Those Autoroutes....sigh...
Discussion
I know I am not the first to say it, but......French Autoroutes - they put our motorways to shame.
On Tuesday, I got back from 1300 miles of French (and Italian) motorways and within a mile of getting on the M27, I thought I had inadvertently found a Sport++++ setting on my dampers.
With a few exceptions around Paris, the surface quality was so much better than ours.
About £130 in tolls equals about 10p/mile and if we had such perfectly surfaced and un-congested toll roads in the UK I think I would happily pay that these days, for the lack of stress alone.
How do we manage to build such cr4p roads in this country?
On Tuesday, I got back from 1300 miles of French (and Italian) motorways and within a mile of getting on the M27, I thought I had inadvertently found a Sport++++ setting on my dampers.
With a few exceptions around Paris, the surface quality was so much better than ours.
About £130 in tolls equals about 10p/mile and if we had such perfectly surfaced and un-congested toll roads in the UK I think I would happily pay that these days, for the lack of stress alone.
How do we manage to build such cr4p roads in this country?
I’ve just been across Northern France to Brittany and back and I would say the same. It was a joy being on lightly trafficked sections, except around cities such as Caen and Rennes.
I think lower traffic and warmer weather contribute to better surfaces.
One thing noticed on French autoroutes is that the carriageways both have a crossfall from the centre regardless of curvature to the left or right which means that left hand curves have a slight adverse camber. In the UK the camber would be opposite. Feels odd to begin with.
I think lower traffic and warmer weather contribute to better surfaces.
One thing noticed on French autoroutes is that the carriageways both have a crossfall from the centre regardless of curvature to the left or right which means that left hand curves have a slight adverse camber. In the UK the camber would be opposite. Feels odd to begin with.
Tony B2 said:
I know I am not the first to say it, but......French Autoroutes - they put our motorways to shame.
On Tuesday, I got back from 1300 miles of French (and Italian) motorways and within a mile of getting on the M27, I thought I had inadvertently found a Sport++++ setting on my dampers.
With a few exceptions around Paris, the surface quality was so much better than ours.
About £130 in tolls equals about 10p/mile and if we had such perfectly surfaced and un-congested toll roads in the UK I think I would happily pay that these days, for the lack of stress alone.
How do we manage to build such cr4p roads in this country?
Although I don't mind paying for some autroroute, I would not like to travel 5 or 6 days a week and pay.On Tuesday, I got back from 1300 miles of French (and Italian) motorways and within a mile of getting on the M27, I thought I had inadvertently found a Sport++++ setting on my dampers.
With a few exceptions around Paris, the surface quality was so much better than ours.
About £130 in tolls equals about 10p/mile and if we had such perfectly surfaced and un-congested toll roads in the UK I think I would happily pay that these days, for the lack of stress alone.
How do we manage to build such cr4p roads in this country?
magpies said:
Tony B2 said:
I know I am not the first to say it, but......French Autoroutes - they put our motorways to shame.
On Tuesday, I got back from 1300 miles of French (and Italian) motorways and within a mile of getting on the M27, I thought I had inadvertently found a Sport++++ setting on my dampers.
With a few exceptions around Paris, the surface quality was so much better than ours.
About £130 in tolls equals about 10p/mile and if we had such perfectly surfaced and un-congested toll roads in the UK I think I would happily pay that these days, for the lack of stress alone.
How do we manage to build such cr4p roads in this country?
Although I don't mind paying for some autroroute, I would not like to travel 5 or 6 days a week and pay.On Tuesday, I got back from 1300 miles of French (and Italian) motorways and within a mile of getting on the M27, I thought I had inadvertently found a Sport++++ setting on my dampers.
With a few exceptions around Paris, the surface quality was so much better than ours.
About £130 in tolls equals about 10p/mile and if we had such perfectly surfaced and un-congested toll roads in the UK I think I would happily pay that these days, for the lack of stress alone.
How do we manage to build such cr4p roads in this country?
magpies said:
Although I don't mind paying for some autroroute, I would not like to travel 5 or 6 days a week and pay.
This is it. Living in the Wirral I've done a reasonable spell working in Liverpool. Even £1 each way each for the tunnel adds up over time when paying it daily. £400 ish for the year.
It's now £1.20 for residents £1.80 normal rate, although I'm working in Runcorn now so don't have to cross daily.
i've just returned from a week in France around the Dijon area. The autoroute road quality was uniformly excellent but they were so boring to drive on with speed limited to 130kph by the dammed radar checks. French country roads in the Dijon-Auxerre area were mostly very good too but town roads - like in Autun - could be bad. Some autoroute service areas serving food are grim - Macdonalds only. Others are okay. Finding out which are the good ones would be useful.
Doofus said:
The key difference is that the autoroutes are privately owned. That's why their service stations are acceptable too.
All the service stations in England are privately operated. The majority are privately owned as well. Edited by anonymous-user on Tuesday 13th September 20:29
speedyguy said:
Doofus said:
The key difference is that the autoroutes are privately owned. That's why their service stations are acceptable too.
All the service stations in England are privately operated. The majority are privately owned as well. Edited by speedyguy on Tuesday 13th September 20:29
My point about the service stations was when comparing them to those that aren't on the péages. It wasn't UK v France.
Edited by Doofus on Tuesday 13th September 20:46
The Aires are a bit of a gamble. Some are excellent like the Aire du Baie du Somme. Others are just lay-bys with cess pits. Heading to Bruges from Dunkirk a few years ago we had to make a loo stop. The cess-building was locked. The surrounding grassed areas were a minefield of trucker turds - we only noticed when my friend stood in one walking back to the car. Luckily he had a spare pair of shoes to replace the one that was triple bagged before setting off.
Baldchap said:
Belgium makes up for it.
Haha yes Belgium roads are not the best and the drivers ain't that great either. Dutch roads are good and free, if not undersized lane wise in parts. Lane discipline is also good in terms of moving over after overtaking, but they will also indicate and pull out at the same time regardless if it is safe to do so.Gassing Station | Roads | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff