M1 contraflow

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Mon 31 Oct 2005 18:26
M1 contraflow - machika
I came across something that appeared pretty inane (and without explanation) on the MI, travelling south on Saturday, around midday. A contraflow starts at junction 21, due to resurfacing, and two lanes of southbound traffic were funnelled across to the north bound carriageway. As soon as we had moved over into the contraflow, the traffic came to a halt. Progress thereafter was at a crawl for a few yards at a time. The single lane that had been kept open on the southbound carriageway was moving normally.

My first thought was that a vehicle must have broken down, so blocking one lane. However, we never came across such a vehicle and I didn't find out the cause until 20 minutes later, when we were approaching the end of the contraflow. One lane was coned off for about 50 yards. No reason was apparent, as there was no work being carried out on this short section of road.

On the way back home about three hours later, I noticed that this coned off section had been removed. It just seemed pretty silly to put two lanes of heavy traffic into an obvious bottleneck.
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Mon 31 Oct 2005 19:33
M1 contraflow - Morris Ox
If you're talking about the area near Leicester Forest east services inane is the word.

Actually, it doesn't go far enough: within the space of a mile you;ve got traffic from the A46 joining, on/off traffic from the services, then an exit for a retail park. Put that together with a complex contraflow, all the associated signage and what have you got? Chaos, and, so far, more than the fair share of minor bumps from drivers totally confused as to where they're heading.

Be warned and steer clear...
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Mon 31 Oct 2005 19:41
M1 contraflow - drbe
Is this the section with the average speed cameras?

If so, what is the local considered wisdom of the speed at which they are triggered and/or prompting a ticket in the post?
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Mon 31 Oct 2005 20:39
M1 contraflow - machika
You are in no danger of getting anywhere near the 40 mph speed limit most of the time.

I'd be interested in knowing the average speed of our crawl on Saturday. I could have walked faster, I think.
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Mon 31 Oct 2005 20:52
M1 contraflow - Red Baron
And I live in a Town just off Junction 20. The traffic increase on the local road between 20 and 21 is very noticeable. Queues of traffic at 6:30 in the morning!

My wife drives through the section once a week and standstill can come at any time

And now that the A5 is shut both directions due to resurfacing between Gibbets roundabout and Magna Park, the commute to work is a real pain.

Huff, puff...
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