Secrets of the Motorway - A38M

#driving #infrastructure #birmingham #cars
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Urban inner city motorway built in the 1960s.. yeh ok, I'm in. The A38M... a small yet significant motorway pretty much in the middle of Birmingham. Therefore it promises interesting features and indeed the A38M is quite unique in that is offers something you wont find on any other motorway.. You'll have to watch the video to find out of course.
There's also some serious discussion about condiments, missing sliproads and a steam engine. Which sounds much more like a typical Secrets of the Motorway episode.
In this series I aim to explore what our motorway network is hiding. As we drive along at 70mph..ish...we simply just wouldn't be aware of what we're missing. This series will uncover some of the hidden secrets our motorways have to offer.

[@GeoWizard]

I drive on this road a lot and it is surprisingly safe, until you factor in Birmingham drivers. A few weeks ago I witnessed a taxi pull a U-Turn right over the central lane 😂

[@linamishima]

My parents have witnessed a full on road rage battle between a van and a Birmingham driver. The biggest risk of accident is some pair of twazzocks deciding that their respective journeys are the most important and escalating from cutting each other up to side swiping and shunting

[@antonycharnock2993]

Surprisingly it was a taxi....

[@tahrey]

​@@linamishima If that was in the roadworks on the M5 northbound past Oldbury about seven years ago, that may have been me and some absolute arse in a Renault Master hi-cube thing (they're on the shitlist along with silver Corrollas/Avensi and any Toyota minicab - they universally seem to be driven by either psychopaths or wannabe X-wing pilots). Needed to pull out ahead of the on-slip gradually coming up ahead (because it was just a give-way going straight into the left lane) and he decided it would be a very fun game to stop me from doing it... accelerating and braking in concert with me and there wasn't enough space to get up enough speed. Eventually figured that if I booted it as far as I dared then pulled full ABS emergency stop once he followed suit I could swerve into the gap that would be behind the van at the last second and end the stupidity. I was off by, what, maybe an inch? And my bumper still bears the scars. (We did come off at J1 to assess the damage and he tried to make a song and dance about his very slightly bent - and rather dangerously sharp and sticky-out - rear lightbar, to which all I could do was motion at my bumper, point at the dashcam, and suggest we swap insurance details so he could then go tell his boss that the van got very slightly dinged because he was playing silly bastards in heavy traffic. Funnily enough his details turned out to be fake and nobody ever contacted me about the incident) There seems to be a smattering of that kind of murder-suicidal gimp out on the road these days, more commonly come across them when going to overtake a slow moving car on a single carriageway road and suddenly find that my needle is going up but I don't seem to be accelerating past them. Nor that my brakes seem to work even though the needle goes back down. And it's why I now have front and back cameras because that proves I didn't get past, and the even worse behaviour if I do manage to get past due to e.g. a tractor hoving in view with them unable to pull around it until I've gone by it...

[@tahrey]

Well, that's Brummie minicabs for you. You learn to leave a fifty metre exclusion zone if at all possible. Most of the other drivers are OK, apart from the aforementioned force-users and van nutters, and the universal boy racer (to whose dangerous acts the council's main defence seems to be ... lowering 40mph speed limits down to 30 for the everyday folk. Yeah, that'll show 'em... now when they go past at 100 they'll be speeding by 70mph instead of 60! Yeah!) That said there does seem to be a noticeable increase in general traffic speed when coming back into the area having taken a trip elsewhere...

[@solarfish]

@GeoWizard pleasantly unsurprised to see you here

[@gamerfreakUK]

I do love the random cameos from behind, and Jon's polite startles.

[@whoarewe7515]

There brilliant. 🤣

[@johnclements6614]

Even when they are horsing around they are good.

[@PrograError]

it'd be funnier if he got startled into the water

[@gbhxu]

I think that the videos are all a cover for Jon looking for dogging areas

[@whoarewe7515]

@@gbhxu 😂

[@JayForeman]

Found myself actually punching the air at your choice of song over the end credits. I love your videos!!

[@ActualJarrrk]

Literally about to click and watch your transatlantic cable video... Love your videos too! Also, Auto Shenanigans x Map Men when?

[@antonycharnock2993]

Brum! For those not in the know! kzbin.info/www/bejne/mWWufaltrrSZia8

[@evilutionltd]

Jon is the unspoken 3rd Map Man!

[@EdgyNumber1]

@@ActualJarrrk Yeah Jay, you really should do the trunk routes to the Greater London borders episodes as you started with Geoff Marshall on the A1. 👍

[@ChakatSandwalker]

It has taken far too many years for me to realise Brum was named for Birmingham, and I've just learned the car's name (and 'Brummie') comes from the local name 'Brummagem'.

[@MrLOFTYBOBBY]

The central red lane was not like it is now , there used to be a drainage channel running down the middle of it, and it had to be covered over due to a death of a motorcyclist when he hit a cover sticking up. So your right it is the most dangerous motorway .

[@BibTheBoulderTheOriginalOne]

Am I correct in thinking the red lane is banned for motorcyclists? it's been many years since I drove along there.

[@ryanmitcham5522]

Er the central drainage channel is still clearly visible in the video, along with signage prohibiting motorcyclists from the centre lane (see at 6:00) because of the drainage channel.

[@hearingthesmells2500]

That’s true.. guy went into a manhole after the cover came of in the middle lane on motorcycle 💀

[@MotionPlays]

The drainage tunnel is literally still there and it’s still forbidden for motorcycles to use the central lane

[@alanzyoutube]

There are very few accidents on the A38(M) and there have been hardly any head-on's.

[@MrKpsuk84]

8:12 Brum! Any British child of the 90s should instantly remember the classic TV show about a small yellow car 🚕😃

[@frankileith9362]

This was doing my head in all night and today trying to remember what kids programme that music was from thank you so much for relieving the torment 😂

[@MartinvonBargen]

Wonderful with the fella on the bike. Monty Python meets the Open University!

[@progamerevshorts9703]

You’ve been on KZbin for a long time

[@peterj.francisdunleadebarr4367]

I sat on that bench about 6 years ago and also 'admired' the 'view'. Its probably the grimmest 'park' in the UK. You're probably the first person to sit there since I was there.

[@Barcrest]

At the time it was built people probably did sit there and watch the traffic. After all people would go to service stations for a day out to watch the traffic.

[@stevewilson8467]

Any time I see footage of Birmingham's central dual carriageways the SuperPrix springs to mind. BTCC through Brum!

[@Technaudio]

He's done a video about that.

[@frombrum]

BTCC is track touring cars, the RAC rally use to go through sutton park but i don't think they close any roads in the eighties better to have a series of drag races - like the illegal one on the bypass

[@srpacific]

They really need one of those RoadZipper machines for that central lane. Very easy and relatively inexpensive way to make it safer for traffic, and to allow the speed limit to increase to 60 maybe

[@egbront1506]

Most of the time, you are doing well to hit 50mph at peak times. More likely to be crawling.

[@enisra_bowman]

@@egbront1506 ye, but it would make it at least safer, but well, in typical politician cliché one cost money, the other cost life and money is more important >_>

[@6yjjk]

Absolutely! I think this every time I have to drive that way.

[@Michael_Brock]

Exactly what I referred above. Must remember that road zipper.

[@leopold7562]

No need. We can drive properly in Britain

[@IshmaelSimpson]

The clean air zone comment nearly floored me. This man is peak humour!

[@JaidenJimenez86]

One of the leaders (idk if it was the mayor), wants the expressway closed on Sundays so people can walk/bike on it. Who tf wants to do that?!

[@philtucker1224]

Wow that “shared” middle lane idea seams really unusual in the respect that there is no actual wall between the two directions of traffic. It’s actually like almost every single main road throughout the whole of Great Britain whilst remaining unique.

[@adrianthorneycroft6702]

Honestly, I feel like the A38 could be worthy of it's own mini-series being the monster of a road it is... There's gotta be a lot of interesting stuff in the areas around it given its length.

[@linamishima]

I absolutely agree, I’ve driven it from Sheffield to Gloucester once for a laugh (I was going that way anyway), it’s an interesting road

[@adrianthorneycroft6702]

@@linamishimaYou've done well to do it from Sheffield given it starts about 30 miles south 😂 I get what you mean though. Haven't driven quite that far on it, certainly never made it to the A38M, but I used to go down to Wolves just about every weekend a few years back (so I wouldn't peel off at Lichfield/Swinfen like the A38 does). A38 has always been my chosen route down that way. Bit of a pain given it's mostly 2 lanes down that way, but certainly better than tempting the M6 to throw an issue.

[@andyyouell5037]

Thanks Jon. As always, this is way more interesting than it should be ....and you do it with fantastic production and delivery.

[@AutoShenanigans]

Nice one, thanks for watching mate!

[@tdyerwestfield]

Makes me appreciate the M5 and M6 around Birmingham a lot more after seeing what the A38M is like.

[@tobortine]

When I lived in Birmingham we referred to the A38M as the "Aston Distress Way" because at rush hour it slowed to a crawl making it relatively safe.

[@DigitalDiabloUK]

I was just thinking of the optimism of a 50mph limit 😂

[@lukesdad5218]

@@DigitalDiabloUK It's regarded as a minimum speed by most of the users.

[@JaidenJimenez86]

I thought it was called that just because it went through Aston.

[@smiler3418]

I have lived in Birmingham all my life and live over the road from spaghetti and have never Hurd it be called the Aston distress way 😂😂

[@tobortine]

​@@JaidenJimenez86 That made me chuckle, I guess you could be right 😁

[@The_Dee_Jay]

I drove out of Birmingham on the A38M just yesterday afternoon. An Uber driver tried to squash my car when joining from a slip road (my fault for not instantly vanishing to make way for him) and then drove on through the traffic like it was a slalom course. Fun times.

[@spuriouspodge7416]

Ah, the Sunday treat is here. Lovely.

[@Anonymoususer_2023]

I love how the A38(M) Aston Expressway doesn’t have a hard shoulder but a hard shoulder in red in the middle of an expressway in Birmingham. That is only used if there is severe traffic on the M6 motorway or coming in and out of Birmingham City Centre.

[@duncanshepherd4284]

You are right about Vinegar Bridge. It did pass over where the unused bridge is and in the mid 70s it leaked covering cars with neat malt vinegar. HP was forced to pay for numerous cars to be repaired. I was a police officer working that day and we closed the road out of city until the engineers shut the pipeline.

[@DJDexterityakaPsyDex]

This is part of my morning commute into Brum. If someone has a crash or breaks down, its absolute chaos.

[@tahrey]

Or in other words: no change from normal.

[@davidrobins1021]

Reminds me of the most dangerous-seeming road layout I've ever seen. Single carriageway, with three lanes, and 60 mph limit. One lane for traffic going north, one for traffic going south, and a shared middle lane for overtaking from either direction. If that's not a recipe for a head-on, I don't know what is.

[@R08Tam]

I once had to change an off-side wheel on the A38M due to a puncture. It was great having to jack the car up with my bum sticking out into the traffic. Happy days.

[@keystonedriving8180]

Tidal flow is an A38 thing. As the A38 enters Cornwall it passes over the Tamar Bridge, which was built with 3 lanes having a tidal flow in the centre lane. When the Saltash tunnel was built it was built with 3 lanes to permit the tidal flow arrangements to continue. The tunnel is built on a curve with a significant gradient, just to liven things up a bit! The bridge and tunnel have always had a 30mph limit and there haven't been many incidents on/in them. Oh, and you have a toll plaza at the Plymouth end of the bridge for Eastbound traffic only, Westbound is free.

[@philsharp758]

When the Severn Bridges had tolls it amused me that you paid to get into Wales and could leave fee of charge, whereas at Saltash, it was free to get into Cornwall but you had to pay to get out.

[@misterflibble9799]

There's a short section of tidal flow in Cardiff too.

[@tahrey]

It's a shame they haven't done it on the "old" A38 (IE what is now the A5127) from Gravelly Hill up to Erdington. That's 3 lanes and could hugely benefit from full length tidal flow (at least when it was possible, before a particular and somewhat dumb pedestrian island was put in place as a cheaper alternative to a proper crossing and re-engineering the roads that face each other across it to prevent unwise attempts at anything but a left turn or, say, making them entry-only one-ways (which is now the only sensible direction to drive along them anyway). Instead it's more like the 2+1s being built around Wales, you enter it with a single lane your side and then halfway along it swaps and flares out (...though if you're heading into town it randomly drops back to one lane for about ten metres just to cause a whole load of unnecessary bottlenecking chaos). Better than nothing but it'd work a lot better if the whole length was dynamically dedicated to the direction of greatest demand.

[@regularguy3665]

Isn’t there a tidal section somewhere in Lincoln? Not exactly a big A road tho

[@tahrey]

@@regularguy3665 Well, now it's time for Google Maps

[@martinalooksatthings]

The A38(M) will always have a place in my heart

[@pauliesk.7102]

I've always understood that the machine on the island was the water pump used to fill the Birmingham canals when they were built. This being why (as in previous comments) we've always called it 'Pump Island'.

[@David_Crayford]

That looked incredibly busy. Lots of people wanting to go everywhere, and each doing so by burning a little fire in the front of their car. Quite mad, really.

[@barrypickles6546]

That is not busy or insane, busy and insane are during rush hour when the m6, a38m and adjoining roads are a carpark.

[@loswilko]

Hey Jon, another great video but one thing i would like to mention and surprised you didn't include. Oh 28th of december 1956 a 15,000 gallon vinegar vat exploded and caused a waist high wave flooding local roads and homes. my great grandfather, Earnest Goode and his brother both worked for HP sauce for their entire careers except for when some bloke with a dodgy moustache decided to invade Poland. When he started he was manning a horse and cart. Upon his retirement he was give a copy of The Road From Aston Cross which covers the history of the company. He was also given an Omega wrist watch, both are still proudly cherished by the family to this day.

[@bomt6259]

i just love Auto Shagganigans

[@SteveDull]

Jon, just want to say how great you were on Upndowns 25 hr talkathon for Sophie's Legacy. Fair play for giving up your day - and diesel- travelling down and back for just for an hour (ok extended) spot. You're a star! 👍👏👏👏👏

[@BaguetteBeardBass]

Jons reaction when they hit 10k was fantastic as well

[@SteveDull]

@@BaguetteBeardBass Haha yeah, with an impressive emergency stop!

[@AutoShenanigans]

hehehe.. thanks for watching, and it's all for a good cause, I was pleased to be invited.

[@user-qn6yt3zx3w]

First time viewer here. I chuckled at the safety concerns. You should come over to North America and do some videos on the “designed for death” motorways we have here. Brummie born and bred, loved the anecdotes in the video. Subscribed

[@jaycee330]

I dunno, never seen an Interstate without hard shoulders (sometimes on both sides) like a UK motorway does.

[@user-qn6yt3zx3w]

@@jaycee330 hard shoulders aren’t the issue. It’s the super short on and off ramps; on ramps that join in the fast lane of the highway; off ramps located immediately after an on-ramp (beltway in DC repeats this beauty again and again); bend radii that make no sense for a “highway”; advertising causing distraction; barely fit for purpose signage and a complete disregard for safe distances between various features. Add to this, laws that allow passing in the slow lane and do little to encourage safe following distances and you literally have a beautifully designed system for ensuring accidents.

[@rogink]

@@user-qn6yt3zx3w That's interesting. On the continent they have much shorter slip roads. You barely get any warning and there is your turning!

[@ClydebridgeStation]

The drone shot of the site of the HP sauce factory, also showed a coach depot next to it. That's the depot of Central Coachways, which are owned by National Express. They bought the firm in the late 1980s, from, wait for it, the Birmingham Co-op! Yes, you read right! Set up many years previously as the coaching arm of the Birmingham Co-op, during the late 1980s, when the Co-op was downsizing, and societies merged, they sold it to National Express! There's very few examples of retailers owning a bus operation by the 1980s, although here in Fife, Toolans Grocery store in Kinglassie had a small coach business going, until both closed in the early 2000s.

[@aldo5428]

The Scottish Cooperative Wholesale Society operated Majestic Coaches here in central Scotland until I think about the mid 70s, our local depot, Barrhead now housing…

[@vincentharriman3283]

Central Coachways ceased to exist many years ago.

[@hearingthesmells2500]

The roundabout with the engine is locally known as pump island

[@moosegoose3159]

No doubt a hotspot for escorts and prostitutes.

[@van_trippin5260]

It's all i know it as, didn't know it had a 'proper' name!

[@heavyhaulage1]

I was just scouring the comments to find someone saying this 😀

[@hanifali3406]

I've always heard it called Matalan roundabout

[@shanemjn]

My dad used to work at the HP sauce factory, he was in tears when they demolished it

[@TheScottishSprayer]

Epic Brum! Theme tune. Best show of my childhood. I watched it with my 3 yr old last week. Your song choices are great Jon. The drama increases throughout each vid for me, waiting to hear your choice of theme tune. Whicked sweet awesome content.

[@aldo5428]

well it was hardly a surprise…

[@alantheskinhead]

My father was born in a house overlooking what became the GHI in 1933. My Uncle George worked at the massive power station that became Star City Leisure Complex. Just up the road, my Auntie Vera worked at Fort Dunlop making tyres for planes. Whist my other Uncle Doug was quite famous or infamous as he worked for Birmingham City Council and was part of the planning team for Castle Vale Housing Estate. My mother was evacuated from London to Reading to Bristol and then to Deritend. Later on my father was at Aston Uni studying thermo electrics and electronics and ended up rebuilding the said power station earlier plus a few in Berlin post war. He invented no end of stuff but took no recognition as it would distract from his work. My dad said as a kid he could see Coventry burning and smell it from his bedroom window and when the bombs dropped near him they ran down to the river as they thought it was safer. He ended up designing the heavy electrics for the junction and even then commented that the motorway will need rebuilding due to poor quality concrete. And your absolutely right about the A38(M), my dad had an accident when a car veered over side and over the "Red Lane" and hit him head on. Fortunately he was going 20mph and so was the other, but the Mk3 Cortina didn't fair so well.

[@shmavitz]

I drive this road at least twice every day and almost without fail will witness at least one pillock driving in the blocked lane when it is busy.

[@funkyanimaltheearloffunkdo1871]

"At least we have a clean air zone" will be Britain's epitaph.

[@k.r.baylor8825]

There I was, watching from Virginia, USA, John's latest about some short motorway in the middle of Birmingham, thinking how prosaic this week's episode is turning out--and then he discusses the insanity of the "red tarmac" on the A38(M). And I thought the 1930s-era suicide highways of the US Routes system (2-lanes at speed in both directions only separated by a mid-highway _turn lane_ perfect for head-on collisions) were unique to extremely bad highway design. I have never seen a single-carriage motorway before and am amazed anyone would build one. It's kind of like the paternoster of highway designs, forgetting the stupid human element when it goes wrong. So another winning episode!

[@samhall6719]

So refreshing to see someone talking about one of my favourite things in life. The British road signs and road and the Motorway network is a passion of mine that I’ve had for around 15 years. I have a photographic memory which allows me to remember all the motorways and roads, the junctions and the names of the service stations all from memory without looking at a map or using the internet. Keep up the great work! 🤙🔥

[@AutoShenanigans]

Nice one mate, thanks for watching!

[@EdgyNumber1]

Brave man, Jon for hanging around some pretty sketchy areas. Aston is definitely not Bel Air.... Ozzy couldn't wait to get out of the place! Everyone down south, where I'm from, thinks Spaghetti Junction is a scary place to drive and they don't believe me when I say 'just turn left and follow the Expressway in.' Its easy to navigate in. A bit more complex out and heading north or eastbound but it is very, very clearly signposted. Stick to the speed limits and get into the correct lane early. Great video Jon. Crazy looking interchange with so many things threaded underneath it, including HS2. I think there was a BBC documentary or a serial documentary on the UK motorway, with an episode on this a while ago., which fills in a curiosity nicely. Worth watching.

[@KidarWolf]

Yeah eastbound is a little bit fiddly, but it's not too bad, if you follow the signs. My mom has tales of it before it had all the signs in place, but unsure how accurate those stories are!

[@EdgyNumber1]

@@KidarWolf There is a bit you can miss that can send you up to Gravelly Hill instead of M6 Eastbound but again, it's a case of paying attention and getting into the correct lane _early._

[@e36sam]

Funny you should mention the danger aspect. Birmingham has a massive street racing scene. There was a simply horrendous crash involving a stolen car, his competitor, and some poor fella in a taxi who died. Think it might have just been outside of the A38M though. Definitely had an incident back in 2015 where some enterprising chap drove the wrong way along the A38M though. To be honest, with the fact that a high percentage of driving licenses appear to be obtained from the bottom of a cereal box around there, I'm surprised there aren't more incidents.

[@JaidenJimenez86]

Oh wasn't it some young lad in the back of a taxi with his dad? Breaks your heart

[@ChrisJohnson-te3eg]

Hi Jon - Great video as always ! My Dads friend and our old next door neighbour is a railway and motoring artist. About 15 years ago he decided to do a series of paintings of the A38 M contraflow section. To do the initial sketches he needed to go up and down the carriageway so he enlisted the help of my Dad who, on one summer evening drove up and down the carriageway about 8 times in his 1 litre Fiesta while the sketches were done. The final paintings were really good and something you don't often see as a subject in art.

[@WanderingCactus]

That central red lane is bizarre, these kind of things aren't unknown here, but they typically have a moveable center barrier that they move for rush hour, I think you can find a video or three here, and it's pretty neat stuff.

[@jfwfreo]

Many years ago Perth (Australia, not the one in the UK) used to have a system where they had a single "peak lane" that was open in the peak direction. But unlike the one on the A38(M) it had barriers to prevent anyone driving the wrong way down it. In the end the freeway in question was upgraded and got more lanes (and the peak lane got swallowed up by bus lanes and then later the bus lanes became a double-track railway)

[@ranulfdoswell]

There's a similar system on the Auckland harbour bridge in New Zealand, which is 4/4, 5/3 or 3/5 lane configurations, and has a massive truck thing that drives along it moving the barrier from one lane to another. Another fun fact is that this bridge was originally 2/2 lanes, and at the end of the 1960s, they added 2 more lanes on each side with some concrete sections bolted onto the side of the bridge, and these were made in Japan, which gave rise to the nickname "Nippon Clip-ons".

[@himagainstill]

I think it's Adelaide that had the ultimate tidal flow motorway. 10 miles of single carriageway that changed direction twice a day. On a weekday it was into the city in the morning, out of the city in the afternoon, with a couple of hours closure to turn all the signs round and sweep for safety.

[@ranulfdoswell]

@@himagainstill Oh Adelaide! Does it still have that crazy bus train thing, where the buses have tires on the side and they disengage the steering and let the bus bounce between the two concrete walls as the driver floors it? That was a fun experience when I was there in 1999.

[@MisterEightyFour]

I absolutely love the commitment to getting the name of whichever route you’re doing a simply egregious amount of times 😂

[@PaulFisher]

the phrase “A38 (M)” has lost all meaning for me

[@SpikeMatthews]

Loving the sauce/source gag, using a picture of HP sauce - especially since you talked about the factory a little later. I've lost count of the amount of times I've used - or avoided - the Aston Expressway. It's surprising how few accidents there are despite the lack of central reservation - but as a means of easing traffic during rush hour, it's still pants, performing a credible impression of the nearby M6.

[@terryhearttea789]

Another entertaining episode. I luv the included interuptions and mistakes. Gives the clip character. I was wondering if you have done a video on the Swindon Magic Roundabout? I couldn't find it in your collection. I would like to see your take on it? Keep up the good work Jon:)

[@kennethmaclean9357]

Double it up and do the Hemel one in the same episode?

[@explorernate]

He could do High Wycombe’s one too whilst he’s at it. There are loads of these roundabout of roundabouts dotted about the country.

[@kennethmaclean9357]

@@explorernate I've only experienced those 2, I thought that was it. New thing every day 🙂Swindon seem to make more of it, I guess they don't have much else 🤣

[@PineappleSkip]

Looking forward to secrets of the magic roundabouts, featuring a random passer by as Florence and Jon as Zebidee :)

[@christopherjordan4812]

Definitely the most dangerous road is the A38(M) I’ve ever driven on. The standard of some of the Birmingham drivers made it even worse. I used to hate that road then going through the tunnels to get to Edgbaston made for a very eventful journey.😮

[@andymassey8105]

Pipelines over the motorway I would call that a vinegar stroke of genius !!!😂

[@stephenbunn2150]

It’s a very safe motorway, never had a problem on cars or motorbikes 😊

[@falkerhard]

Safe most of the time yes.

[@sandwichbar8226]

Hello Jon, how the devil are you, have you had a good week? Enjoyed you on Kitch's mammoth stream the other day 👍

[@kevm8965]

Ahh you didn't catch me with that one - it's the theme from Brum, classic!

[@scotbotvideos]

That lack of central reservation on the A38(M) is kinda reminiscent of the old A77 between Kilmarnock and Newton Mearns outside Glasgow. That was one helluva dangerous road.

[@stevehill4615]

Used to use the A38M frequently when going clubbing at weekends (before the congestion/LEZ charge), always enjoyed as you go over the flyover from the southbound M6 junction the view from the top of the city laid out in front of you at night as it always reminded me of Frank Zappa's song/video "city of tiny lights".

[@darrylnoonan5282]

Bacon butty with HP sauce👍 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟,Jon's obviously a connoisseur.

[@aldo5428]

got to be black pudding/potato scone doubler with HP sauce do I hear yum yum wsa…

[@kieranbott]

I'm on this road several times a month and never knew half of this stuff! I have always noticed those benches though and wondered why? Unless its where Suede wrote Picnic by the Motorway

[@DM-it2ch]

You'd think the lack of a central reservation would be a recipe for disaster, but I used to use that road daily for about 5 years, and I never once saw an accident!!

[@bryansmith1920]

It's been a few years but I seem to remember the Main river bridge through Lincoln City was the same road layout, and it worked perfectly, but that was b4 mobile phones distracting young drivers from Due Care and Attention, And being a ex truckie with a depot in Birmingham, I drove all over Birmingham at night following M6 diversionary closures for road works,

[@malcolmcog]

Just watched this excellent video again, ridden my motorbikes and driven up and down the A38M since 1974, great to see it and the beam engine again ! I think there has only been one bad crash, a motorcyclist was killed in the 1980s.

[@lifeintaiwan]

Really enjoyed this… no idea why it was recommended to me but your style is a great combination of professionalism, sarcasm and relaxed personable communication! Subscribed for the “camera up FFS” line!

[@diamondsam]

I ended up watching this video later than usual as I was out meeting with friends, in Birmingham, funny getting back and seeing a video on somewhere around where I just was

[@-DC-]

Secrets of the A roads next you Legend 👊

[@user-op8fg3ny3j]

An urbanist's nightmare: so many concrete flyovers

[@Mongolopolis8]

You mean a dream. I would love a city to look like this. With little shops and neon signs dangling underneath the concrete structures, the flyovers themself shielding the pedestrians from rain and the weather. Just like in Asia. To bad they didnt use Bangkoks beautiful brutalist hexagonal designs for the construction :)

[@user-op8fg3ny3j]

@@Mongolopolis8 was thinking more of the more modern urbanist's who are less car centric than the brutalist traditionals

[@gregs2284]

@@user-op8fg3ny3jI'm fine with the concrete flyovers -- just not all that traffic

[@jaycee330]

@@gregs2284 If someone finds flyovers scary, don't go to Dallas or Houston...

[@robinwells8879]

Or a road planners wettest dream!😂

[@SampleTracks2224]

Love the ironic clean air zone comment. "Hey guise, Birmingham factories are all being shuttered but hey, hey are air is so clean now, are children will be greatful"

[@user-lv7te3ll2n]

Hi Jon. It must be ten or even fifteen years since I travelled the A38M , and this episode was very interesting and very pleasing to watch. Thanks very much, please carry on with the series

[@AutoShenanigans]

Nice one, thanks for watching mate!

[@medicallyunexplainedsymptoms]

The pipes carrying the vinegar over the A38M burst once - a former colleague of mine was part of the repair team in his younger days. Bet that smelled great!

[@Rudahn]

There’s a similar tidal flow system in place on the A1434 in Lincoln that always gives me the willies when driving it even though the speed limit is a much more sedate 30mph. Fascinating to see one on a motorway! This video is excellent, I’ll definitely be checking out more of your work, thank you.

[@nigelh4617]

I still remember my first journey with my dad along the A38(M), after it opened. Very exciting. And I still miss the smell of HP fruity sauce, wafting into the car on a summer's day.

[@egbront1506]

I don't. I went to a school nearby and the smell of HP mixed with the Ansell's brewery practically next door was anything but nice. It was culinary smog.

[@PrograError]

@@egbront1506 i bet the students there are half drunk from those aromas...

[@egbront1506]

@@PrograError It wasn't a heady whiff, unfortunately. Individually, brown sauce and bitter are quite palatable depending upon your likes and dislikes. Mixed together it honked like some other brown substance. We just ran for cover when the brown mist descended.

[@GWorsfold]

@@egbront1506 "....we just ran for cover when the brown mist descended..." I didn't know that Birmingham suffered from Poonamis when the factory was open. 😁

[@faithlesshound5621]

Not far from there is the Old Custard Factory (Bird's, 1906 - 1964), nowadays a hipster hangout. In its time, did it have a similar effect on the neighbourhood?

[@misterflibble9799]

People go on about how the tidal flow system must be so dangerous, but in reality, if you compare it to a typical country A-road: * The speed limit is lower * Visibility is much better (no risk of opposing traffic "coming round the bend") * Opposing traffic is separated by an entire lane's width (minimum 3m) I don't have incident stats to hand, but I think it's actually a pretty safe road.

[@Stealth360stealth]

'take a moment to appreciate the view' 4:24 haahhahaah

[@captainboing]

The Oxford road out of Uxbridge used to be 3 lanes (1980s ish). The middle was intended to be tidal but there was no signage so it was a free for all. What fun!

[@zedainman]

Another fab one this week 😄 And a nice addition with the Brum theme tune at the end!

[@noggintube]

I went to school in Aston and remember the smell of the HP factory when they were manufacturing. The area had a strong smell of very vinegary HP and you sort of just got used to it, but on hot days it could be pretty ripe.

[@lukesdad5218]

Add in the Ansells brewery and it was a culinary delight. My grandparents lived just off Aston Cross so I sampled the aroma each time I visited.

[@timhahn7358]

the bit about the hp sauce factory reminds me a lot of the Miller Brewing Company in Milwaukee Wisconsin. factory is split in half, one side handles production of beer while the other side handles bottle production and shipping with a public road in the middle. they have a dual level conveyor belt system across the road, where empty bottles are sent from one side to the other on the top belt, and full bottles are sent back the opposite way on the bottom belt

[@Paul.swanseavilla]

As a villa fan this is my favourite motorway. And yes you can have a favourite motorway. My second favourite is m4 j45 area 😂🎉

[@angelsone-five7912]

Ha, I was going to suggest you cover this one just the other week. Been up and down here loads of times and see many accidents but never a head-on though.

[@ExpoAviation]

I guess it is enshrined in law that doing videos in Birmingham require the use of Brum's theme tune ;) That bi-directional flowing lane certainly does seem daunting but no doubt the only solution given tight budgets and tighter landscapes :)

[@pedanticradiator1491]

Actually the mid 80s version of the Crossroads theme would have been more appropriate

[@ExpoAviation]

@@pedanticradiator1491 Ha yes I'd forgot about that classic ;)

[@Stu040874]

Two notable events, I think both in the early 1990s. A petrol tanker hit the slip road from the A38M to the A38 and caught fire. As a result, that set of slip roads was closed, I think, for several months. Around the same time, the drain covers collapsed in the central lane causing a nasty accident. As a result, the tidal flow system went unused for a long time. It has had a restriction forbidding motorbikes from using it ever since.

[@glenjones6980]

I used to find the constant noise of the M6 when loading in the two car auctions sites close to this location really overwhelming. I guess you get used to it but an hour or two every week or so used to leave me feeling shattered. It's like having white noise pumped at you at high volume but weirdly I struggled to sleep in the truck without some traffic noise in the background.

[@godzillas6301]

The beasts ( ex wife ) grandad and nan lived at 6 back of 30 , slade road . If you look it up its a black door in the terrace and they lived upstairs but round the back . The noise never ever stopped . You did get used to it until until something really loud came along .

[@MichaelFlatman]

yeah even in the video clips here i find it surprising how much noise there is given the carriageway is sunk into the ground, perhaps someone could build a 'lid' to reduce noise, how much expense that'd cause i don't know.

[@godzillas6301]

@@MichaelFlatman The noise helps to drown out the crackle of burning cars and the daily gunshots .

[@alanzyoutube]

The roundabout with the engine on is locally known as the "pump island".

[@djsmithe]

Sunday morning coffee with Jon. Who knew UK roads could be so interesting?

[@chrisl1797]

3:34 reminds me of the new bypass around Caernarfon, but at least the lanes are kept apart. There is also a section of road on the A59 bypass that works on the principle shown in the video. Three lanes, one in each direction and the one in the middle a free for all in either direction AT THE SAME TIME.

[@stewartwestwood5534]

Only John can make a blot on the landscape sound interesting. H.P sauce facts were very good. Thank you.😊😊

[@lightplane]

Love your sense of humor. A slight redesign. Lol.

[@owenpotter8498]

'But now the closing speed of a head on collision is only 100mph, happy days' Fantastic sarcastic humor, loving it!

[@gazzaman28]

Loving that final drone shot, chefs kiss!

[@homerstu6133]

The flyovers and tunnels have great names, one in particular is paradise circus, which sounds particularly circumspect

[@tahrey]

It's not even Paradise Circus any more ... just "Paradise", as the circus was done away with (and the resulting road layout is a VERY nouveau-Brum mess).

[@MarkLiversedge]

Worked in Brum for a couple of years and drove that almost every day- the single carriageway with flow idea is sensational when the traffic is really really heavy (so speeds are slow). Have never seen it 4 v 2 when not congested. Maybe I was lucky !

[@IN_THIS_DAY_AND_AGE]

With a 50mph speed limit and a buffer lane, the Aston expressway is no more dangerous than doing the 60mph national speed limit on a normal two lane road with just a white line down the middle.

[@NonFatMead]

Whilst your conclusion is true based on how you've described it, the switching of which lanes go which way adds complexity to your comparison. There are no two lane roads with a similar set up, because that would be impossible.

[@EmyrDerfel]

An inattentive lane change could cause a collision between two cars travelling in one direction that spears one of them into oncoming traffic. You don't get this on two lane roads or dual carriageways.

[@IN_THIS_DAY_AND_AGE]

​@@NonFatMead True. Whilst the road design is in itself safe, drivers are the variable factor

[@IN_THIS_DAY_AND_AGE]

​@EmyrDerfel True, but you are more likely to have a head-on collision on a two lane road

[@_Steven_S]

​@@NonFatMeaddoes the A739 Clyde Tunnel count? It has the ability to be either two lanes in a single direction, or by switching barriers at either end the opposing carriage way can be diverted down the other tunnel. 30mph limit through the tunnels, but it wouldn't take much for someone to cross over the double solid lines and find themselves the wrong way on the M8.

[@tomtalk24]

Watching this with "space for a flyover"... I now look at HS2 thinking "space for a high speed railway".

[@kurtpena5462]

This route needs a moving barricade similar to the one that divides traffic on the Golden Gate Bridge. A company in Rio Vista, California is the manufacturer. The major expense is in the vehicle. It moves a linked concrete barrier using sheer mass to slide the barrier to either side of the center lane.

[@royfearn4345]

I used to drive regularly along the Aston Expressway, in rush hours and otherwise. I always found it logical in layout and driving standards generally good. It can be a bit intimidating to timid souls but you get used to it! Just go with the flow and make full use of your mirrors and make sure you signal all lane changes in good time!

[@bettyswallocks6411]

I have used the A38M many times. It has probably Britains best scenic views of mega-warehouse roofs.

[@Paul.swanseavilla]

And a glimps of Aston hall and villa park

[@danielmarshall4587]

Thank you yes, this week has been better than last week.

[@user-mn4cc6bb7t]

I first encountered the Aston Expressway on my way to a football match at Villa Park in 1981 and did wonder how it could be a motorway without a central barrier or a hard shoulder. I also wondered what would have happened, if there had been a power outtage and the lane directional lights on the overhead gantries had gone out. That having been said, I found the experience less hair-raising than using the A470 tideway lane in Cardiff.

[@emmaharris856]

You forgot to mention that at Spaghetti junction there is a supporting column that is placed in such a position to allow a horse drawn barge to be pulled along the canal without it being unhitched.

[@ewythr]

This is one of your best episodes yet!

[@bigkevonbass]

Yayy, been waiting for this one!

[@calebrobinson3144]

This channel gets better every video. Love the humour, love the information

[@richardhaywood4123]

Been on the a38m some years back,it didn't have a 50mph limit on it then. Love the mosaic tiles of the foot subway at the end. Also went over the a38m on the m6 last year on a works ata qualification.