Talk:A55 road

Untitled
There seems to be a contradiction between this article and the article on the town of St. Asaph, since this article states the A55 bypasses St. Asaph, whereas the St. Asaph article states plans for a bypass were rejected.--213.162.108.112 19:48, 14 Mar 2005 (UTC)

No contradiction. The A55 does indeed soar over the outskirts of St Asaph, but St Asaph does indeed need a by-pass to unclutter its town centre from the traffic entering from directions other than the A55. Velela 21:03, 14 Mar 2005 (UTC)

The geography of Holywell has been displaced due to the additional mention of Northop and Halkyn Mountain. The correct route is Chester, Buckley, Northop, Halkyn Mountain, Holywell, St Asaph. MnJWalker

Article Style
This article is a bit too wordy for me, which is why I've added the template. See A1 and A66 for good examples of how a roads article should be laid out, and not simply a narrative of all its waypoints, which is not useful for an encyclopedia. See wp:mos. — superbfc  [  talk  |  cont  ] — 21:38, 18 December 2006 (UTC)

It looks very factual to me and is not a simple narrative. This is a very important road historically because of the tunnels and describing its route is useful for one potential group of encyclopedia users, namely car drivers visiting the region. MnJWalker 08:20, 20 February 2007 (UTC)

70mph signs
Driven this road quite a lot when I was at Bangor University... always a bit baffled by the "70" signs as they're a definite rarity (think I might have seen them on a remote motorway on-slip at some point), similar to the "60" signs on the A470 from Shrewsbury to Aberystwyth. Does anyone know why they're there? Given that they don't actually make a jot of difference to the limits imposed compared to the NSL (buses and light trucks still have to keep to 60, caravans and artics to 50...) - which is the erroneous meaning it seems the original author is trying to portray - it must be either to serve as an extra reminder because of the temptation to speed on these sections, as a nudge to slow drivers who may congest these busy routes, or perhaps they were put in place on the road in a period where the NSL was in doubt but the road itself wasn't actually "good" for more than the existing limit? (And travel times couldn't sensibly stand being lowered..). Maybe to justify putting speed cameras on those sections too.

BTW I'll see if I can rustle up a map... though I'm not sure where I'll get a copyright free one from.. is it permitted to "trace" an existing map but only preserve the simplest of details in an identifiably different style?

--- tahrey 24/4/07 —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 82.46.180.56 (talk) 15:58, 24 April 2007 (UTC).


 * Hi, it's all to do with that section being a special road so because it isn't a motorway it needs the signs. Regan123 20:55, 24 April 2007 (UTC)


 * To elaborate on Regan's point; It's a special road, but the national speed limit of 70mph, 60mph and 50mph (for cars, coaches, HGVs respectively) only applies to all-purpose roads - i.e. roads that are not special roads. All motorways are special roads, but the national motorway speed limit of 70mph, 70mph and 60mph (again for cars, coaches and HGVs respectively) only applies to special roads which are also motorways. The A55 at this point is a special road but is not a motorway. So neither the national speed limit for all-purpose roads, nor the national speed limit for motorways applies. In the absence of a specific 70mph sign, the road would be genuinely de-restricted and would in theory have no speed limit. Oh, and re: the maps, the Ordnance Survey believe that tracing a map (or drawing a map whilst referring to one of their maps), even if it looks nothing like the original, would be creating a derived work and would need a license (expensive unfortunately). There is, however a free equivalent licensed under a Creative Commons license. Unfortunately, it doesn't yet have complete coverage in many areas. Richard B 21:29, 24 April 2007 (UTC)


 * I drive this road a lot and I have always wondered why some parts have 70 signs and others National Speed limit ones. So vans and trucks up to 7.5 tonnes can do 70 on some bits of the A55, never realised that. There are no signs to the effect of "special road", I had no idea such a thing existed. Why on earth don't they make the A14 one as well? About the A470 (which goes N-S through Wales, it doesn't go near Aberystwyth or Shrewsbury) I think the 60 signs are on parts that are actually dual carriageway, where NSL would mean a 70 limit for cars. There are 60 signs on the A45 dual carriageway near Birmingham as well.Walshie79 (talk) 20:00, 24 March 2015 (UTC)

Importance
Looking at the other articles, and the web traffic this article recieves, it does not deserve High status. Dropping to mid.

Changes
Junctions 35 and 35a have changed, a lot, but I don't know how to fix it. 90.222.238.242 (talk) 23:42, 7 April 2011 (UTC)

There's actually two junctions called 35A, which makes it confusing. J35A nearest J35 had a major overhaul, and now has both on-ramps and off-ramps in both directions. The second J35A nearest J36, remains an on-ramp eastbound only and off-ramp westbound only. The layout of J35 has not changed in many years. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 109.224.139.126 (talk) 05:06, 7 September 2012 (UTC)

Roadworks
According to the BBC, A55 roadworks beyond a joke, says North Wales Tourism because parts of the carriageway are usually closed off for repair on a monthly basis. Interestingly I know why. My friend worked for the highways agency in the 1990s. He told me that the road was completed to minimum standards meaning it would eventually require maintenance in 10/15 years times based on usage predictions. Do you know why? To save around a measly £30m. If central government, i.e. tendering was undertaken in the Conservative years of 1988 thru 1996, had spent the extra cash, work would not have been required for at least 25 years (2015-20 at the earliest). It beggers belief how much money has probably been spent to the road since then; no doubt as costs have risen over the past two decades the adjusted economics in far exceed the £30m initial savings.

This road is a classic example of how short-term political necessity blights the long-term reality after the polls have closed. I use the A55 regularly  and have to sit in the traffic jams all too often. To support my assertions, I know that in the next few years the Conwy tunnel will be the next big job because they skimped on that project too, to save only £10m. I know this all fails Wikipedia's original research rules but this should be a watching brief because the only way motorists are ever going to enjoy trouble free motoring on this road is they dug it up and relayed it. 109.156.28.42 (talk) 11:58, 9 April 2011 (UTC)

Northop - Ewloe improvements
I have moved this here because 1. it never happened 2. there is no mention of the scheme on the Welsh Assembly website. Factually this looks correct but it's written in a tense suggesting proposed actuality, whereas in reality nothing has happened. "However, a scheme for improving the A55/A494 Junction is planned to go ahead and includes widening the dual carriageway to three lanes between Ewloe roundabout and Junction 33 (Northop). Junction 33A at Northop Hall and Junction 33B with the A494 for Mold would be closed and a new junction for all traffic flows will be constructed near the Northop Hall service station for the A494 traffic. This proposal will remove all weaving traffic at the A55 junction with the A494 and remove the infamous 270 degree trumpet junction. Work might start by April 2010."

Perhaps this scheme might also go the way of the proposed roundabout removals at Penmaenmawr and Llanfairfechan!! Either way it is not happening so the current prose is not factually accurate.

The article is back to front.
I just tried reading this article and it has fallen into the trap of following the progress of its construction and not how it operates today. The article's sections should therefore follow the numbering of the junctions. Hence the road technically starts at Holyhead even though this was the last section to be built. It's just way to confusing going backwards to the start when the logical way is to describe the route from Holyhead through to Chester (even though one of the earliest section in 1976 was Chester's Southerly Bypass)81.129.203.167 (talk) 21:15, 14 December 2013 (UTC)

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