Bristol Traffic Update

The traffic around Bristol has gone mad again this evening. Here are the low lights:

• M5 - stationary traffic between Jn 16 and 17 southbound (Aztec West to Cribbs Causeway)

• M5 - lane closed at Jn 18 southbound (Avonmouth)

• M32 - congestion northbound, heading out of town.

The A4 between Bristol and Bath, meanwhile, seems to have taken the brunt of the traffic off the M5 and is at a near standstill.

The Ring Road was pretty bad inbound when I was on it mid afternoon.

Agh!

More at the AA if you want the latest.

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Geese Over Filton

While driving along the Ring Road from Emerson's Green this morning, I was surprised to see two large Canadian Geese flying overhead about 30 feet above the ground.

I saw the birds as I approached Filton, their flight path taking them from the Abbey Wood MOD campus, across the adjacent retail park and over the A4174 towards Filton itself.

I assume they are normally resident around one of the lakes at Abbey Wood. I'm not sure where they were heading - possibly the grassy areas near the freight train line in Filton.

Canadian Geese were considered to be near-extinct in their native North America until the 1950s. Conservation work has seen a dramatic rise in their numbers and they have also been reintroduced into Britain, the Netherlands and Scandinavia.

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Kidderminster

Today, for family reasons, I had to make my first trip ever to Kidderminster, an experience that I hope to never repeat.

The town is a monument to bland, thoughtless and chaotic urban planning with the main road in from the M5 taking you through a grim wilderness of warehouses ("good motorway connections"), light industrial units and then a 1960s-American-inspired strip of car dealers, DIY stores and fast food drive throughs (wait, that should be drive-thrus in keeping with the modernity of the place).

Through gritted teeth, I assumed that the urban sprawl would give way to a more pleasant vista as I approached the historic heart of the town. I unfortunately missed the new retail park known locally as "Weaver's Wharf" or something equally appalling. Had I done so, my impression of the town centre may have been slightly different. As it was, I concluded that it was without a doubt the most visually unpleasant town I had ever been to.

I can only assume that at some point the town or county planners got together and had a conversation that went something like this:

"Right, how are we going to develop this town for the challenges and opportunities of the 21st century?"

"I know, we need to take advantage of our proximity to Birmingham and our central location in the country."

"What would you suggest?"

At which point, presumably the lead planner picked up a handful of Lego bricks and dropped them from a height of 6 inches over a map of the Elizabethan market town and said "how about that?" to a murmur of general approval from the assembled officials.

The final decision in the disastrous process was presumably when some bright spark piped up and suggested an "inner ring road" through the chaos to enable everyone to drive through and admire the finished product.

All in all it was a grim experience. I include a few images salvaged from various sources, including the Town Council, which is presumably seeking to put across a positive image of the town.

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Un Easy Like Sunday Morning

Residents of Warmley and Wick - BEWARE! Your quiet suburban lives are to be rudely disturbed this weekend and next by the presence of what the authorities are mysteriously describing as an "abnormal load" that will be driven through your communities en route to Oxfordshire.

Leaving Avonmouth at 5 am this Sunday, November 11th, the load (which measures a beefy 470 tonnes) will travel slowly along the M5 and the M4, down the M32 to the ring road and then clockwise on the A4174 to the A420 and A46. The whole operation will then be repeated with a second identical load the following Sunday.

Measuring over 90 meters long, 5 meters wide and 5 meters high, the load will be accompanied by the police who are asking motorists to expect significant delays as it will be traveling at a "very low speed".

So low a speed, in fact, that on Sunday the convoy will park overnight in a layby near Tog Hill off the A420 and will continue the journey at 10pm on Monday along the A420, the A46 and then eastbound along the M4 from junction 19. At this point, of course, it ceases to be of interest to this publication as it will have entered a foreign country (Wiltshire).

Two questions remain to be answered: 1) what are these abnormal loads? Answers on an email to Trym Tales, please 2) who will be traveling on the Bristol ring road first thing on Sunday morning? Eager away fans heading to the Mangotsfield United ground at Cossham Street, perhaps?