@@dilwyn1 Microsoft has nothing to do with the development of HTTP status codes. The Hyper Text Transfer Protocols were developed by Tim Berners-Lee at CERN, generally considered to be the 'father of the Internet' as we know it.
I said it before and I'll say it again. I'm not from the UK and dont live in the UK and I have no intresst in motorways and still I watch every episode you make. Thats some insane production skills and magnetic personality you got. Kepp it up and I'll watch every thing you make.
I love these videos. As someone that does drives and lives in the UK, I've often wondered if they would be of interest to anyone that doesn't. Thank you for answering that question, @Bullorg.
Seems like the A404(M) has had a bit of an identity crisis: starting life as the A4(M), then getting promoted to M4 before being bypassed and demoted to being the A423(M) and then finally becoming the A404(M). To cap it all, it's junctions are 8/9, 9A and 9B!
The irony of it all is that the A404 could be much greater than what it is. Combined with the northern A404 section, it essentially makes a bypass of one of the busiest motorway sections in the UK, on the M25 between the M4 and M3. They really need to sort the road out - a grade separated free flowing junction at the southern terminus of the A404M in Holyport, grade seperate the Bisham roundabout on the A404, and then have a grade separated free flowing junction dropped 1 mile to the south of the Handy Cross M40 junction. The wonders it would do for congestion in the area
@Stealth360stealth The A404 runs between the M4 and M40 rather than the M3. A southern extension from Junction 8/9 bypassing Bracknell to link up with the M3 would be good though and allow the route to function as a full bypass of the busiest section of the M25.
Loved your comment absolutely nothing has f……….. changed and “this must be the most boring motorway we’ve done to date” You still made it enjoyable with your creative writing, wit and delivery. Thanks John, enjoy your afternoon and thank you.
I notice it a lot, but I live nearby and use it as access to the M4. The rest of the A404 is good access to the M40, and is a good way to bypass that awful section of the M25 between the two.
This was the first bit of motorway I ever drove on, back in the days when 9b was a roundabout. Happy memories, glad to see that they've preserved it more or less as was in commemoration!
Childhood memories of Sunday afternoon drives with my parents from West London on the M4 to where it then ended at the Maidenhead Thicket Roundabout (now junction 9b on the A404M). Here we had a picnic and drove back home. Happy days. 😀 Fast forward 50+ years and I now live 5 miles from that spot! The A404M is an odd motorway given that after junction 9 it becomes a dual carriageway which suffers a bottleneck roundabout junction at Bisham Abbey on its journey up to the often congested Handy Cross junction with the M40. If fully upgraded it could act as a better bypass of the M25 between the M4 and M40.
Urgh yeah. One day the powers that be will sort Bisham out. The last proposal a couple of years ago was to make it a traffic light junction instead of the roundabout. Absolutely stupid idea. 🤣 Either proper under or over pass with roundabout or leave it be.
This little stretch of road has featured in my life for over 50 years as a route between home (Bracknell) and High Wycombe where the rest of my family lived. I cannot count how many hours I have sat in roadworks as the various construction works and repairs have got in the way of my journey over the years.
Next time you're in Maidenhead, swing by Priors Way just off the A308, and you'll find the remains of the old M4 junction 8 sliproad, now being used as a depot. You can just about see it on satellite imagery.
It actually wasn't the local council who changed all the road numberings and made the A423 disappear; it was the government, when the M40 was opened and the A423 was reduced to a stretch from Banbury to Coventry. It used to run from Maidenhead to Tamworth, via Oxford, Banbury and Coventry, but the M40 being extended north of Oxford meant there was no need for the A423 to be a trunk road south of Banbury anymore, and they did what should have been done when the M40 opened and detrunked and renumbered that stretch, as well as the bit between Oxford and Banbury. There wasn't really any need for the A423 between Banbury and Coventry really, as traffic between those places is directed via the M40 and A46, but for whatever reason they kept it.
The A423 didn't reach Birmingham. It ran to Tamworth ending head on with the A51 and passing through Oxford and Coventry. The A423 still exists in places south of Coventry such as part of Oxford Ring Road.
I grew up 5 mins walk from junction 9b, my dad and uncle raced dump trucks and excavators that they ‘borrowed’ during construction in the 60s 😅 I’ve also been around 70mph on the tight turn coming off the 404, heading towards m4, back before the speed limit 😮😂 And I remember in the 90s when 9b got constructed, Maidenhead Thicket got chopped in pieces to construct it 🙈🤣 Keep it up John, great work as always 👍👍
Its actually not a speed limit on the sliproad and nor has there ever been one - its purely just advisory. If you were to have a crash, I'm sure an insurer would use that against you, but otherwise under normal driving the police couldn't do anything
Loving Danse Macabre closing music. I've had two large glasses of wine, I'm wankered, and I got lost when Jon kept mentioning motorway numbers with Ms on the end. But love the video as always.
It's been a pretty good week for me, what I got up to was my wife having a baby. I appreciate this one being a bit short and easy to fit into gaps around bringing the baby home. :)
The A404(M) actually provides part of a a useful link between the M4 and M40. I sometimes use it fora bit of variety from the M25, or if traffic's bad.
I remember driving it regular when the M4 started at the A4 just before Maidenhead coming from Reading between 1969 until 1974. I also remember the extension to Reading which took forever to be completed and open around mid 70"s E
I’m going to try and find out where Jon is filming next so I can do an innocent walk pass, unfortunately I live in Ireland and until Jon travels over the Irish Sea I’m going to have to wait my turn although I’m disappointed no one passed by to say hello in this episode, great post again
I used to drive on this a fair bit, back in the bad old days of having to take the garbage journey from Manchester to Winnersh. And yes, it’s a dull and seemingly pointless bit of motorway with a huge roundabout onto the M4 which, for some reason, often had the M4 slips closed, requiring me to drive halfway back up it to 9A, then across through Earley into Winnersh that way. Those days are now gone. Thank heaven for small mercies!
Fascinating. Negotiate that little roundabout often, never noticed the erroneous A423M sign, will be sure to notice it next time! BTW hope your drone flying was clear of the White Waltham aerodrome traffic zone! It was flying directly under the downwind leg for runway 29. Keep up the good work, your research is amazing, thanks.
How was this boring ? Loads of interesting detail about strange junction numbers, renumbering motorways, and even a road sign for a motorway that doesn't exist anymore !
At 3.28, you show the original end of the M4 at an unassuming roundabout in Maidenhead Thicket. The local council (I don't remember whether county council or town council or what -- I was rather young) was furious, since they had lobbied for it to end somewhere else, IIRC the centre of Maidenhead -- a case of be careful what you pray for, but like the early IBM prediction that the world would only need "about 4" digital computers, few in the UK then envisaged motorways becoming busy or needing more than 2 lanes each way! (For that reason, the 2-lane far end of the M4 in Wales was originally built without Armco separating the carriageways, since it would be far too expensive compared with the low predicted cost of occasional accidents, which IIRC included the value of lives lost at £5,000 each! ... Yes, we have had some inflation since then.) Anyway, the local council retaliated in a somewhat puerile fashion by refusing to erect any direction signs to the junction, which was a little hard to find; that standoff continued for a decade, until the M4 mainline was rerouted. Mind you, the people of Maidenhead can sometimes, to be polite, get the wrong end of the stick. There have been at least 2 occasions in the last 60 years when government plans to add VAT to newspapers were fought off by popular campaigns. During one of those, in the early 1980s IIRC, the local MP (IIRC, the seat was then Windsor and Maidenhead, since split) was driving in his car, with a rear window sticker for that campaign, saying "Don't Tax Reading!". He was recognised and accosted by an angry constituent: "We have to pay tax -- Why shouldn't they?" [For those who don't know the local geography, Maidenhead is in Berkshire (which in spite of the rhyming slang for the local Hunt, is properly pronounced Barksha) for which the county town is Reading (pronounced Redding). Meanwhile, the pronunciation of Maidenhead is unsullied, just like the virginal lady part.]
At last, a motorway close to my heart...and house. Interesting, never noticed the old run of the motorway, nor the bridge. Will have a good look next time I go past, as in tomorrow
The fact that it is a short motorway with no discernible features where f***-all of any interest has happened is, in itself, rather intriguing 🤔 Maybe this was actually why they changed the numbers to sort of ‘jazz up’ the road to create a narrative of supposed complexity?😉 Fascinating in a really rather ordinary way 👍🍀🍻
It could have been more exciting. The original route bulldozed its way through a bunch of housing estates on the north side of Reading and called for a bloody great viaduct over the Thames!
John I love your approach. Have you thought of car reviews? 'You may say that every man and his dog are doing them, and you'd be right. Except you wouldn't as they are not all necessarily doing them well...'
Maybe the reason is due to it being the junction of 3 motorways. So not to make the A404M or A308M feel cheated they are either 8 and 9. Now the answer is which one is 8 and 9. 🤣
Shorty but sweety 😁 You know Jon, I have a fear of heights, particularly bridges and whenever you do a piece to camera that's on a bridge / footbridge over a motorway, I get the same churning and flightly feelings looking at you standing on it with traffic rushing underneath, as I do if it were me doing exactly the same thing! 😬🙃
You should do Hogarth Flyover in London. I rented a car when I was in England on vacation and GPS had me drive on it and it was honestly terrifying. Never imagined such a rickety bridge in such a wealthy city
It’s all a bit confusing but you did your best to explain it as usual. Dunno what that closing classical music was called but it was used on Jonathan Creek TV series.
The motorway renumbered to the A404(M) when they bypassed the Burchett’s Green roundabout. Previously the A404 went straight across that and on through the village of Burchett’s Green, with the A423 coming down from Henley. They built the curve around and the slip roads and dual carriageway and connected up with the end of the motorway, downgraded the old A423 and A404 adding traffic calming through Burchett’s Green (which doesn’t work - still the quickest way to the westbound A4) and numbered it A404 and A404(M) all the way to the M4.
Remember it well. The original junctions 8 and 9 of the M4 becoming a rather stretched out junction 8/9 or spur road still initially referred to as the M4. Widening the A404 to a dual carriageway all the way meant that it also ended up at the same roundabout as the end of the M4 junctions 8/9 so I guess they must have planned from the outset to put in a bridge interchange so the A404 could just link straight through. And in so doing, the A404 magics into the A404M. The A404 still has at least one roundabout left in the middle of it although the junction with the M40 has been revamped in the last 10 years to provide a better interchange. (Not sure if they've widened the M40 or if its still just two lanes each direction as it passes through the junction.)
I have a road atlas from 1967. The M4 is shown as dotted from Brentford until just west of Burnham where it becomes the Slough Motorway and has junctions with the A4 (old A302) then Bray (old A308) then up to the A4 following the current A404(M) route. Fun fact, 20 odd years ago I had a crash at the A404(M) and A4 roundabout when someone pulled out in front of me then stopped; as I had already reacted to pass behind him I was fooled by his stopping and so rammed him. He was barely damaged, my car had minor damage but was a write-off!
Erm... The numbering changes in this video made my brain melt a little bit... Otherwise an awesomely fine video! 😀 Thanks John, please keep it up. In the meantime I'll work on regrowing that lost molten grey matter in time for your next release.
Hi John, thanks for today's video. I'm looking forward to seeing the A48M episode as there is a hidden stretch of tarmac between the east/westbound carriageways where they split just before the M4. Hoping you can explain what this was for.
Did you know that as well as the M4 going into London there was also an M4 in South Wales which was when the decision to extend the M4 all the way to join the bits up. Think in coincided with the building of the First Severn Crossing Bridge.
I see Henley on Thames there. I think the term 'Not In My Backyard' springs to mind. Superb video, great drone footage for the likes of YumblTV and the Cities Skylines 2 games players to plan their Interchange designs in-game. Thumbs up as usual and building what you don't know is the Cities Skylines 2 motorway planners design ideas encyclopaedia.
John its 12:36 on a Sunday afternoon, I can hear a song something about a lazy Sunday, it maybe just me🤔🤔🤔But I spotted your post, so my face cheeks ached a bit into a smile and left/clicked
Great video as always John. Given the road is more of a dual carriageway trunk road than a full motorway, I wonder if it should have been called the M4(A).
A section of highway in Cleveland is like this where it was supposed to be much longer.. It was supposed to be called the Parma freeway. It starts at Junction 244 of Interstate 71 and only the first section was built up to the first surface street. The southbound entrance ramp is built too wide for current traffic plus there's a ghost ramp on the northbound exit. If it was built to plan, it would've carried on to Interstate 90 and would've continued south past Interstate 90 to some random location in North Royalton (a suburb).
The A404(M) could have been renumered as M404 that would have linked from M4 at Junction 8/9 and would have ended at High Wycombe and meet up with the M40 motorway.
You got it correct - “holly” port - not “holy” port 👌 as a local I really enjoyed the 329 and 404 videos. Why no mention of the dull story about it being the only dual numbered junction in the network? Keep up the good work. Wicked Sweet.
That was short and sweet! Talking about shorts, how about knocking together a few ewetoob shorts out of the stuff cluttering your cutting room floor!? You must have shed loads of footage you never used in your epics!
Ah, a stretch of motorway I'm very familiar with. I used to get off at 9A for work for a while and yeah, a bit tight that one, and I must've used the Thicket Roundabout to get to Reading hundreds of times, back when the record fairs there were worth going to.
Oxfordshire's boundary butts up against the North of Reading and Berkshire. They never have/will agree any transport plan that will benefit Reading requiring new road building in their jurisdiction. Just check out the ongoing, decades old, saga of the proposed Thames crossing at the Reading end of the A3290/A329(M). That's, i assume why, the M4 is to the South.
Wow I didn't know this bit of road had so much history, I found this interesting as it's not far from my house. I didn't know the M4 took that route I always thought it carried on to Wales as it dose now so defo learnt something this time so thanks for that Jon. :)
It was definitely the right decision to route the M4 south of Reading. It is an environmentally less sensitive area, and with the A329(M) it connected Bracknell to the motorway network relieving other roads. I heard that one reason the A308(M) was given motorway status was so that the roundabout would be under motorway regulations so that cyclists and hitch hikers could not use it.
404: Motorway Not Found?
LOL! Bloody Micro Soft
lmaooooo
Congratulations on your Comment of the Day award.
@@dilwyn1 Microsoft has nothing to do with the development of HTTP status codes. The Hyper Text Transfer Protocols were developed by Tim Berners-Lee at CERN, generally considered to be the 'father of the Internet' as we know it.
@@ChakatSandwalkerfather of the WWW. The Internet is much older.
I said it before and I'll say it again. I'm not from the UK and dont live in the UK and I have no intresst in motorways and still I watch every episode you make. Thats some insane production skills and magnetic personality you got. Kepp it up and I'll watch every thing you make.
IKR WTF do I watch these?
While I do live in the UK, I had no interest in roads until I watched his videos
I don't even drive, but I never miss an episode.🤔
I love these videos. As someone that does drives and lives in the UK, I've often wondered if they would be of interest to anyone that doesn't. Thank you for answering that question, @Bullorg.
Nice one, thanks for watching!
Seems like the A404(M) has had a bit of an identity crisis: starting life as the A4(M), then getting promoted to M4 before being bypassed and demoted to being the A423(M) and then finally becoming the A404(M). To cap it all, it's junctions are 8/9, 9A and 9B!
Well, we all know what 404 means, so in this case it means: "404, no Motorway found" :D
The irony of it all is that the A404 could be much greater than what it is. Combined with the northern A404 section, it essentially makes a bypass of one of the busiest motorway sections in the UK, on the M25 between the M4 and M3. They really need to sort the road out - a grade separated free flowing junction at the southern terminus of the A404M in Holyport, grade seperate the Bisham roundabout on the A404, and then have a grade separated free flowing junction dropped 1 mile to the south of the Handy Cross M40 junction. The wonders it would do for congestion in the area
@Stealth360stealth The A404 runs between the M4 and M40 rather than the M3. A southern extension from Junction 8/9 bypassing Bracknell to link up with the M3 would be good though and allow the route to function as a full bypass of the busiest section of the M25.
@@Stealth360stealth Make A404 great again!
Loved your comment absolutely nothing has f……….. changed
and “this must be the most boring motorway we’ve done to date”
You still made it enjoyable with your creative writing, wit and delivery. Thanks John, enjoy your afternoon and thank you.
Wait till he does the A308(M)
@@raystimpson I was just thinking that. He could have tacked on to the end of this one.
@@raystimpsonAlready done it.
@@raystimpson No, a separate one: Motoring Oddities Ep 7 ruclips.net/video/YrsbWH8-pd0/видео.htmlsi=fmdfydy2OJCUBr0H
@@raystimpson in a different series, motoring oddities ruclips.net/video/YrsbWH8-pd0/видео.htmlsi=5VG3M5VuOICCw-hk
Thank you John. Your videos always brighten up my day……..even when they’re “boring” motorways that no one even notices.
I notice it a lot, but I live nearby and use it as access to the M4.
The rest of the A404 is good access to the M40, and is a good way to bypass that awful section of the M25 between the two.
Already said that before you. Hence why I have driven the A404M@@Skorpychan 😀
I like roads that are adequate!
This was the first bit of motorway I ever drove on, back in the days when 9b was a roundabout. Happy memories, glad to see that they've preserved it more or less as was in commemoration!
That abandoned motorway alignment is great - never knew that existed. Very interesting.
Childhood memories of Sunday afternoon drives with my parents from West London on the M4 to where it then ended at the Maidenhead Thicket Roundabout (now junction 9b on the A404M). Here we had a picnic and drove back home. Happy days. 😀
Fast forward 50+ years and I now live 5 miles from that spot!
The A404M is an odd motorway given that after junction 9 it becomes a dual carriageway which suffers a bottleneck roundabout junction at Bisham Abbey on its journey up to the often congested Handy Cross junction with the M40. If fully upgraded it could act as a better bypass of the M25 between the M4 and M40.
Urgh yeah. One day the powers that be will sort Bisham out. The last proposal a couple of years ago was to make it a traffic light junction instead of the roundabout. Absolutely stupid idea. 🤣 Either proper under or over pass with roundabout or leave it be.
The hours I've spent queueing at that roundabout! Both ways!
@@timmarotto It’s depressing whether at the start or end of a long journey, that roundabout can ruin your day.
Hi John, would love to see a "Secrets of the Autobahn" series from you. Plenty of history out in that there Deutschland to explore! Love it! 😮
At some point the boys are going to run out of UK motorways to talk about so not a bad idea.
I hope to get over there at some point.
This little stretch of road has featured in my life for over 50 years as a route between home (Bracknell) and High Wycombe where the rest of my family lived. I cannot count how many hours I have sat in roadworks as the various construction works and repairs have got in the way of my journey over the years.
2:57 lovely house with a pool in the back garden.... but imagine the noise from the motorway!
I love a tight radius slip rd on or off, excellent for the motorcycle knee down action but watch out for that spilled diesel 🏍️👍😁😵💫
A404(M): motorway not found
Error A404M: M4 not found
Love the Johnathan Creek 'Danse Macabre' theme at the end, there!
Are you still going to do the M25 someday, or has that been canned now?
I wondered if there was a perplexing locked room murder mystery solved right where he was standing
it was Jon at the creek. nailed it!@@bornach
@@fumthings Groan... :) I also thought there should be a windmill somewhere in shot.
Junction 9A also has the quirk of having its slip roads start and end at mini roundabouts: pretty unusual for motorways.
Next time you're in Maidenhead, swing by Priors Way just off the A308, and you'll find the remains of the old M4 junction 8 sliproad, now being used as a depot. You can just about see it on satellite imagery.
These videos never fail to bring me back every sunday
It actually wasn't the local council who changed all the road numberings and made the A423 disappear; it was the government, when the M40 was opened and the A423 was reduced to a stretch from Banbury to Coventry. It used to run from Maidenhead to Tamworth, via Oxford, Banbury and Coventry, but the M40 being extended north of Oxford meant there was no need for the A423 to be a trunk road south of Banbury anymore, and they did what should have been done when the M40 opened and detrunked and renumbered that stretch, as well as the bit between Oxford and Banbury. There wasn't really any need for the A423 between Banbury and Coventry really, as traffic between those places is directed via the M40 and A46, but for whatever reason they kept it.
The change of number from A423 (M) also links to the completion of the M40 to Birmingham which saw the A423 renumbered from there as the A4130.
The A423 didn't reach Birmingham. It ran to Tamworth ending head on with the A51 and passing through Oxford and Coventry. The A423 still exists in places south of Coventry such as part of Oxford Ring Road.
4:06 onward to 4:18 is pure magic, John. You are brilliant. Thank you
I grew up 5 mins walk from junction 9b, my dad and uncle raced dump trucks and excavators that they ‘borrowed’ during construction in the 60s 😅
I’ve also been around 70mph on the tight turn coming off the 404, heading towards m4, back before the speed limit 😮😂
And I remember in the 90s when 9b got constructed, Maidenhead Thicket got chopped in pieces to construct it 🙈🤣
Keep it up John, great work as always 👍👍
Its actually not a speed limit on the sliproad and nor has there ever been one - its purely just advisory. If you were to have a crash, I'm sure an insurer would use that against you, but otherwise under normal driving the police couldn't do anything
Loving Danse Macabre closing music. I've had two large glasses of wine, I'm wankered, and I got lost when Jon kept mentioning motorway numbers with Ms on the end. But love the video as always.
It's been a pretty good week for me, what I got up to was my wife having a baby. I appreciate this one being a bit short and easy to fit into gaps around bringing the baby home. :)
Hard to beat becoming a parent in the same week a Secrets of the Motorway video is released. Congrats
Congrats on the new arrival!
RIP RUclips viewing and sleep. But congrats!
The A404(M) actually provides part of a a useful link between the M4 and M40. I sometimes use it fora bit of variety from the M25, or if traffic's bad.
Excellent. Hilarious as usual. WSA
I heard that opening "Hellloooo and..." and briefly thought I was watching Tim Traveller!
Jonathan Creek for today's music, nice choice. I have been meaning to go back to that for years
it was Jon at the creek. nailed it!
I remember driving it regular when the M4 started at the A4 just before Maidenhead coming from Reading between 1969 until 1974.
I also remember the extension to Reading which took forever to be completed and open around mid 70"s
E
It may be boring to drive but once you delve into the history, as so often happens, it becomes interesting. That could sum up this channel actually.
I’m going to try and find out where Jon is filming next so I can do an innocent walk pass, unfortunately I live in Ireland and until Jon travels over the Irish Sea I’m going to have to wait my turn although I’m disappointed no one passed by to say hello in this episode, great post again
I used to drive on this a fair bit, back in the bad old days of having to take the garbage journey from Manchester to Winnersh. And yes, it’s a dull and seemingly pointless bit of motorway with a huge roundabout onto the M4 which, for some reason, often had the M4 slips closed, requiring me to drive halfway back up it to 9A, then across through Earley into Winnersh that way.
Those days are now gone. Thank heaven for small mercies!
Fascinating. Negotiate that little roundabout often, never noticed the erroneous A423M sign, will be sure to notice it next time! BTW hope your drone flying was clear of the White Waltham aerodrome traffic zone! It was flying directly under the downwind leg for runway 29. Keep up the good work, your research is amazing, thanks.
How was this boring ? Loads of interesting detail about strange junction numbers, renumbering motorways, and even a road sign for a motorway that doesn't exist anymore !
Indeed! Most interesting I thought. Well, not *the* most interesting, but *a* most interesting...
Happened to pass underneath you as you filmed the latter part of this one. Well, there was a guy talking at his camera on a tripod, wearing a beanie 😂
At 3.28, you show the original end of the M4 at an unassuming roundabout in Maidenhead Thicket. The local council (I don't remember whether county council or town council or what -- I was rather young) was furious, since they had lobbied for it to end somewhere else, IIRC the centre of Maidenhead -- a case of be careful what you pray for, but like the early IBM prediction that the world would only need "about 4" digital computers, few in the UK then envisaged motorways becoming busy or needing more than 2 lanes each way! (For that reason, the 2-lane far end of the M4 in Wales was originally built without Armco separating the carriageways, since it would be far too expensive compared with the low predicted cost of occasional accidents, which IIRC included the value of lives lost at £5,000 each! ... Yes, we have had some inflation since then.)
Anyway, the local council retaliated in a somewhat puerile fashion by refusing to erect any direction signs to the junction, which was a little hard to find; that standoff continued for a decade, until the M4 mainline was rerouted. Mind you, the people of Maidenhead can sometimes, to be polite, get the wrong end of the stick. There have been at least 2 occasions in the last 60 years when government plans to add VAT to newspapers were fought off by popular campaigns. During one of those, in the early 1980s IIRC, the local MP (IIRC, the seat was then Windsor and Maidenhead, since split) was driving in his car, with a rear window sticker for that campaign, saying "Don't Tax Reading!". He was recognised and accosted by an angry constituent: "We have to pay tax -- Why shouldn't they?" [For those who don't know the local geography, Maidenhead is in Berkshire (which in spite of the rhyming slang for the local Hunt, is properly pronounced Barksha) for which the county town is Reading (pronounced Redding). Meanwhile, the pronunciation of Maidenhead is unsullied, just like the virginal lady part.]
At last, a motorway close to my heart...and house. Interesting, never noticed the old run of the motorway, nor the bridge. Will have a good look next time I go past, as in tomorrow
The fact that it is a short motorway with no discernible features where f***-all of any interest has happened is, in itself, rather intriguing 🤔 Maybe this was actually why they changed the numbers to sort of ‘jazz up’ the road to create a narrative of supposed complexity?😉
Fascinating in a really rather ordinary way 👍🍀🍻
It could have been more exciting. The original route bulldozed its way through a bunch of housing estates on the north side of Reading and called for a bloody great viaduct over the Thames!
John I love your approach. Have you thought of car reviews?
'You may say that every man and his dog are doing them, and you'd be right. Except you wouldn't as they are not all necessarily doing them well...'
I've thought about it very much. It's not really viable, I've no idea how car channels manage to succeed these days.
Can't wait on the A308(M) which is right next door and really small.
Maybe this video could have been a double header 🙂
Already made!
And the mystery of junction 8/9.
Hopefully he'll explain why it's junction 8/9 when he does. (Don't ask)
Maybe the reason is due to it being the junction of 3 motorways. So not to make the A404M or A308M feel cheated they are either 8 and 9. Now the answer is which one is 8 and 9. 🤣
Thank you for that history leason, I didn't know most of that even though I live quite close to it!
Nice one, thanks for watching!
Shorty but sweety 😁
You know Jon, I have a fear of heights, particularly bridges and whenever you do a piece to camera that's on a bridge / footbridge over a motorway, I get the same churning and flightly feelings looking at you standing on it with traffic rushing underneath, as I do if it were me doing exactly the same thing! 😬🙃
Cup of tea and an old episode of Time Team shd sort out the collywobbles.
@@JP_TaVeryMuch 🤷🏻♀️🤔
Touch of "Not a lot of people know that", invoking the 'Caine' can be dangerous and difficult to stop. Cheers
You should do Hogarth Flyover in London. I rented a car when I was in England on vacation and GPS had me drive on it and it was honestly terrifying. Never imagined such a rickety bridge in such a wealthy city
It’s all a bit confusing but you did your best to explain it as usual. Dunno what that closing classical music was called but it was used on Jonathan Creek TV series.
Camille Saint-Saëns - Danse Macabre
@@David_Crayford thank you. Excuse my ignorance!
it was Jon at the creek. nailed it!
Some great photography / editing on this one!
Nice one, thanks for watching!
Anyone wondering, music is in Jonathan Creek. Classic series
it was Jon at the creek. nailed it!
The motorway renumbered to the A404(M) when they bypassed the Burchett’s Green roundabout. Previously the A404 went straight across that and on through the village of Burchett’s Green, with the A423 coming down from Henley. They built the curve around and the slip roads and dual carriageway and connected up with the end of the motorway, downgraded the old A423 and A404 adding traffic calming through Burchett’s Green (which doesn’t work - still the quickest way to the westbound A4) and numbered it A404 and A404(M) all the way to the M4.
Remember it well. The original junctions 8 and 9 of the M4 becoming a rather stretched out junction 8/9 or spur road still initially referred to as the M4. Widening the A404 to a dual carriageway all the way meant that it also ended up at the same roundabout as the end of the M4 junctions 8/9 so I guess they must have planned from the outset to put in a bridge interchange so the A404 could just link straight through. And in so doing, the A404 magics into the A404M. The A404 still has at least one roundabout left in the middle of it although the junction with the M40 has been revamped in the last 10 years to provide a better interchange. (Not sure if they've widened the M40 or if its still just two lanes each direction as it passes through the junction.)
I have a road atlas from 1967. The M4 is shown as dotted from Brentford until just west of Burnham where it becomes the Slough Motorway and has junctions with the A4 (old A302) then Bray (old A308) then up to the A4 following the current A404(M) route. Fun fact, 20 odd years ago I had a crash at the A404(M) and A4 roundabout when someone pulled out in front of me then stopped; as I had already reacted to pass behind him I was fooled by his stopping and so rammed him. He was barely damaged, my car had minor damage but was a write-off!
Wonderful, as ever, with superb out-ro music.
A308m holyport...i could see on your aerial shot where our office is.... Where exactly is the abandoned bridge?
Love your videos btw
No idea how you make this seamless edits, skill and passion
Short and sweet. All the best 🇬🇧.
Nice one, thanks for watching!
Does anyone else go straight to google maps as soon as the video is finished? Great content as always
No, Google maps is awful. I find OpenStreetMap much better
Erm... The numbering changes in this video made my brain melt a little bit... Otherwise an awesomely fine video! 😀 Thanks John, please keep it up. In the meantime I'll work on regrowing that lost molten grey matter in time for your next release.
Former SABRE member here.
All the information that SABRE have suggest that it was never A4(M) on signs, only on maps.
Yes, I seem to recall that it was initially proposed and planned as the A4(M), but by the time it was opened it had been reclassified as the M4.
Nice one! You forgot to point out Bray Studios, where (amongst other things) the SFX for Space:1999 were filmed.
Brilliant content. Interesting and funny. Keep em coming. Thank you😊
A404 erm where is it going, why are we here. Thanks for another fascinating video about how utterly confusing urban planning can be 👍
Well...that maybe "all you've got" but it was splendid thank you.
Hi John, thanks for today's video. I'm looking forward to seeing the A48M episode as there is a hidden stretch of tarmac between the east/westbound carriageways where they split just before the M4. Hoping you can explain what this was for.
Did you know that as well as the M4 going into London there was also an M4 in South Wales which was when the decision to extend the M4 all the way to join the bits up. Think in coincided with the building of the First Severn Crossing Bridge.
Aha! You're on my old patch. I grew up in flats next to the A423(M) as it was.
Ending strong with a touch of Jonathan Creek!
it was Jon at the creek. nailed it!
I see Henley on Thames there. I think the term 'Not In My Backyard' springs to mind. Superb video, great drone footage for the likes of YumblTV and the Cities Skylines 2 games players to plan their Interchange designs in-game. Thumbs up as usual and building what you don't know is the Cities Skylines 2 motorway planners design ideas encyclopaedia.
Sterling work……..again! If I was in charge of commissioning new tv programs, I would give you a prime time one hour slot 👍
This reminds me of Abbott & Costello's "Who's on 1st".
Ah yes. A masterpiece.
John its 12:36 on a Sunday afternoon, I can hear a song something about a lazy Sunday, it maybe just me🤔🤔🤔But I spotted your post, so my face cheeks ached a bit into a smile and left/clicked
Great video as always John. Given the road is more of a dual carriageway trunk road than a full motorway, I wonder if it should have been called the M4(A).
A section of highway in Cleveland is like this where it was supposed to be much longer.. It was supposed to be called the Parma freeway. It starts at Junction 244 of Interstate 71 and only the first section was built up to the first surface street. The southbound entrance ramp is built too wide for current traffic plus there's a ghost ramp on the northbound exit. If it was built to plan, it would've carried on to Interstate 90 and would've continued south past Interstate 90 to some random location in North Royalton (a suburb).
The A404(M) could have been renumered as M404 that would have linked from M4 at Junction 8/9 and would have ended at High Wycombe and meet up with the M40 motorway.
You made a boring motorway... interesting! Great job, Jon!
Only one way to describe junction 9a - Dangerous - 😂 couldn’t agree more!
You got it correct - “holly” port - not “holy” port 👌 as a local I really enjoyed the 329 and 404 videos. Why no mention of the dull story about it being the only dual numbered junction in the network? Keep up the good work. Wicked Sweet.
I asked the same thing in a secrets of the M4 video a while back, and he had covered the A308(M) in a separate video which covers it.
Awesome Video
That was short and sweet!
Talking about shorts, how about knocking together a few ewetoob shorts out of the stuff cluttering your cutting room floor!? You must have shed loads of footage you never used in your epics!
Great video John ,👍Thanks mate
Love it. Keep it up!!! You could do secreats of the un-named roads?
I'm from the UK and I drive BUT... with this video I am no wiser!! Hahaha... BUT, I luv 'em!!
Another enjoyable Sunday morning look at the UK countryside.
Me watch you long time.
The Maidenhead bypass sounds like a rude reference. One I can really get behind. With consent of course.
I lol'ed
Ah, a stretch of motorway I'm very familiar with. I used to get off at 9A for work for a while and yeah, a bit tight that one, and I must've used the Thicket Roundabout to get to Reading hundreds of times, back when the record fairs there were worth going to.
Oxfordshire's boundary butts up against the North of Reading and Berkshire. They never have/will agree any transport plan that will benefit Reading requiring new road building in their jurisdiction. Just check out the ongoing, decades old, saga of the proposed Thames crossing at the Reading end of the A3290/A329(M). That's, i assume why, the M4 is to the South.
This road I know well... and didn't know it seems. Thx.
"The A404(M). It's just fine." - If the RUclips thing doesn't work out, the world of marketing is ready and waiting for you. 😀
At 1:51 the unbalanced parentheses on the sign bother me!
Short and sweeeet, but still interesting. 👍🍻
Wow I didn't know this bit of road had so much history, I found this interesting as it's not far from my house. I didn't know the M4 took that route I always thought it carried on to Wales as it dose now so defo learnt something this time so thanks for that Jon. :)
Nice one, thanks for watching!
Only you could present such an uninteresting road in such a fascinating manner!
My neighbourhood motorway. Good stuff as always 👍
It was definitely the right decision to route the M4 south of Reading. It is an environmentally less sensitive area, and with the A329(M) it connected Bracknell to the motorway network relieving other roads.
I heard that one reason the A308(M) was given motorway status was so that the roundabout would be under motorway regulations so that cyclists and hitch hikers could not use it.
I can't wait till John does the 3 and a bit of Motorways in Northern Ireland.
The Danse Macabre... interesting end... it is wickedsweetawesome in equal measure. Cheered me up... even if fvckall happened!
it was Jon at the creek. nailed it!
Whatever road planners are on, I want some.
Great video..keep posting
Nice one, thanks for watching!
1:47 I love ghost roadsigns!
Nice to have a bit of Saint-Saens.
Short and wicked sweet awesome.
Nice one, thanks for watching!
Thanks. Never did understand why you drive down the A404 and then suddenly it becomes the A404M for the last 2 miles.
Can’t wait to tell my kids. 😂
Great stuff, making the “dull” mildly interesting. How many motorways have you got left to do?