Britain’s best and worst roads
Tuesday 16th September 2008, 8:00AM BST.
British sportscar manufacturer Caterham Cars have recently revealed the results of a survey on the country’s best and worst roads to drive on.
The A57 from Sheffield to Glossop topped the poll to find the best stretch of road of the 230,000 miles of tarmac that link the United Kingdom.
The ten stretches of ‘driving nirvana’ have been voted as:
- A57 ‘Snake Pass’ from Sheffield to Glossop – “Over 25 miles of tarmac rollercoaster!”
- A537 ‘Cat & Fiddle’ road from Macclesfield to Buxton – “Addictively technical but takes no prisoners.”
- A18 ‘Mountain Section’ on the Isle of Man – “Part of the famous TT course and has no speed limit.”
- A4086 ‘Pass of Llanberis’ from Caernarfon to Capel Curig – “Twisty roads and Snowdonia backdrop make it a must.”
- A817 Loch Lomond to Garelochhead – “A wide, long, smooth curving road which carries you from loch to loch a thousand feet above Glen Fruin.”
- A87 Invergarry to Isle of Skye – “As breathtaking as it is challenging.”
- B3223 Dulverton to Lynton – “Narrow road through Exmoor Forest but flowing bends that beg to be driven.”
- B4100 Warwick to Banbury - “A superb alternative to the M40.”
- A35 Lyndhurst to Christchurch – “The best way to enjoy the New Forest.”
- A686 Penrith to Alston north Pennines – “Mainly open countryside, very challenging but rewarding. Stop at the cafe at Hartside Top.”
While unsurprisingly, the clockwise section of the M25 between Junction 5 and 21 was voted the worst by nearly a third of those quizzed.
The top five stretches of road described as driving hell are:
- M25 between Junctions 5 and 21 – “The antithesis of driving!”
- M1 – all of it – “Continual roadwork views at a snail’s pace.”
- M6 Junctions 4 to 12 – “A slow crawl past a grey town – especially bad on a Friday.”
- A14 Cambridge to Peterborough – “Popular route for trucker’s is an accident rich, heavily congested with verage speed cameras.”
- A303 from Andover onwards – “Single-carriageway and caravan hell!”
* We’d like to hear from you too – let us know what your favourite roads are in Shropshire and Mid Wales (and your biggest road nightmares) in the comments forum below! *
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For me there are 2 REALLY bad stretches of road in Shropshire, they are:
Bridgnorth to Cleobury Mortimer road – which is sharp, hilly, narrow, riddled with potholes and absolute HELL in the winter.
Also the road from Bridgnorth to Ludlow is very much the same.
My favourite roads by far are those around Clun or better still towards Lake Vyrnwy.
Kate x
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Any road without other traffic :)
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The best road?. Without a shadow of a doubt the A5 heading towards Shrewsbury as you pass the Wrekin. What a view you get as you pass over the brow.
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Martin – suggest you drive away from the main roads and go and drive on the Burway then if views excite you
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The best road would have to be any road leading out of Telford…
Take your pick any which escapes the high crime rates, mad council policy of T & W has to be the best road to be travelling on.
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How come the A5 between the end of the shrewsbury bypass, and oswestry didn’t get WORST road in the COUNTRY vote?
This is a disgraceful stretch of road, neither one thing nor the other, wide in places, with cross hatch marking down the centre, which most people don’t know the meaning of ***, narrow in others, and then just before Shrewsbury (coming from Osswestry), the only sensible part where two lanesin one direction are bounded by a double white line separating the oncoming lane thus permitting safe overtaking for all of 400 yds or so in it’s 15 mile odd length! ( not including the nesscliffe dual carriageway bypass)
I vote this the most disgraceful section of road in the whole country, never mind Shropshire!
Hashed white lines bounded by broken white lines:
See highway code, rule 130:
Areas of white diagonal stripes or chevrons painted on the road. These are to separate traffic lanes or to protect traffic turning right.
if the area is bordered by a broken white line, you should not enter the area unless it is necessary and you can see that it is safe to do so
if the area is marked with chevrons and bordered by solid white lines you MUST NOT enter it except in an emergency
[Laws MT(E&W)R regs 5, 9, 10 & 16, MT(S)R regs 4, 8, 9 & 14, RTA sect 36 & TSRGD 10(1)]
SO YOU SEE !!!
even THIS is confusing!!!
So when is it “neccessary” to cross the line??
I would say , if it is clear and safe to do so, then to overtake a slower moving vehicle is “neccessary”, BUT …. I have had lengthy conversations with members of the Institute of advanced motorists (IAM) on this one, and they aren’t sure either!!
SO – here we have a road, nearly wide enough for dual carriageway over most of its length( (SHOULD HAVE BEEN ALL DUAL C’WAY ) with traffic separated only by hashed white lines bounded by a broken white line, which “maybe, or maybe not”? allows you to overtake.
THAT’s why you get the higgly-piggly queue -cos no one’s really sure what to do.
If it was all marked like the part before shrewsbury, with 2 lanes clearly in one direction (and then swopping over further along to allow safe overtaking for the other direction) then it would be a vast improvment !
SO – as a minimum …RULE 130 needs clarifying !!
Comments /clarification from the IAM please (and police class 1 drivers? – come on police – do something useful !!)
(I’ve asked this before of the IAM in these columns… and never seen a reply yet!)
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any part of the a49 from hereford to shrewsbury really is the pits, especially dobies island, leominster & herford itself and bits like dorrington where you have to slow down for the village
we need more dualing and a bypass for hereford as a priority!
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the A49 is now better at Dobies island, so well done to daniel k MP for that, though the lane markings are very dangerous now
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Best? Has to be up the Burway on top of the Long Mynd…. Worst? The A442 slicing straight through Telford.
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The Bridgnorth to Ludlow and Bridgnorth to Cleobury roads are two of the best in the county for driving enjoyment! They are a test of both car AND driver.
I organised a “run out” for a local car enthusiast club in May, and other roads included Newport to Crudgington, Shrewsbury to Lydham, Lydham to Craven Arms and others. Shropshire is riddled with great driving roads!
I can’t believe that Caterham have missed out the following roads:
B660 between Bedford and Ramsay St Mary
A4069 between Brynaman and Llandovery over the Black Mountains
B4358 between Treflys and the A470
A887 / 87 between Invermoriston and The Kyle of Lochalsh
The unclassified road over the “Pass of the Cattle” towards Applecross
The “Buttertubs Pass” in Yorkshire
That road between the Buildwas bypass and Wenlock is a good ‘un also; short but satisfying.
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Spindrift have you had to negotiate both of those roads day after day for years throughout the bleak winter/deep fog/black ice/inches of snow and in an old car?
They might be fun for those on a leisurely Sunday jaunt but those who drive it daily think differently.
What IS a real test for both car and driver, AND for sheer driving enjoyment, would HAVE to be the A44 mountain road between Llangurig and
Goginan, through the narrow passes of Pantmawr and Ponterwyd.
Try that on your next run, I guarantee you’ll love it!
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Y Mab, if you check the statistics you’ll find the crime rates for Telford and Shrewsbury are pretty similar. Both are significantly lower than for major cities suchg as Birmingham or Coventry.
But hey, never let the facts get in the way of an irrational, prejudiced jibe…
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the A49 from shrewsbury to warrington can be a good drive plenty of good straight fast bits
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Peter – I would imagine that the all the cities in Iraq and Afghanistan have lower crime rates than Birmingham and Coventry!!
To say that Telford is a nice place to live because it has lower crime rates than Birmingham and Coventry is pushing it a bit.
I can only imagine that if your in the US you would a covict who is serving a life sentance is a nice man compared to a convict serving 3 life sentances
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we are lucky most roads are good in the uk, we need to help put less pressure on them , by using the train more though and whining less too
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Hard Knott Pass – steepest road in Britain!
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Don’t tell people about the burway, i get fed up of being stuck up there because some idiot drive has got scared and started to panic.
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Best road the road out Telford!! the roads are getting very busy in Telford!!
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TelfordWolves: Telford busy? You must be joking – try the City of London.
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any road that y mab daragan happens to be standing in,
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A49 Shrewsbury to Ludlow – a champion mix of caravans, tractors, the confused elderly, trucks, psycho sales reps and kamikaze bikers (and the odd stray cow). In a word, thanatoid!
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Y Mab, you have clearly never visited much of Telford. In common with many people in the town I live in a nice, modern, large house, from which I have views of fields and open countryside.
My journey to work in the mornings takes me about 7 minutes. My children both go to excellent schools in the area. I have a Doctor’s surgery very close by and an NHS dentist a little further afield elsewhere in Telford. I get excellent treatment at the Princess Royal hospital.
I can easily get to places further afield due to the relatively good road access to and from the Town. I rarely use the Town Centre, and I have no occasion to visit some of the more ‘difficult’ areas of the town, which are several miles from me anyway (and which aren’t as bad as some would have you beieve).
I have the Town park at my disposal, and excellent cycle routes should I need them.
In the more than twenty years I’ve lived in the town, I’ve never been the victim of crime of any sort to my recollection.
What’s not to like?!
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hmmm, that told you Y Mab!
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Is that a fact Peter, so recent articles in the Shropshire Star ie
Fireman being stoned by youths in Sutton Hill.
Murders in Dawley, Hadley etc
The recent armed robbery of a bookies in Donnington
these must all be untrue then.
Maybe you like living in your ivory tower Peter but spare a thought for the less well off members of Telford who live in these high crime area’s.
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Poor Joey G, having to slow down for villages where people might be trying to cross the road. How dare they want people to slow down through their village and annoy people like Joey?
Nothing wrong with the A49, it’s the idiots who drive on it who cause the problems.
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Long lane from wellington to whitchurch is one of the worst roads ever! so many bad accidents there due to idiots thinking they can race down there because its a long straight road.
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the a49 is a major trunk route to and from south wales. it is full of hgv’s with few overtaking opportunities. this road needs to be dualed and towns like ludlow and leominster bypassed. with the current economic climate is see this being achieved by 2090. my favourite scenic route is the road above llanidloes, which goes past lake clwedog, onto staylittle turn left at dylife and over the old drovers route and down to machynleth, the scenery on a fine day is breathtaking!
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‘What’s not to like?!’ You don’t come from Telford Peter.
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when ludlow and leominster were bypassed why did the council highways stipulate dual carriageways. a great opportunity missed
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Mmm Peter you can not be serious, Telford is a dump and any road leading out of it is a award winner!
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Y Mab
Do you read the papers?
Shrewsbury have had 2 double murders in about 18 months.
Telford hasn’t had any since 2007.
Hmmmmmmmm, Know where I’d prefer to live.
Thank Heavens the A5 from Shrewsbury to Telford is in good nick, so I can get the hell out of Shrewsbury and back home to the security of Telford asap.
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I forgot.
Another great driving road is the Abergwesyn Pass. Also, the “EVO Triangle” which I will be sampling this weekend in the MX-5.
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Hardknott and Wrynose pass’ both in the lakes I’m suprised the A57 Snake pass wins in – it ain’t that exciting ?
Oh and Shrewsbury over telford to live in any day of the week. though I live in Sheffield and have not been a victim of crime in 20 years in a city of over half a million…….
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