M6 - A500 - A519
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Ordnance Survey map Alternative aerial view
Where is it?
M6 junction 15, one of two junctions serving Stoke on Trent and the sizeable conurbation known as the Potteries, and the southern terminus of the A500 spine road that provides access to it.
It was spotted by Edward Reece.
What's wrong with it?
Having the M6 bypass the whole of Stoke and its neighbours, and having a separate road, the A500, to deal with all the local traffic, is a brilliant idea. Not only is the idea good, in fact; the execution is almost flawless: the A500 itself is a fast, free-flowing near-motorway that gets traffic in and out with ease.
What's so painful about this junction is actually how very nearly right it is: a free-flowing trumpet interchange, like the one built here, ought to be perfect; traffic on the non-stop A500 could flow non-stop onto the non-stop M6.
The big problem, as you might notice, is that it isn't non-stop. You have to stop for the roundabout. You have to stop for the traffic lights where the sliproads off the M6 merge. And you definitely have to stop when a lorry overturns on the absurdly tight corners on the sliproads themselves, which happens with alarming frequency. At Hanchurch, you have to stop.
Why is it wrong?
Great idea, everyone: let's build a trumpet interchange at Hanchurch! Yes, that'll definitely work. Early finish everyone, let's get down the pub.
No - wait a minute. That won't work. Look here; there's a big hill just to the west. No room for a trumpet. Unless... unless we make it a bit smaller so it fits.
Brilliant work. Pints all round. But wait - hang on now. All the traffic from this junction is going to head down this spur road. People will have to double back to reach Clayton and Hanchurch. Unless... we put a little roundabout in just here. That'll be OK, won't it?
Excellent. My round first. No, hang about. You can't put a roundabout there, not with a trumpet interchange. Look, there's no room. Unless... unless we make it a bit smaller again!
No, that's never going to work. Now the loop will have to be signposted for 20mph and the sliproads merge together on a blind corner barely a hundred metres before the roundabout. That could be dangerous.
What, last orders? OK, leave it as it is then, I'm gasping for a drink.
What would be better?
Ideally the roundabout would be removed and A519 traffic sent elsewhere, which leaves the A500 to have its interchange with the M6 in peace, and the junction itself can then be sorted out.
But that would involve a lot of rerouting of traffic, and probably some serious roadbuilding if large volumes of cars and lorries aren't to be sent past the houses of bemused folk nearby. So we have to assume that the pesky A519 is there to stay.
Perhaps the least that could be done is the employment of some more drastic earthmoving to build a bigger pair of looped sliproads to the west of the M6, making the curves shallower and the accidents less frequent.
Right to reply
Hate this junction? Or do you think it hasn't had a fair trial? Make yourself heard! Post a comment.
These are all the comments that have been made about this junction.
Fraser puts his foot down:
Entering the M6 to go north is very scary because you can see nothing until you are on the acceleration lane; the trees obstruct any view on the very, very tight access curve. To counter this the acceleration lane is longer than usual, but at night I still find it stressful, and always have my auto Jaguar in 2nd so as to accelerate away light a bat from hell. There is no lighting and believe me, 45 tonne trucks coming down the hill are daunting!
David Gartside writes:
I rarely use it - wimping out southbound along the A34 to Stafford (N) which has its own challenges, as I discovered recently when an Army truck used my Passat for a bit of extra wiggle room, or by driving straight through northbound to use the other A500 junction. But as commented, joining northbound traffic here provides lots of excitement to through northbound M6 traffic - they all seem to be coming round the on-slip remarkably quickly, only recovering the situation by a swerve into lane 1. Meanwhile lanes 2 and 3 are full of steadily accelerating traffic down the hill. Where do I go now? But if all else fails you get to see everyone again as you grind up the hill towards Keele. And probably the more important link here - to the A53 SW towards Shrewsbury is a myriad of link roads away.
Glen Haig went another way:
The northbound M6 was closed for overnight roadworks for a week recently at this jucntion, with all traffic diverted off at this junction and up the A500. Needless to say, 3 lanes of motorway traffic being funnelled up this slip-road, through a set of traffic lights and then round the roundabout was a bit of a palava to say the least.
For the rest of the week, I started coming off the M6 at Stafford North and used the A34 to reach the A500 instead. Much easier.
David Marsden is displeased:
I use this junction regularly - and it is indeed bl**dy horrible, from either direction.
Drivers unfamiliar with its delights are often caught out by the tight radius of the northbound offslip and its incompatibility with motorway speeds, with consequent and entirely predictable panic braking and flexible lane discipline.
The northbound onslip - as mentioned - decants traffic straight onto a bend in a dip, which can be exciting.
The A519 roundabout can cause tailbacks for M6-bound traffic all the way back to the A34 junction.
A mess. 2/10 - see me.
