Unused GHOST SLIPROADS on the M40 Motorway

#motorway #infrastructure #abandoned

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I love me a bit of unexplained motorway infrastructure... mainly because I get to look at it and then explain it and here we are. In this video we look at some mystery ghost slip roads that you'll find on the M40 motorway and answer the question - Why were they built?

[rallyzx]

Coincidentally, the southern of those two lay-bys at Oxford Services is now the location for Portable Toilets Limited Oxford. The communal bucket must have been profitable ...

[timeast]

Hi Jon, re that section of the M40, there was a railway line from High Wycombe to Maidenhead when the motorway was planned so a tunnel was built for trains to pass under the motorway at Loudwater.The line closed in 1970 so the tunnel was hardly used, but it still exists at the back of industrial units near the bottom of Treadaway Hill.
Another story, back in the early 2000’s a dust cart heading east on the motorway veered off, onto the hard shoulder and literally flew over the top off Spring Lane which passes underneath the motorway.Anyone driving up the lane would have seen it go over their heads and crash correct way up in adjacent woodland.

[georgemcclelland]

Another fun fact about those alip roads is that during the widening of Junction 3 to 1a to four lanes they were used as a compound, I think for the free recovery drivers waiting for someone to break down in the roadworks.
If you like this fact there is a button specifically for that

[RebMordechaiReviews]

*Yes Minister*
Episode: The Compassionate Society

*Bernard Woolley:* "This M40 is a very good road."
*Jim Hacker:* "So is the M4. I wonder why we got two really good roads to Oxford, before we got any to Southampton, Dover or Lowestoft or any of the ports?"
*Bernard Woolley:* "Nearly all our Permanent Secretaries went to Oxford, Minister. And most Oxford Colleges give very good dinners."
*Jim Hacker:* "And the Cabinet let them get away with it?"
*Bernard Woolley:* "Certainly not, they put their foot down. They said no motorway to take civil servants to dinners in Oxford, unless there was a motorway to take Cabinet Ministers hunting in the Shires. That's why when the M1 was built in the fifties, it stopped in the middle of Leicestershire."

[ncot_tech]

"build a motorway services near the motorway? Oh no, bad for the environment and area no no.

Thise 2, 000 new houses in the neighbouring field? Yep, bang those in, then what other farmland can we tempt you with?"

[Phuc_Yhou]

John is my favourite source of motorway knowledge, the majority of which I didn't know and probably won't ever need to remember but still enjoy watching every episode 😎👍

[Dan_]

I spotted these last Wednesday morning, thanks to your videos of yesteryear I knew they were ghost slip roads. I’m a gasp that this episode you’ve explained why they’re there.
Cheers Jon 👍🏼

[chrisst]

Would you please do a video about the roadworks on the M25 for the safety laybys. And especially the practice of coning off 10 miles of road, starting at one end and then taking the cones away at the end of two years.

[dougdavidson]

Another wicked sweet awesome video John. Thanks. Take care & stay safe.

[InTheBeginningTheUniverseWas]

You can play ghost sliproads bingo with these videos:
* Built when the motorway was constructed some time in the latter half of the 20th century
* Intended for a service station
* No one took up the offer to build services there, so they never ended up using the slip roads
* Services can no longer be built due to bureaucracy, so the slip roads will _never_ be used

[mrc]

Enjoyed your relentless fact gush about motorway slip roads.

[rochellehewston]

Thank you again John. Informative as ever

[Simon-uidb]

Always wondered what they were for as a kid in the 80s and 90s when we'd take trips down to London from Oxford. Thanks.

[lefthandedspanner]

similarly there's a couple of phantom services round my neck of the woods - Thorpe Hesley on M1, where although the south-facing sliproads were later used for junction 35A, the gap where the north-facing sliproads were meant to go is still very visible, and Sprotbrough on A1(M) Doncaster bypass, where there is actually an exit and an entry on both sides, but only to a maintenance compound (the exit is marked "Works unit only")

[markoarkaina]

Communal bucket, damn, this guy is brutal.

[MichaelAbbott-sldi]

Thanks John. I've enjoyed the video and will press the button for that purpose.

[Unbreakify]

I love this content, please never stop

[real_swiftydragon]

Jon digging at that nostalgia with the Gran Turismo 4 music for the outro! Great video!!

[michaeledwards]

Wicked sweet awesome video. My parents moved us to Banbury in 72, but since both pairs of grandparents lived in that there London i remember joining the M40 at Oxford on regular visits. Also on a totally different note, did you ever see the temporary compound that the highway agency built on the M4 to widen it to 4 lanes between junctions 10 & 9/8? When it was first built it looked permanent, so much so that i looked it could've been a motorway services after the roadworks were finished, as it had proper junctions, power the lot. Now the whole lots been dug up and completely returned to farmland. There's no sign of it ever existing, it looks like Harry Potter has waved his magic wand!!!

[I-Love-Taylor-Swift]

This video contains my 2 favourite service Stations & my favourite motorway!

I have always loved the M40 & Oxford Services. But that's probably because I only ever go there when I am on route from the Midlands to London Heathrow for a flight to the USA, so I am very happy and excited, hence why I love it...

I also love the food at Beaconsfield Services. But again, that's probably because it's the first food I've eaten after a very long journey from New York!