse stop start, stop start over a distance of what must be 15 - 20 miles. Any accident or breakdown has an impact on the flow and rush hour is particulary slow without anything going wrong.
I must therefore side with all those who are saying no, dont do it. I don't anymore and I don't miss it one bit.
As ever
Mark
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It's bad. Why else would they even consider a relief road?
Trust me, I live in the Midlands. If you are going north or south M5/M6 you can take the Black Country Rooute through Wednesbury and Wolverhapton, cutting out the M5/M^ join. Bt as others have said it jams up between J4/5 or J6 if you are lucky and J10 or J11 between 7.30 am and 9.30 and as early as 3.30 pm and 7.00pm. Part of the problem is the IKEA store and retail park at J9 as well as the sheer volume of traffic.
Saturday's are usually OK as are Sunday mornings but Sunday from 'teatime' onwards going M6 south between J11 and J8 is just as bad as a workday rush hour.
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It is all very confusing. Indeed I couldn't find the M6 so I went down the M3 twice.
Sorry, old joke.
Anyone know who the guilty party that wrote it is?
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Thanks guys. Kind of the answer I was expecting.
Flexible working is an option but I have had bad experiences with that before and understand why so few people do not take what appears to be a most sensible option.
The problem is the office dickhead. Can be your boss or the boss' boss. Anyway they just assume that if you are not there at 9am sharp your a waste of space and as they leave at 5pm sharp they do not see you working late so it has not happened.
It will be a generation before attitudes change.
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You could try M6 as far as the A38M and then go up to Wolverhampton round the houses (A41 I think though can't remember, as I used to just do it, rather than think "this is the A41 that I'm on now) As others have said, it's really only from the junction after the M42 you have to worry about. Actually, if you go down a junction on the M42 to the A45, you can get through B'ham that way, and is often quicker than the motorway. As others have said though, the relief road should sort things out a bit. Best of luck...
O
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Australia needs you. Consider emigration.
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Not really motoring related at all but how easy is it to get into the country - I had actually been considering doing this.
Problem is, it isn't like you can just "pop over" from the UK for a few job interviews, it's one almighty upheaval.
I think you did this didn't you Growler? How did you go about it?
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My case is not relevant, I went in the days when if you had a Brit passport you could stay as long as you wanted. I still visit from time to time, a wonderful country.
Check out the Aus Embassy website: it may not be as hard as you think if you have the right number of points and can connect wit a recruiter there. I wouldn't take it upon myself to advise anyone. These days job interviews internationally are no big deal with technology. Do the points test first and that will give you a feel.
If I was 30 years younger, living in the UK and had a young family and a skill in demand, you wouldn't see me for dust.
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Thanks Growler - I know it wasn't relevant to the thread but it's always good to hear other ideas and opinions on these matters.
I'm giving it serious consideration because several university acquaintances have worked there temporarily and can't extol the country's virtues enough. Whenever you meet Brits abroad all they do agree that x,x,x,x and x are so much better in whatever country they happen to be in at the time!
Some serious thought to be given there - I don't even have a young family to consider nor a house to sell (have been looking into buying recently, the whole process along with prices is enough to drive you into alcoholism...).
Sorry for waivering off thread onto personal stuff Mark!!
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Growler,
I could not agree more. Unfortunately for personal reasons I am stuck in UK for at least the next 2 years, after that likely I will leave a vapour trail on my way out.
I am not alone, NO ONE I talk to says England is in a mess I love my country and will stay and fight for it, they all (including me) say England is a dump and I want OUT!
5 years of socialism and we are the beaten nation.
Very worrying...
Sorry Mark not car related will stop nopw.
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socialism, ah yes, I remember that. Haven't seen any round these parts for a very long time. One for the Nostalgia thread, I fear.
oops, sorry Mark.
Back to the subject. I don't have any experience of commuting on the M6 but all my experience of driving on it piles up to advise me to say NO DON'T DO IT!!
I recently looked at another job but the extra hassle factor on the commute (into High Wycombe, and which ever way you try to get in it's hell) made me conclude that it was not worth it (plus my parking would go up from free & secure to £5 per day in dodgy multi-storey).
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Well FFX, assuming that you are somewhere near High Wycombe then does the Blair Terror not stretch in to the Thames Valley area? If so I must move!
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I think the point is that the "Blair Terror" is not socialism as any card carrying socialist would recognise.
Matthew Kelly
No, not that one.
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Quite, Matt!
Luckily, the Blair terror does not affect me directly as I have a nice country commute through the Chilterns, with red kits flapping overhead, weasels running across the road, floods to negotiate, roadkill to pick up and sling in the boot...
However, the barely controlled, incandescent rantings of my partner, who *has* to drive into the centre of London on a regular basis, are keeping my mind truy focussed on the subject. I have had to hide my Red Ken biography lest it gets spotted and shredded.
I gave up a public tranport (train) commute into London when I took my current job because in the 11 years I did it the price went up 'to pay for improvements' which not only never materialised, but in fact the service went down beyond the point of a joke. My 20 miles car commute is sheer nirvana in comparison. If the Blairy Bunch want to get me off the roads and onto public transport, I have seen no sign of the carrot yet and the stick has only been a minor irritant thus far!
Ho hum!
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