The Northern Distributer Road AKA Norwich Northern Bypass

[SteveO]

I had the misfortune of having to drive to Norfolk from Yorkshire last weekend via the A17/A47. The journey was a 5 hour grind, mainly due to congestion on the Southbound A1 around Doncaster.  The A17, with few opportunities for overtaking, gave a chill foretaste of a future life  when the "driverless" car is king. Have to say  though, that from the North, the NDR  seems to cut quite a lot of time off the journey to Horning.  The design of those roundabout approaches and lane layouts, however, leaves much to be desired.

[ZimbiIV]

Driving on the NDR today I noticed that my Tomtom did not show the speed limit as it normally does.

Does that mean it is speed limit less?

Could explain the crashes.

There is also no signs showing it is National speed limit (for that type of road) displayed.

So if you get stoppef for speeding it could be a get out clause!

I still think it is a handy road that could have been better if the designer was a driver.

paul

[RumPunch]

Now what have they done ? Put some little dashed lane guide lines down - OK, good, but made the exits one lane instead of two into one ( Wroxham / Norwich bound ) bad idea.

[BrundallNavy]

17 hours ago, RumPunch said:

Now what have they done ? Put some little dashed lane guide lines down - OK, good, but made the exits one lane instead of two into one ( Wroxham / Norwich bound ) bad idea.

I wounded what the extra lines were for. I still go from inside lane to centre and back to inside if it’s quiet as this flows better. 

[BroadAmbition]

Came from the western end at in the early hours. No problem, never saw one vehicle 

Griff

[TheQ]

On ‎02‎/‎10‎/‎2018 at 20:45, ZimbiIV said:

Driving on the NDR today I noticed that my Tomtom did not show the speed limit as it normally does.

Does that mean it is speed limit less?

Could explain the crashes.

There is also no signs showing it is National speed limit (for that type of road) displayed.

So if you get stoppef for speeding it could be a get out clause!

I still think it is a handy road that could have been better if the designer was a driver.

paul

Not quite, the law is, if you don't know the speed limit the default is 30mph. Technically to go above 30mph is a permission not a right..

Meantime Back in costing us money land 'cos they got it wrong first time but will never admit it..

http://www.edp24.co.uk/motoring/repair-works-planned-norwich-ndr-roundabouts-1-5755928

[RumPunch]

Why are the council not claiming from the insurance of those who have damaged the 'roadside furniture' - I had Suffolk do that to me back in the 80's when I had an accident

[vanessan]

7 minutes ago, RumPunch said:

Why are the council not claiming from the insurance of those who have damaged the 'roadside furniture' - I had Suffolk do that to me back in the 80's when I had an accident

They’ve got to catch them first!

[Jbx5]

Should be easy enough to catch as most of them are still embedded onto the islands the morning after

John

[YnysMon]

I was wondering what all the fuss was about with this road and assumed it was just people being unused to roundabouts (not like us lot in MK!...a colleague who lives in Cambridge once commented that she finds the way the people in MK approach and go around roundabouts really scary). 

However, when we were travelling to and from Horning the other week it did strike me that you somehow come across the roundabouts on the NDR a bit more quickly than expected. My theory is that they are too ‘flat’. Our MK roundabouts are mostly built up at least a foot or two and usually have trees or tall shrubbery on them...that helps when you are approaching them, though they are a bit of a death trap for joyriders.

Helen

[BroadAmbition]

They are great fun when astride the Tiger

Griff

[ChrisB]

5 hours ago, BroadAmbition said:

They are great fun when astride the Tiger

Griff

There is a Chinese Proverb

"He who rides a Tiger can never dismount"

[smellyloo]

I don't think it helps when the southern by-pass has moterway style entry/exit lanes (no roundabouts) then the NDR suddenly has obstacles (roundabouts.)

[Vaughan]

9 minutes ago, smellyloo said:

I don't think it helps when the southern by-pass has moterway style entry/exit lanes (no roundabouts) then the NDR suddenly has obstacles (roundabouts.)

But it's cheaper, isn't it?

[ChrisB]

I think that the design of the road has to be viewed in the context of the housing developments that are planned along it and it's intended purpose which is as Distributor Road, not an Expressway.

[TheQ]

The problem with that is after a few years there will be a need for a bypass of the NDR, IIRC much like Newbury needed a bypass bypass.

 

There is a crash this morning on the NDR Wroxham Roundabout, since the recovery vehicle was there along with 3 police cars I suspect by 08:00 it will be cleared. It on affects those wanting to go from there westwards on the NDR from Wroxham or Postwick.

It looks like a black Audi has gone straight on from the Norwich road, into the signs and the round about.

Oddly there is an optical illusion that when you come from Wroxham, the accident looks like it's beyond the Norwich exit. so you get in lane for the right hand turn round the bout, to find you are diverted into Norwich. Now of course being totally in the wrong lane with cars coming up from Postwick blocking your exit..

[TheQ]

Going home yesterday (15:15) there was a car parked on the Wroxham Road / NDR roundabout.

This Morning there is a Car parked on the Wroxham Road / NDR roundabout.

 

A different one..

 

So much for the much vaunted new signs and road marking.

 

 

A few bits of paint and palstic signs doesn't make up for making a complete cock up of the design..

[Jbx5]

Not be long now before they reduce the speed on the road certainly near to the islands 

John

[marshman]

Either that or insist on everyone driving on that road having an eyesight test first!!!

[Willow]

On 27/01/2016 at 13:42, marshman said:

Its OK Soundings, I don't take it personally!!! Healthy debate is good for you and there are always two sides to every story, like it or not. The housing market in the UK is particularly skewed for many reasons, but the lack of affordable social housing in places like Norfolk is nothing other than a disgrace.

People are then driven into the private sector rental market where the controls are limited and where the market is primarily for young professionals and not those who need housing. House prices are subject to a supply/demand equation - build 200k homes a year for 10 years and see if house prices remain buoyant!

However leave building to the private sector and you get what you get now - greenfield sites and the continued pressure from this sector not to even include social housing on their " beautiful " estates.

Something will give eventually i suspect!!! And those houses near you will go - if the price is right!! However private individuals always have an inflated view of how much their property is worth and Potter is not necessarily the norm.

Move out to those new estates and houses shift quick enough, but often to new owners wishing to let!!

I probably go through Wroxham 5/6 times a week and apart from roadworks like now and sometimes for a very short peak period,, i must admit that i rarely have problems  -  except in August when i keep well away or go the other way!! There are many 1000's of worse places and the addition of all those homes will not all come together! We will have another recession by then and the new homes being built will fall back to a trickle!!

We have the same issues up here , councils let new estates be built with no extra schools Dr surgery, etc, being built on green field sites,  when planning given for affordable & social housing included but when starred they go back to council & say costs gone up and can't afford both social & affordable housing so reduce amount built or do away with them , pushing local young families & youngsters away from their home area's,  sorry to be on soap box

[grendel]

we supply electricity to these new estates, there is no let up in the market yet,  and we are having to go further and further afield to get the electricity to supply them, I imagine the same is true for all the other utilities, they just dont investigate whether the local infrastructure can take all of the additional capacity before they buy the plots, then expect to just be able to hook  up to the local network, whereas in practice the supplies have to come from further afield, still it pays my wages. the worst area for these new developments is in and around London.

[FairTmiddlin]

"we are having to go further and further afield to get the electricity to supply them"

And I hope the infrastructure is in place to power all the Electric car chargers for each and every home on each new estate. All four of the chargers in each home for growing families of Eco techs.

 

[grendel]

11 minutes ago, FairTmiddlin said:

And I hope the infrastructure is in place to power all the Electric car chargers for each and every home on each new estate. All four of the chargers in each home for growing families of Eco techs.

not a chance, with a property you can apply diversification, that is you average out over a lot of properties and they average about 1.5 kW, a car charger on the other hand is either on or off, so you cannot apply diversification, ie each one would be on at the same time overnight, your average car charger needs about 3x the power than your average house, the network couldnt stand this. most modern houses have a 100A cutout, most fast car chargers need 32 or 64a, dont try turning the oven on while the cars charging, my house only has a 64A cutout, if I  connected a fast charger, the fuse would probably blow (not to mention the cable feeding 16 houses - even that is undersized.

[Regulo]

 . . . and that's why the rush to electric cars is pie in the sky. Governments have no idea of the impracticality of their "green" announcements.

[grendel]

if we build nothing but power stations and substations from now until the deadline, when they go all electric - we might just manage, but then nobody wants a new power station / solar farm / wind farm in their neighbourhood, so when we dont get the planning permission to build them, people wont get their energy to charge their electric cars. simples.