A1 - B1081 Comments

Well I live in Stamford and I hate this junction, and have done ever since they built it. Why didn't they combine the northbound exits to make them less confusing? They would have been able to allow more space for the deceleration lane if they had. As it is, you can't afford to wait to brake until you reach the lane, or you won't make it round that steep left-hand bend.
But the slip road onto the A1 southbound is even worse and the acceleration lane is practically non-existent.

As a partial solution, it doesn't look like reinstating the historic line of the road for the southbound on slip would require much more than just some relatively minor vegetation clearance, a good resurfacing, some line painting and possibly a new traffic merging from the left sign (diagram 508.1) for the main road.

It's interesting that the "alternative aerial view" of this junction still shows the roundabout!

If I lived in Stamford I'd hate to use this junction to access all points South! It's the junction where I most frequently see cars trapped at the end of the southbound on-slip, having failed to find a gap in which to merge.

As for who would use the junction to turn round to head South, residents of Wittering village and RAF Wittering would, as both can only directly access the northbound A1. Indeed, the number of people U-turning was one of the reason southbound traffic queued at the old roundabout.

One word about the north-facing slips too, it's worth remembering that the whole of Stamford is subject to a 7.5 ton weight limit for HGVs. I don't know what heavy industry there is on the south side of the town, but it's possible this was part of the reason for the current junction layout.

Another thing about this junction is poor signposting.

Approaching on the A1 from the south, the Stamford sign appears to send you off at the previous exit (over ¼ mile before the B1081). So we had a detour via Easton on the Hill - at night, in the snow. What fun!

I can only agree with Andy here. There's enough space for a trumpet, and surely the cost of it couldn't have been a factor, since the southwest side has already been built as a trumpet anyway.

Looking closely at the aerial view you can see there's even a lane for people to turn right out of the northbound exit... back towards the southbound entrance. How many people would need to do this, I wonder?

I'm just stumped on how they managed to think this design up in the first place....

Why wasn't it built as a classic "trumpet", with the exit slip off the southbound A1 to the north of the bridge, so it could merge with the northbound exit and avoid that T-junction? Okay, so it's only a B-road - but it is the main route into Stamford from the south, and just to the east is Burghley House. It can get very busy here when the Horse Trials or other events are on, and that T-junction won't help with traffic flow.

Having driven through it, I was struck by the very tight bends on the sliproads, especially joining the A1 southbound. Instead of following the line of the old road into a nice long sliproad to help merge into the 70mph stream, the access to the A1 south does a viscious right-left S-bend before dumping you almost immediately onto the main carriageway, requiring some very rapid acceleration. For a new junction, it's pretty dire!

Considering it is the A1 it does seem to be loads better than most junctions on that road, but how could something like that be built in this century. It should be scrapped and redesigned.

You say that the other junctions on the Stamford bypass are better, but I have found attempting to join the A1 southbound from the A606 (especially at night)to be one of the scarier driving experiences I've had. No chance to build speed on the tight slip road, no view back until the last moment, no acceleration lane to speak of. I try to avoid it.

I haven't tried the new junction yet, but it looks pretty awful as I speed by it.