Brian Damaged
West Midlands
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 9,553
Club RR Member Number: 33
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Jul 18, 2012 18:52:05 GMT
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Given the amount of traffic today attempting to escape to the South-West, it's hard to imagine what life was like before the coming of the M5, the first section of which opened fifty years ago this coming Friday.. The original thinking behind the initial section of M5 (and indeed the M50 which had already been partially opened in November 1960) was to provide a fast road link between the steel-making centres in South Wales and the motor industry (these were the days when we still actually HAD one) and more traditional metal-bashing industries of the West Midlands. Prior to the motorway's opening, hauliers had no option but to grind tortuously up the A449 over The Malvern Hills and through Worcester, or else brave the old A40 through the Wye Valley and negotiate the notorious bottleneck that was Gloucester, before heading up the A38 to Birmingham. You can see just how badly-congested Gloucester was by watching this fascinating piece of film. Following on from a motorway plan first mooted in 1936, the route was designed in 1953. By 1957 all the local orders had been made and land compulsorally purchased. Two years later the final design was finished and put out to tender, and work commenced early in 1960. Here's a cracking shot taken just after work started, and (because I'm a complete anorak) there's a screengrab underneath showing the same spot now on Google Streetview. The entire 28-mile section from Lydiate Ash just to the southwest of Birmingham to Junction 1 of the M50 at Brokeridge Common cost just £7million, including the building of the original Strensham Services. The section immediately north of this one from what's now J3 at Quinton was built between August 1963 and November 1965, with Frankley Services opening fully in 1966. Amazingly despite the protestations made by Worcestershire County Council to the authorities, the entire motorway was built with just two lanes in either direction....a decision which cost some £123million to put right over a period of sixteen years between 1977 and 1993 when widening work was finally completed. I've got vivid memories of being driven by Daddy Damaged on the M5 in its original state in the late 1960's, and of him pointing out to me where the motorway was going to continue onwards right down into the heart of the South-West. Work on extending it as far as Bristol commenced in the summer of 1967, and by Christmas 1971 it was possible to travel all the way from the M6/M5 interchange at Ray Hall to Bristol. Avonmouth Bridge was a major bottleneck as despite being scheduled to open in 1972, major industrial relations problems and construction issues meant that it didn't actually open to traffic until 1974. All southbound traffic had to exit the M5 at Portbury, travel all the way into Bristol under the Clifton Suspension Bridge and then out through Bedminster to pick up the motorway again at Gordano Services. Northbound traffic was even worse. Those of you who know the area can only imagine the utter chaos it caused. Again I have vivid memories of being sat in a traffic jam for so long on the way to Devon that my mother got out of the car, turned the gas on in the caravan we were towing and made us cups of tea and bacon sandwiches. The sections from Bristol south to Exeter were opened in a piecemeal fashion between 1973 and May 1977 when the then Prime Minister Sir James Callaghan opened the final section from Sowton Services to the A38/A30. So there you go. If you're headed South West this coming weekend and you're stuck in one of the interminable traffic jams on the M5 (which is now handling some fifteen times the amount of traffic it was originally built for), then take a minute to wish it a happy Golden Jubilee. ;D Happy Motoring. Brian More reading: The Motorway Archive motorwayarchive.ihtservices.co.uk/SABRE (Society for All British Road Enthusiasts) www.sabre-roads.org.uk/
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Jul 18, 2012 19:41:56 GMT
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What an awesome read. Ta Hands down my favourite motorway.. purely because it leads me to Bristol and I have so many emotional contacts in Bristol. I thoroughly enjoy driving it
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Jul 18, 2012 19:42:35 GMT
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fascinating bit of history travel it often more years ago when plymouth was a regular place we visited
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Seth
South East
MorrisOxford TriumphMirald HillmanMinx BorgwardIsabellaCombi
Posts: 15,521
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Jul 18, 2012 19:48:05 GMT
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Great post BD. If only there were a suitable car with which to go on a celebratory blast along it?
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Follow your dreams or you might as well be a vegetable.
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Jul 18, 2012 19:48:47 GMT
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Very informative. You are a complete anorak... It's an amazing piece of automotive history.
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Jul 18, 2012 19:53:16 GMT
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My hat off to you for a wonderful post.
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Anglia68
Posted a lot
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Posts: 2,049
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Jul 18, 2012 19:57:52 GMT
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Excellent read BD. The M5's probably my most travelled M-Way and Frankley Services hold a special place in my heart as they're the only place I've ever been banned from. ;D
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Jul 18, 2012 20:14:27 GMT
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Great stuff. That diversion through Bristol while the Avonmouth bridge was being built must have been horrendous!
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...proper medallion man chest wig motoring.
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Brian Damaged
West Midlands
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 9,553
Club RR Member Number: 33
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Jul 18, 2012 20:18:18 GMT
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Excellent read BD. The M5's probably my most travelled M-Way and Frankley Services hold a special place in my heart as they're the only place I've ever been banned from. ;D You and me both! Many drunken nights spent in there ar5ing about having food fights after closing time at 42nd Street in Halesowen, and playing OutRun in the arcade. Ahhhh the 1980's. ;D
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w124
Part of things
Posts: 55
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Jul 18, 2012 20:28:51 GMT
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What a fantastic post.
Thanks BD a really informative read.
W124
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Anglia68
Posted a lot
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Posts: 2,049
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Jul 18, 2012 20:55:18 GMT
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Excellent read BD. The M5's probably my most travelled M-Way and Frankley Services hold a special place in my heart as they're the only place I've ever been banned from. ;D You and me both! Many drunken nights spent in there ar5ing about having food fights after closing time at 42nd Street in Halesowen, and playing OutRun in the arcade. Ahhhh the 1980's. ;D It was Mr T's in Stourbridge for me and then a blast over to Frankley for a fry up and the aforementioned ar5ing about.
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Jul 18, 2012 21:10:01 GMT
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Nothing to add, but wow, really enjoyed reading that. I spend far too long on things like Pathetic Motorways and CBRD, have an odd fondness for the M45, used to live one field away from Frankley Services (I used to get onto the M5 by nipping over and risking the service entrance's mysterious pop-up barriers that had apparently been disabled by rats!) and get perverse pleasure from living next to the A5 "Watling Street" mostly due to a short story I read about truck drivers once.
Love the Streetview then and now comparison.
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Jul 18, 2012 22:18:28 GMT
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How on earth do you get banned from a service station?
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Jul 18, 2012 23:26:51 GMT
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Excellent post, Brian - thanks. have an odd fondness for the M45 Nothing odd about a fondness for the M45 - it's a great drive as it's always empty and has nice curves and good sightlines. I always find myself doing about 10mph more on the M45 than I was doing on the M1 5 minutes previously. ;D Reminiscent of the French Autoroutes. In addition, I understand that it has been used to set the odd personal land-speed record or two.
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Great read, well posted Sir!
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1968 Volvo 142S 1969 Volvo 164 1987 Volvo 240 Estate (Sold) 1971 Triumph 2500 Estate
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tigran
Club Retro Rides Member
In rust we trust. Amen.
Posts: 6,444
Club RR Member Number: 142
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Cool/annorakey thread dude.
I definitely got the wrong end of the M5 stick.
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1964 Rover P5 i6 1987 BMW 525e - The Rusty Streak 1992 Micra K10 2001 BMW E46 316i 2002 BMW E46 330Ci 2013 BMW F31 320d 2018 BMW G31 530d
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chaseracer
Part of things
If you have to ask why, you will never understand...
Posts: 597
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Nice one, BD Is it terminally sad that I glanced at the first news photo and immediately thought "Ooh! Junction 5!"? Thought so... ;D
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Great stuff, and very interesting reading
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What a brilliant thread, thanks Brian. ;D
Living in Bristol I can only imagine the nightmare it must have been going along the Portway then up that uber steep hill by Ashton Court on the way back out to Gordano. Probably my fave part of the M5 is the split level bit between Gordano and Clevedon....such a nice bit of motorway and a fair bit of engineering too!
Whenever I head north, I always get a sinking feeling when I'm nearing the end of the M5 and about to join the M6. The Walsall part is particularly horrible for me, it always seems completely gridlocked.
Yesterday was no exception, on my way to Manchester, joining the M6 did nothing to change my view that it's a glorified carpark. The ridiculous queues in the same area on the way back were pretty horrendous (as usual) and I breathed a big sigh of relief when I finally managed to get back onto the free moving M5.
Good old M5!
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jonw
Part of things
Can open a Mouse with a File
Posts: 768
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Jul 19, 2012 12:27:20 GMT
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Great stuff!!!
Having gone on the old road under the Clifton bridge I can only imajine the carnage that was. It is conjested now!!!
Plenty of time spent on it going up to worcester of kiddeminster. Have done it on the A roads and it's a slow slog!!!!
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Suzuki SV650R The good Triumph T20 The Bad BMW G650GS The Ugly Matchless G12CSR The Smokey Toyota Hybrid One pint or Two?
Ingredients of this post Spam Drunken Rambling of author Bad spelling Drunken ramblings of inner voices Occasional pointless comments Vile beef trimming they won't even use in stock cubes
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