M50 - B4221
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Ordnance Survey map - Alternative aerial view
Where is it?
M50 junction 3, the point where the M50, an inconsequential motorway carrying very little traffic comes across an even less important B-road, and for no apparent reason interchanges with it.
What's wrong with it?
Quite aside from the fact that there's really no need for it to be there, it's shockingly below standard for a motorway. There are no sliproads or deceleration lanes to speak of, simply very very tight bends which end abruptly a few feet from the motorway at Give Way signs. There isn't even any traffic island between the entry and exit points - just a painted triangle on the carriageway. And to verify that this junction truly is abysmal, the signs on the M50 in advance of the junction aren't the normal fork ones but instead show the exit leaving at 90 degrees from the motorway - which it does!
Why is it wrong?
The M50 is in the top 5 of earliest motorways to open, though it's a complete mystery why as even today it's barely used. There's even less reason, then, for a junction with the B4221, and so it's quite fitting that the junction that is there is barely more than a gap in the motorway's boundary fence. Very poor 1960's design standards - seen again on the M2 before the current upgrades - are largely to blame here.
What would be better?
Just close it off - there's no need for a junction anyway! This wouldn't take much at all, just wipe off the exit markings, draw a hard shoulder line across and grass over the space between the motorway and the B4221.
Right to Reply
Paul Berry says:
Yes, it's under-spec. Yes, it doesn't carry that much traffic. But try getting to Cinderford, Newent, or even Hereford without this junction... a much bigger detour would be required if you had to go via Ross.
Ian Smith says:
In defence (!!) of junction 3 the quietness of the M50 means it's not as dangerous as it looks - If the M50 was classified as A road, like it should be, then no one would give it a second glance. I wouldn't close it either, some traffic does exit here to take the scenic back route (via B4221, B4224) to Hereford thus relieving pressure (slightly) on the terminus junction and the A40/A49 roundabout.
Martin says:
I agree this is a terrible junction! As to the reason why it's there, There was a plan at one stage to re-route the A40 from Gloucester to Ross along the B4221, and then multiplex with M50. Some parts of the B4221 were straightened in the late 60's with this in mind, but it never came off. My Dad did use it as a route from Wales to Gloucester when we returned from holidays. Pit cos the route it would have replaced is a very slow twisty road, albeit scenic through the North Forest of Dean. However, imagine this jucntion having to take serious amounts of traffic!
Simon "M4Man" says:
M50 Junction 3 - the only T junction on a motorway? Keep it for it's quirkiness! But you wouldn't want to put it anywhere where there is any traffic. None of the old M2 junctions were anything like as tight as this. This is even tighter than the junctions on the A41 Berkhamsted bypass - and they're pretty awful too.
John says:
I jump to defend both the M50 (a valuable Midlands-South Wales route avoiding the exorbitant Severn Crossing tolls), and the reviled Linton junction. The B4221/M50 route (which I took frequently when I lived in Oxford) enabled east-west traffic into/from mid-Wales to avoid the very twisting and slow A40 between Gloucester and Ross-on-Wye - the B4221 is much better and quicker.
Mark Edwards says:
I agree it is of substandard design, but I use this junction regularly: Eastbound it provides a useful alternative between the A40/449 north of Ross on Wye and A40 Gloucester, using the B4221 and B4215 via Newent and Highnam. THe A40 between these points is only a mile or two shorter and because of the traffic levels and winding route is actually slower than the above B road. Westbound affords a better route to Hereford from the M50 than either the one proscribed through Ledbury or the one up the A449 at the end of the M50.
CBRD is no longer accepting defences for this junction - that's quite enough already!
