Traffic lights on M4 slip road
12:00am Tue 4th Mar 08:: written by Sonia Kapur
New traffic signals are being placed on a slip road to reduce congestion on the M4.
The lights have gone up on the A308 slip road for traffic joining the London-bound carriageway at junction 8/9 in the past week as part of an £18million nationwide project aimed at reducing congestion.
The lights will run on a censor and only let a certain number of cars through at any one time.
They will be activated later this month and will be tested for six weeks to measure their effectiveness.
Similar traffic lights will be installed at nearly 70 sites across England before the end of 2009 as part of the Ramp Metering project which kicked off at the end of last year.
A Highways Agency spokesman said: "The scheme aims to help manage the flow of traffic onto the motorway, and reduce congestion.
"This is especially beneficial during busy hours when there are a lot of drivers wanting to join the motorway."
What do you think of the plans? Will it ease congestion on the M4 or cause more traffic in Maidenhead? Post your comments below.
Have your say
Something to say? Leave a comment. Please note comments are moderated before they are published to this website. Add Comment
Comments
Comments on this articleHave your say above
- It may improve traffic flow on the M4, but it will clearly significantly increase the time needed to get on to the motorway. Imagine how long the tailbacks will be if there is an accident on the M40 and traffic diverts via the A404. Given that we are served by the worst train operator in the country and are soon to be in the flight path of the busiest airport in Europe in does seem a bit harsh to muck up our road links as well!
- If they do this for J8/9, then they must also do this for J7, J6, J5, etc... otherwise it is a pointless exercise. I also fear that traffic will be backed up onto the J8/9 roundabout causing more problems than it's worth.
- I can only imagine that it will cause gridlock on the roundabout at the junction, and huge queues back along the A308M towards Braywick. It seems to suggest that the Highways Agency have decided that people travelling from further west have a higher priority in using the motorway than people joining at Maidenhead who apparently it is ok to inconvenience. Are other M4 junctions getting these lights ? Was there any consultation ? Did the council make representations ?
- II've seen them at J6 and possibly going up at J5. Will be interesting to see how they affect things. Traffic is usually very close to a standstill joining the M4 eastbound at J8/9 and I can't entirely see how traffic lights for just the silp road will change this.
- J8/9 works because the traffic using it cooperates. Traffic on the already full M4 allows traffic from the full slip road to merge into the flow. Yes the M4 does slow down but ususally it keep moving. This stupid idea will gridlock the J8/9 roundabout and traffic will back up into Maidenhead and the surrounding area causing chaos to other drivers who do not want to use the M4. Also traffic from the M4 itself will not be able to get off the motorway because the roundabout is grid locked and so
- What a stupid idea, for all the reasons above and more. Peabrains!
- They have a similar idea in LA on the freeways and it works.
- I lived in Silicon Valley in the 1980's, they really slow down the traffic joining the carriageway; at 8/9, its self regulatory today, why spend money interfering with the self regulated system today. It will just hold up all traffic on the roundabout. We see a waste of money on overhead signs in the last year, now more wasted money, shame they don't resurface the motorway!!
- I think this scheme is ridiculous. As pointed out already it will cause chaos on the roundabout, A308 and A404. You don't need a degree in highway planning to figure that one out. It is already pretty bad on these roads. The way it is obviously designed to work is by regulating and thereby reducing the volume of traffic onto the M4 at the expense of people trying to get on. However this just means the problem is shifted elsewhere. I can think of another dumb idea, how about putting traffic ligh
- I think people should ignore this stupid idea and drive through them whether there on or not.
- It was chaos this morning. Traffic queuing back along the slip road back to the Braywick roundabout. How is that helpful? Did the Highways Agency actually do a feasibility study at junction 8/9...because if they did, they would have realised the problems the scheme was going to cause. Would it not have been a much better idea to sort out the problems that are there already due to the instability of the current traffic lights before introducing yet more. Madness...
Popular links
Local Weather (BBC)
5 day forecast
Photo Gallery
Buy pictures
Business Directory
Search local listings
Traffic Report (BBC)
Road information
Advert Booking
How to advertise
Email This Page
Fill in the text boxes below and click 'Send' to have this article emailed to the given email address.