Secrets of The Motorway - A329M
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- Опубликовано: 25 июн 2024
- #driving #infrastructure #motorway #berkshire #reading #bracknell
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It's the start of the A(M) motorways, all of those small and seemingly pointless motorways that are randomly dotted around the country. We'll be exploring why they exist and what you can find along the way.. if anything at all.. these motorways are traditionally rather short and unexciting.
That said.. the A329M in Berkshire, whilst short and unexciting, does at least have a very interesting story behind it, the biggest "what if," the M31 motorway. You wont have heard of it, but watch on..
In this series I aim to explore what our motorway network is hiding. As we drive along at 70mph..ish...we simply just wouldn't be aware of what we're missing. This series will uncover some of the hidden secrets our motorways have to offer. 
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I have to admire John's commitment to not checking the pronunciation of place names and just saying it both ways every time.
The cynic in me says that it's so that people comment to correct the pronunciation, which improves "engagement" for the algorithm.
And its Loddon not Lowdon! I used to to work near Sherfield on Loddon
Typical northern behavior 🤡
6:59 "Highways England said 'Learn how to drive' and it's been that way ever since" I've never heard a statement that so accurately describes the attitude of Highways England in their never-ending quest to avoid doing any sort of meaningful work
Unfortunately it’s name keeps changing. Originally it was the “Highways Agency “, then it became “Highways England” now it’s know as “National Highways”. Please be reassured that tax payers money has been used for each rebrand. No wonder the UK is £2 trillion in debt!
On this occasion they were correct though, as a regular user of the road it's signposted for miles that the left hand leaves the A329M and joins the M4, you just have to pay attention, tricky for a lot of people in their cars it would seem.
How is highway england reaponsible for abysmal driving skills across the nation? Unless you claim people drive well?
@@arod9998 we'll say nowt about illegally infilling bridges and then having to dig them out again... all to save spending 20k and its only cost 850k so far!
@@Speedkamthe responsibility is to not let these kinds of situations happen in the first place. If you as a designer are enabling bad drivers to drive bad and cause accidents, then your design is a bad design.
John is a legend for making this stuff so interesting to watch.
I’m in America and I can’t
get enough
Amazing what you can do with a personality. Wish I had one
I live in the area covered by this video, never thought of the A329(M) as interesting before 😊
@@stubbsz
You've most likely got you're own unique personality of your own!
Jst don't compare to others, thinking your unworthy. 😉👍
I don't know why I watch his content. But in the other hand. Very informative of the 'then' & 'now' of the motorways.
Tbh, I haven't driven on the motorway for a long while now though
“Highways England said learn how to drive” sums up their approach really😂
Excellent video on my local Motorway. (For future videos it's the Lodd-on option not load-on) Very accurate account of all the local goings on. Only one other interesting thing along the motorway you could have spoken about is the small but excellent museum of Berkshire aviation, just off the motorway next to the park.
WOD NDB
Love this episode, a bit more local! Just a few points from my hazy recollection:
- The M31/A329(M)/A3290 was originally supposed to link to Vastern Road in Reading centre as noted in the video. This was abandoned when they realised that they realised where they would have to cross the River Kennet (between the Thames and the railway line) sat a historically protected foot bridge apparently designed by Brunel and some people got very angry about the potential loss of a historic footbridge. Draw your own conclusions. They then replanned to take the motorway north across the Thames and Caversham Lakes, to Caverham (still in Berkshire). This would relieve the central Reading bridges of congestion, the Reading IDR (inner ring road) of congestion, and substantially relieve Sonning Bridge (one way with traffic lights) - all in Berkshire. However, Caversham Lakes are in a stub of Oxfordshire, and Oxfordshire County Council said "lol, no thanks, no benefit for us", and Berkshire County Council (and later the unitary authority successors) were once again stymied to leaving a glorious slip road to the Thames Valley Park / Microsoft & Oracle complex.
- At the Winnersh triangle junction there were originally 4 slip roads as you might imagine. The 5th slip road was added later (I think I recall seeing it under construction in the 1990s), and was always solely for the buses from the cinema park & ride car park to Reading city-oh-no-its-a-town centre. The bus lane on the now-A3290 used to be all the way from the cinema slip lane to the Winnersh Triangle to Sutton Seeds roundabout (hence the length of the derating), but for some reason I recall car drivers managing to somehow get confused and drive in the bus lane, and then they abandoned it apart from the end where the roundabout congestion begins.
- At the south end, at Coppid Beach roundabout, is the "glorious" Coppid Beach hotel modelled after ski chalet hotels. This is because it sits next to the former location of a dry ski slope, and if there's one thing we've learned about the UK, it's that all post-WW2 new towns like Bracknell needed a dry ski slope.
I worked in Reading for a few months in the late 90s. My abiding memory of the time was seeing a Lotus Elan, on fire and melting, on the southbound sliproad at the Coppid Beech junction on the way home one Friday evening.
It didn't matter how shitty the job made me feel, I knew that at least one person had just had a worse week than me.
I love the mention about the J10 1 lane downgrade on the A329M. Its absolutely carnage, people constantly go into the wrong lane, and then swerve over at last minute. Really it should of had the two lanes merging on the other side of the second M4 exit, that way both lanes would continue through the junction, but would also allow the M4 joining traffic to have their own lane
I thought something that was also missed in this video is the point that all the bridges on the north side of J10 are designed for 3 lanes so they wouldn’t need demolishing upon upgrading. Also that the A329(M) is one of the few locally controlled and maintained motorways in the country, ran by Wokingham council. However the bit of the A329m going through J10, as far as I’m aware acording the National Highway’s network map is now under control of NH, making changes harder to push through
Agree. It's a nightmare.
Yes I agree, it should have had the two lanes merging on the other side.
Of course many people use the non-existent M31 since, despite having to go through Bracknell, it's still quicker than continuing around the M25 and using the M4. It would have been a very useful link for sure.
i find it much slower since I stop off for a walk in Horsell Common half way. I avoid Bracknell by going through Wokingham Without / nine mile ride.
It’s slower as it is traditional to stop off at the kfc in Bracknell 🤣
No M31? Aha. Well, that's one less video for Jon to make, I suppose.
@@grahameida7163 Next to the best doner van in Berks.
@@David_Crayfordhuh? Did you even watch the video?
Hi Jon. I am biased to say it’s your best episode to date. Why? Because I could see my house in your satellite view of the A329(M) near Dinton Pastures. Brilliant episode.
As for the bus lane, and the abandoned park and ride which constantly flooded, resulting in the disused “on ramp” all worthy of its own video in due course.👏👏👍😀
could almost make out my house in North Wokingham just below the A239(M)
The Sandford Lake Road is a bit bloody treacherous after heavy rain!
@@stephenhookings1985 Isn’t it just. Only fools ignore the “signs”. 🫣🥴
Hello Jon, how the devil are you, have you had a good week?
Our name is viewers, and you dont need to thank us for joining you
Looks like that defunct bus lane should be reverted and the a(m) motorway reinstated.
Almost had an Art Attack watching this episode!
Had to scroll about 100 replies to get this answer 👌
I was under the impression that there was an intention for the A329(M) to have actually continued straight, crossing what is now the Caversham rowing lakes and the Thames, dropping onto (or probably passing over) the A4155 and continuing North towards the M40? Great video of my closest motorway anyway Jon 👍
i was just about to write the same
There was indeed. It's been resurrected a few times over the years, but Oxfordshire County Council who are the authority on the north side of the Thames want nothing to do with it.
The plan was to bypass the endless congestion through Reading and over the two bridges. The building of the large Tesco by the side of the river took up a lot of the land for the original site, and the rowing lakes are in the way of an alternative route.
I don't think it will ever happen as nobody wants a major road ploughing through rare open spaces these days.
LODD-ON. Basically, rhymes with 'modern'. As with all your vids, excellent, informative, well-edited and just.... great.
Think he might have been taking the pee as he couldn't pronounce Earley properly either.
But "LODD-ON" would in no way at all rhyme with modern? Do you mean modeM and not modeRN? Though even modem wouldn't rhyme. How do you say modern?
@@jimmydesouza4375 ruclips.net/video/Q-1TxNHgRQg/видео.html
another notable aspect for road nerds like me is that this motorway has the last remaining 1959-style advance direction sign in England that only shows the number, I.e. no destinations; it's on the northbound approach to M4
(several of them survive in Scotland, and they're still the norm in NI)
My local funny. There were also plans to extend the a329(m) over the river to Henley
Oxfordshire council said not on your nelly
Any road to help people escape Reading has got to be worth hitting the like button.
Although if you miss the M4 junction then it will deposit you in Bracknell, which is even grimmer.
@pizzalover3 facts
The M31 would have been fwicked sweet awesome. I often had to travel between Croydon and South Wales, and the Heathrow area was dire. I learned to use the M3, A323 and A329(M) route, but even then the bits that would have been bypassed by the M31 were usually the most congested part of the journey.
I think you mean the A322? But 100% agreed, I've been recently travelling to and from South Wales to Eastbourne, the majority of the time I use the M4 > A329(M) then along A322 (Bagshot road) to M3 > M25 > A22 route. The M31 would reduce mine, and others reliance of the M25 somewhat, and in turn reduce congestion on the M25.
In my head, its the equivalent of the A417 not existing, and expecting all the traffic to go and use the M4/M5 interchange. Madness the M31 wasn't built.
@@hardwarexpert You're right -- the A323 through the far side of Aldershot would have been well out of my way, and on worse roads. Thanks for the correction. I'll be careful not to try out that route!
And it would have bypassed what is by far the busiest part of the M25.
Please keep making these. Highways England need to be embarrassed into sorting themselves.if you get to the M62 might be worth seeing what a b@lls up they are making if the Ouse bridge in East Yorkshire. It was faulty from the start and caused a delay in ppening the last section. Its been under repair for years and bloody dangerous. If it was in the South, it would have been replaced but its being patched up yet again and has been bodged and had work going on for the last 2 years. Apparently another 9 months to go. Restrictions are still in place
Ive walked this whole 6 mile stretch A329(m) and A3290 litter picking for the council 100's of times for 17 ½ years and never knew a fair chunk of this information. Thanks john 😊.
Was it that or jail time? :D Thanks for watching mate
My local motorway. The park and ride has never been in use in the 10 or so years I've lived in the area - at least not as a park and ride. That and the Showcase cinema car park next to it are basically the flood plain for the river Loddon, which likes to live in the car park at least once a year. It's also just along the road where you'll find the infamous Tesla Supercharger station - the one that if you google "flooded tesla supercharger" it's the one that pops up as the image, because it too is built on a flood plain.
Excellent as always, Jon. I quite like the Highways Agency reply: "Learn to drive" 🤣🤣🤣
Nice to see you back south again John, though I note you couldn't leave that heather behind
Great video! I’ve lived in Reading and surrounding areas fair amount of my early life. The M31 extension plan to the south also had twin extension plan to the north beyond Thames Valley Park to cross the Thames near Sonning to give 3rd major crossing point (the current Sonning Bridge in the village is single lane with traffic lights). There were early plans to eventually join to the M40 apparently. This third bridge idea joining with the main Henley Road resurfaced in the late 2010’s but seems to be stalled at Berkshire council want it but Oxfordshire do not….
I love your humour it's infectious 😂😂
It's very odd/surprising to me to be recommended a video of such a familiar piece of road. I was born in Reading and live in Wokingham so I've driven up and down the A329(M) for as long as I've been driving, but I didn't know the history or the plans for an M31 that I would surely have used quite a few times by now had it existed. I've also walked that wiggly footpath visible at 7:07 which I'm sure was designed by a frustrated would-be racetrack designer!
It never ceases to amaze me how watchable this content has proven!
Nice one, thanks for watching!
Lived in Bracknell for near 30 years and never knew any of this stuff!!!! Fascinating!!!!
Nice one, thanks for watching!
Praise be, the weekend WOULD NOT BE THE WEEKEND without your videos. Listening to you relay a series of numbers & letters is very enjoyable as is all the other information you bring us, many thanks.
Nice to see my local Motorway feature. Just to add, the Flyover at the Copid Beech Roundabout was a later addition - for many years if traveling from Reading towards Bracknell, you had to come down a slip road and then back up the other side. The Flyover was finally added in around 1990, some 7 years after the two lane section of the A329 toward the centre of Bracknell was completed.
Quite a few people still seem to do that at the coppid beach roundabout. I always wondered why
Quite a few people still seem to do that at the coppid beach roundabout. I always wondered why
Loddon, not loadon. You missed the excellent opportunity when mentioning said river that rises in and travels through Basingstoke, to point out that this is the river that carries the result of the Basingstoke Sewage Works at Wildmoor all the way to the Thames, and then onto London! (Send us your slum clearance overspill will you? We'll teach you!) An excellent view of the most abused motorway in the south, a strip of road that I wasted months on waiting in queues in the 80s and 90s.
Note: for non-locals “the Council” mentioned in this is Wokingham. The A329(M) doesn’t actually enter Reading Borough Council boundaries.
It's important to note that WBC are notoriously awful at doing anything that makes sense.
I can't remember if I've mentioned my mates mum before. She had a friend who's job is to paint over the bridge graffiti there to give the artists a nice blank canvas every Friday night. My mates mum and my mates mums mate have worked there for decades. They met while shovelling gravel out of the quarry. That's why it was so small, it was hand dug by the two women.
Another spiffing episode John 👍🏼 All very well explained about a bloody confusing situation with councils, bus lanes, A roads, and road number changes. I was hoping for “gravel pit” by Wutang clan as the outro tune, but was it the theme to Fun House ?
This week I’m in my final week of working a months notice to go on to pastures new…. And never have to go to London EVER AGAIN 😁😁
Art Attack, apparently. I was wondering if mention of the A321 would have been an excuse to have the music from 3-2-1 but I suspect our host is slightly too young for that :D
@@dickoon I think I’m similar age, I’m 44. I remember Art Attack, Neil Buchanan with the lisp 😂
Ah, my old home turf - I was born in Reading and lived there for 22 years. I'm pretty sure there were junction numbers in the past and it's pronounced "Lod-un". I was only 2 at the time but I didn't know about the bridge collapse with resulting deaths and inuries - that's horrifying! When Reading had no Cinema multiplex we used to use the A329(M) to whizz over to The Point at Bracknell to the cinema there, along with bowling and TGI Fridays. Oh, and of course the artifical Ski Slope at the John Nike Leisure sports complex and Coral Reef leisure pool. I would like to say that we didn't see how fast we could go around that left-hander after the Coppid Beech roundabout in various cars on the way there without sliding off, but that would be a lie. 🤣 It used to be quite a good motorway but since they decided to start messing with it, every new incarnation has been 💩. Shame the M31 never happened, would have been awesome! Thanks for another fab episode Jon!
Nice one, thanks for watching!
Having the art attack theme for this episodes outro brought back waves of nostalgia
I can't wait for the 30-second video on the a167(m) & a194(m) both of which were part of bigger plans and just got left 😢
Hitting us with Art Attack at the end! You legend!!
Here in Stockholm they built a new bus lane exit from the E4 to a garage only to close it after a few months because so many cars would take it and get stuck.
Now its closed off and Swedens most modern ruin motorway
It’s definitely art. The greatest offence to the eyes is endless expanses and piles of grey concrete.
Mega, thanks for doing my 'local' motorway. Glad you discovered the graffiti, a hidden gem!
Nice one, thanks for watching!
The A392(M) is also one of the only motorways managed by the local authority (Wokingham Borough Council) rather than National Highways
Sunday Lunchtime viewing sorted
Ahh i remember when the A329M was a twinkle in the planners eye. You forgot to mention the famous ski jump just north of the now closed access road you were standing on. It`s been subsiding there since the 60`s.
The A38(M) is intersting with it being a single carriageway motorway!
Single carriageway?
@josyms7849 Yes.
It is a 7 lane motorway with no central reservation. It has a bi-directional middle lane during rush hour , meaning it is 4 lanes into the city and 2 out in the morning and vice-versa in the evening.
During normal times it is 3 lanes each way. There is always a closed lane to separate traffic but no solid central reservation, meaning it is singalong carriageway.
My old neck of the woods (I grew up in Crowthorne). The A329( M) was really useful for driving to Reading ( even better now with the Coppid Beech flyover). Before you had to drive through Wokingham and the old A329 which took ages.
I have mixed feelings about the planned M31. One one hand it would have been a hood linking road. On the other hand, so much forest and heath land has already been ripped up locally for development .
Watching this is so intense. A complete firehose of information, most of entirely unmemorable. Why am I so compelled to watch this?
Have I had a good week..? Dunno yet I’m viewing this on a Monday…
That sonic music at the end really got me 😂 love it my dude.
Nice one, thanks for watching!
The smell of roasting meat and your humour Jon - they go together so well 🥩 🃏
I've lived in Reading for 5 years now. The A329M is my main route out of Reading to London or Wales. Love this episode, thanks John!
3:17 “got bored and started to make a few changes..” 😂
graffiti done to that standard is definitely art, it takes a great deal of talent to produce. Tags that just say "John woz ere", that's vandalism.
I've drove drove on these roads for 40 years Thanks for your history of this area , your knowledge is quite interesting & informative..
Always makes me happy that RUclips's automatic captions detect your emphasis on 'wicked sweet awesome' and spell it with a capital W.
Highways England seem to be the root cause of so many road disasters. Well done John for highlighting their ineptitude. Great video as usual.
Nice one, thanks for watching!
Now becoming part of my Sunday night ‘guilty pleasure’…….. Mrs 6thDayBlue x
Thrilled to be part of it. Thanks for watching
Oh this new era of Ax(M) motorways should be fun. There's a lot of absolute garbage thinking in some of these from what I've seen
At the end of the 70s I lived in Wokingham and the motorway just ended at Coppid beech. No Bridge over, no connection anywhere else. The A329 was the road it dropped onto and it turned left towards Bracknell. New towns being what they are it wasn't long before the Bagshot road (A322) needed an dual upgrade but that would just have dumped more traffic into the centre of Bracknell so it made sense to purloin the end of the A329(M) and bring it in to join up.
Last time I was through that way it was even more of a dogs dinner because Bracknell (and surrounding areas) has continued to expand and the roads seem more overloaded than ever. The northern end always seemed quirky. Why did you need a motorway into the Sutton Seeds facility (now noved somewhere else - Toquay I think) ? Its somewhat ironic that as that traffic increases, the local council want to degrade the road and make traffic movements worse. The M31 might have been the right answer...but these days you need to take a bus so that you get a good view of the traffic you are sitting in.
Given a free choice and the aid of sat-nav, avoiding the area is best.
It wasn't a motorway into Suttons seeds which did indeed close, it was into the business park which was built there.
My understanding was that there was an intention to link it up to the fabled third Thames crossing when it would be eventually built, but this was never built.
I don’t know whether this was the original intention behind the flyover, or whether it was part of later plans to bridge the Thames.
The M31 would have saved me so much time over the last 20 years. Even going through Bracknell it is still ten minutes quicker than carrying on the M4 when coming into London.
Jon, your films have no right to be entertaining but they somehow are; maybe I have spent too much time on Britain's fabulous motorways. Keep up the good work!
Nice one, thanks for watching!
Nice work John. I grew up in Woodley and my parents' house is right next to the motorway near Loddon Bridge Road, their close was cut in half by its construction a few months after they purchased it, making it pretty much worthless for a time. I grew up being able to see over the top of the wall from my bedroom window. The footbridge at the start you are standing on is by Earley station and when we were kids, we used to stand on it, grip the railings and jump up and down in unison to make the bridge bounce so much, the railings would rattle. Fun times!
The bridge still wobbles!! I was surprised to find this out :D
Thanks John 👌
Great video as always thanks John 👍 and I love the music at the end 👍
Another fascinating video as always mate.
Brilliant as always. My old stomping ground and happened to be back on the A329(M) two days ago for a wedding in Reading. I learned two things (1) It is very easy to miss the A4 exit and end up at the next roundabout that goes nowhere apart from an industrial estate and (b) Reading has become absolute s***hole if you want to either drive through, or even park in the place. Not what I remember at all - although it was a few years ago.
Nice one, thanks for watching!
Legend John .!!👏👏👏👏
Have just started watching, fantastic presentation style, can't wait for your next video! :)
Absolutely brilliant matey 💯👍🤟
Delightfully concise, entertaining and brief
So much, so quick, I have to watch it twice. Fascinating stuff. Thanks.
Superb theme at the end linked in to the art of this video.
Thank you John for another entertaining and enjoyable video which as always is packed full of engaging information about the development of our motorway infrastructure and the process whereby they were constructed. (sadly no one video bombed you again!!)
Brilliant John. Absolutely brilliant 👍
This is an Auto Shenanigans. This is an Auto Shenanigans. This is Auto Shenanigans!
Need to get yourself to
Newcastle; A167 central motorway! Only part of it built, rest was scrapped, slip roads that are the thing of nightmares, and a few random abandoned parts.
It’s time …..
EXCITING
The footbridge at the start I cross every day. Unfortunately it is falling down - you can see in the video where they encapsulated the piers in further concrete a while back where it crosses the A3290. Where it crosses the railway at Earley station they have had to put netting under it to stop the rust falling on the trains!
This is my local area and this was fascinating. Thank you.
I like the free art gallery concept too. There are so many boring grey concrete constructions that they need brightening up with some original artwork. I'm guessing that is why you had the theme tune to "Art Attack" playing at the end?!
Having the delights of occasionally working from an office not far from the Loddon interchange, this answered a bunch of nagging questions I had about the A329(M)! Thank you!
I think it would of been interesting if we got the m31 along with all of the ringways plans from the 1940s, which meant getting ringway 3 and ringway 4 rather than the m25
If there isn’t, there should be a drinking game for these videos, take a shot every time Jon says the name of the road that is the subject of the video 😁
Cheers matey, made my beer in the sun, far more bearable 😊
This is the best video I've ever seen about anything
I travel into Reading frequently on the adjacent railway line and have often wondered about that abandoned sliproad, thanks Jon for explaining the reasoning behind it 🙂
Nice one, thanks for watching!
yes! I haven't been able to watch these for almost 2 months now. Keen to catch up!
Great stuff, John I don't know how you make this interesting - but you do! Thank you
Nice one, thanks for watching!
Dude. You made my Sunday. Love your videos! Come back to Wales and I'll show you some fun roads!
I remember that bridge collapse in the 1970's. It happened, as you say, during construction and was virtually at the end of our road at the time. Used to travel the A329M motorway weekly back in the day. Also remember fishing in the river Loddon as a kid. Didn't catch much though. 😏
As always an awesome video, but particularly do this week as I am travelling on the A329(m) later this week. I intend to play this video to my passengers as we travel along it.
Awesome Video
Used to live in Reading and used to cycle on this carriageway just after the roundabout where the motorway (before changing to A3290) ended going into the Thames Valley Business Park. It's still a dangerous carriageway though as I had a few close calls with fast coming traffic. Miss Reading though was here between 89-98.
Another exciting video.
Thanks for another interesting vid. Love the Art Attack theme tune. RIP CITV.
this hits after a few too many pints and poppers ❤️
the best way to watch I think
Love all the outro songs... I know them from tv shows from my youth but it's a struggle to try to place exactly where they come from sometimes
A nice bit of nostalgia goes down well I think :D
Maybe you should make a competition out of it or something? First to get it right gets a pinned comment? @@AutoShenanigans
Interesting video - I’ve frequented this semi-regularly for my whole 15 years of driving as a bit of an M25 bypass, so really interesting to hear that the M31 could’ve been a thing - would’ve been very helpful!
My favourite thing about it was that many years ago someone modified a sign just after the M4 interchange such that the downhill skier had a jet of air coming out of their arse, which still amuses me to this day even though it’s long gone :(
Loving the Art Attack theme tune at the end 😆
Another great one.
Nice one, thanks for watching!