M6 Newcastle under lyme

M6 Newcastle under lyme

Author
Discussion

ruggedscotty

Original Poster:

5,792 posts

216 months

Sunday 26th May
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Well this happened yesterday, M6 heading north 4 lanes no shoulder, packed, jammed and moving very very slow, Id say almost an hour os so jammed. Two emergency vehicles struggled to get through the traffic.

Past the junction for the A500 and heading up towards Keele, I saw what was causing the jam.

A motorcycle event moto cross or the like in a field to the left of the motorway. People were actually slowing right down to watch it ! absolute bonkers..... And who ever organised this should be told never ever do it again. It caused chaos.

Glenn63

3,102 posts

91 months

Sunday 26th May
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Tbf that sections always slow and busy everyday at rush hours as it’s 4 lanes down to 3 for m6 then lots of traffic joining from the A500, even worse on bank holiday weekend. There’s regular events on that field it’s like a hill climb job for dirt bikes.

GSA_fattie

2,248 posts

228 months

Sunday 26th May
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Glenn63 said:
Tbf that sections always slow and busy everyday at rush hours as it’s 4 lanes down to 3 for m6 then lots of traffic joining from the A500, even worse on bank holiday weekend. There’s regular events on that field it’s like a hill climb job for dirt bikes.
this

It was on Friday around 2.30pm there were no events on at all, it’s just traffic volume a slight bend in the road and then an uphill section to Keele services
it’s always slow always has been before the smart motorway

Traffic speeds up and the slows down on the approach to junc 16 uphill and the smart motorway section where everyone drives at 69 with their tin foil hats on cacking their knickers, they may be caught by cameras on every gantry

“cus you can’t trust emm – government they need the money” rolleyes


Geffg

1,232 posts

112 months

Sunday 26th May
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Ever since I’ve known going back about 30yrs this section has always been like this.

Mr Tidy

24,313 posts

134 months

Sunday 26th May
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Agree, I've used that stretch from time to time for over 20 years and it's always like that sadly.

Indecision

516 posts

87 months

Sunday 26th May
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I got hit by that queue too - I appreciate it’s always bad, but yesterday it was literally 10 metres after the bike event that traffic instantly starting flowing again, just as with rubberneckers passing an accident on the other carriageway. Same feelings as the OP on this one!

Bluevanman

7,878 posts

200 months

Sunday 26th May
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Junction 15 is going to get a redesign in the very near future with HS2 money so expect months of even worse delays while work is in progress

Glenn63

3,102 posts

91 months

Monday 27th May
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Bluevanman said:
Junction 15 is going to get a redesign in the very near future with HS2 money so expect months of even worse delays while work is in progress
I’m assuming to try and solve the monthly occurrence of hgv’s falling over on the slip road.

ruggedscotty

Original Poster:

5,792 posts

216 months

Monday 27th May
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Hanchurch Interchange is junction 15 of the M6. It opened in 1962, and was a short-lived temporary terminus for the section to the south..

The junction suffers from a cramped layout with tight loops and short merges. Various proposals to rebuild the junction have been made over the years as part of widening the M6.

Its pretty much the same as what it was when it first opened as a temporary terminus interchange.

Quite a few proposals were considered, including extending the toll M6 to the M56 as a parallel motorway. However thankfully they went the widen the M6 rather than the toll extension.

However now its really a pinch point 4 lanes to three and an uphill slog to keele services, where the elephants like to race...

But it was a pain on satruday to see what was causing the jam, pure and simple idiots slowing down to watch the bikes in the field, right after that it all resumed to normal service again.


indigochim

1,662 posts

137 months

Monday 27th May
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I was heading south on Saturday and saw all the traffic build up. There where spectators on lots of the bridges looking at the northbound section. I suspect the area you mention appeared to have a load of bikers on the bridge and that's where the southbound queue freed up and the north bound queue started. I assumed it was watching a load of bikers on the motorway didn't realise there was something else too.