Secrets of The Motorway - A64M

[@PhilipMurphy8Extra]

It's a Sunday and it's time for the Motorway guy

[@Perthshire]

Well, have you had a good week?

[@PhilipMurphy8Extra]

@@Perthshire Ronnie O Sullivan sure has in the Snooker UK Championships 🏆

[@mrbluesky2050]

It wasn't that long ago that the A64(M) was split level at the Woodpecker Junction, the west-bound carrigdeway came down to traffic lights, whilst east-bound passed over on a bridge, this was altered in the 90's (?) when the area was re-developed and the road made whole, so to speak, this was at the time when the Pub, was demolished to make room, and the massive DHSS building was built on the old Quarry Hill Flats site. These flats were also part of the reason that the A64(M) was split level at this point, as a high level west-bound road would have been very close to the flats there. i t may also account as to why each carridgeway is of a different M designated lenght...

[@marksterling8286]

It’s not Sunday without your videos, thank you

[@benclarkson5928]

From Scotland, but my dad is from Leeds. Whenever I’d laugh at the oddity of the right hand lane exit slip-road @ Charing X on the M8 in Glasgow he would always mention that Leeds has one too. Glad to finally see it now!

[@southcalder]

Glasgow still wins hands down, because not only does the one you mention have a matching right hand on-ramp from Great Western Road, there is another matching pair of right hand slips at the Cathedral/Springburn Road junction. Also, if joining the M77 from Tradeston, you join from the right at Carnoustie Street then have to get across two lanes of the M74, which also has traffic weaving in the opposite direction to go from Seaward Street to the M8, all this fun in under 1km. Whoever designed the Kinning Park junction was high as a kite!

[@benclarkson5928]

@@southcalder that on slip at J15 M8 has caused me issues, getting from High street to Dobbies Loan. Maps told me to join at J15 on the right and exit at J16 on left. Very few times I managed to cross the 5 lanes in time before exit disappeared. Eventually decided to just take surface streets going forward

[@michaeldibb]

The Woodhouse Carpark is a funny one. To enter it you exit the A64M (west) at basement level but to get back on the A64M (east) you exit at level 7. I think that's the level number, it's certainly non-intuitive to go up to exit a multistory carpark . 😅

[@AutoShenanigans]

I must admit it confused me a bit.

[@ggmtv1394]

Brilliantly presented as usual. Cynicism, information and humour all in one.

[@PaulMcElligott]

“Planned in the 1960s but never completed.” The epitaph of so many road projects in the UK.

[@AaronOfMpls]

Not to mention in many other parts of the then-First World.

[@garethaethwy]

With the railway equivalent being "planned in the 2010s to much fanfare but never completed..."

[@roderickmain9697]

Leeds seems to have been the exact idea that Marples was envisioning for UK cities - not least because of his interests in Road construction. You wonder if he hadnt been around whether Beeching might have been less draconian and we might have had better rail routes. If "Ifs" and "Ands" were pots and pans we could open a jolly good hardware store.

[@mattpotter8725]

It was exactly the same case for cities like London Birmingham as well. If you watch Jay Foreman's videos about the inner ring roads mentioning how there was supposed to be a motorway (or at least dual carriageways) around Covent Garden that campaign groups like those that poet John Betjeman are part of and opposed these schemes then you'll see that a lot of English cities had plans like this in place and only because of local opposition they never got built.

[@willtricks9432]

Excitement, Adventure, a Jedi seeks not these things. Motorway fans are gagging for it and you deliver. Champion.

[@theheathster2]

I was hoping it was the A64(M) this week, purely for the batshit slip road.

[@2001davebowman]

If you're driving north from the A58M/A64M towards the A64, the road takes you down a slope and onto a bend. The car will naturally start to speed up. But if you're a diligent motorist, you'll get watching the curved slip road on your left fir traffic merging into your lane. And, just at the moment you realised you've edged above the speed limit... FLASH BANG WALLOP! Speed camera. What a sneaky place to put it. 📸🤔🙄

[@greatgamer2k8]

Nothing beats a Sunday evening watching this.

[@detectacache6220]

I'm a Dull man and I love the information you provide my future Wife says I'm very special but I say this channel is genius 😂

[@davewebb9663]

Another Sunday another motorway video..the weekend is now complete..have a great week Jon..✌🙂

[@621pw]

Leeds citizen here. The building that followed the curve of the slip road onto the A64(M) from North Street so delightfully captured here was known as [the] City Centre Apartments for Single People at Affordable Rents (CASPAR II) - a Japanese flat pack construction built around 2000. Five years later it was discovered that the building was constructed upside-down with the floor panels installed at the top, and the roof panels laid t'bottom, risking collapse. They've long since fixed it and I think it's called North Crescent now.

[@JP_TaVeryMuch]

3:47 Ha! A chance to have a moan at money spent on a brand new bridge for the A64M up there in the norf, whereas they said that they didn't have enough money to do that down here in London and so the end of the M4/A4 Hammersmith flyover was sewn back up with big cables and bolts.

[@DavidMeggers]

The cuts and presentation is getting really slick, looks and sounds good.

[@Dwagginz]

Good video, Jon, really enjoyed this look at the city I live in. Fun fact that's not fun: I once applied for a job at the Self-Storage unit featured in the video! That's literally as fun as I can make it.

[@David_Crayford]

A train crash where nobody gets hurt has to be my favourite type of accident. In the theme of "any landing you can walk away from is a good landing."

[@Dan23_7]

Brilliantly factual as always Jon 👍🏼 When I’m delivering around Leeds i often travel on this road and use the tunnel bit, never really giving any of it a thought. The next time I’m there I can now drive with knowledge 💪🏼 I couldn’t name the tune this week 🙁

[@skapunkno1]

Victor and Hugo.

[@beeble2003]

Knowledge is power! So make sure that extra power doesn't get you done for speeding.

[@Dan23_7]

@@beeble2003 Never, I set the speed limiter on my Merc sprinter 😂 1mph increments from 15mph. Im just going to polish my halo 😂

[@DavidRGray]

Victor and Hugo, is the tune.

[@danielfield2570]

Loving these Leeds Based Episodes :)

[@6thdayblue59]

Still waiting for the Christmas Shopping post. We need to know where to buy our ‘motorway goodies’ for the family :) :)

[@AutoShenanigans]

Might have something you'll find interesting out soon! Thanks a lot!

[@iaindobson3387]

The reason why it is a Motorway is to restrict access to it. A normal road is a Right of Way so you can walk, cycle, drive and even herd your goats along it. It is also a Right of Way for utilities like water, gas etc which is why the Utility Companies are always digging the road up as that is where the pipes are. A Motorway is a Special Road and is created by a Special Road Order and is not a Right of Way. Only certain classes of vehicle may legally use it and only certain classes of driver. So learner drivers, pedestrians, cyclist, goat herders etc are not permitted to use a Special Road. So by making the A58[M] and the A64[M] motorways, the City Council could keep pedestrians, cyclists, people on mobility scooters and goat herders off the road.

[@spitfire1962]

No flood at the end this week. Nice bit of railway trivia too.

[@PiggyPower]

hello, I am good, my week was good thanks. My name is Piggy and the pleasure is mine in joining you for this exciting episode!

[@timsully8958]

How do you do it? Not only another informative sweep across infrastructure, foibles and architecture surrounding what is a minuscule motorway but you even throw in some interesting railway facts! Added to that of course you have some right belting tunes in the background, I am starting to think of your videos more as a variety show 🤔 Thank you John, you always somehow make me chuckle 👍🍀🍻

[@andrewdolinskiatcarpathian]

A64M v A308M. I’m with you on team A308M as being the shortest. BUT the A64M beats the A308M on interesting features 👏👏👍😀 BUT BUT BUT right hand lane exists are bloody dangerous and the scourge of inner city motorways. For anyone not used the them (like me) they are frightening especially during peak hours. How they ever got allowed to be built that way! 🥴

[@MKT-Ginger-Fox]

Finnaly you did the a64m ❤

[@axelBr1]

Another great episode, waiting for the A167(M), another motorway with an exit from the right hand carriageway

[@rogink]

The video will need a trigger warning! Heading to the Tyne bridge from the Byker direction I just go with the flow - and hope for the best :)

[@axelBr1]

@@rogink It's been a long time since I was in Newcastle, and didn't drive the road much. Was staying around Four Lane Ends and when coming up from down south would take the A1/A1(M) then the A19 and use the Tyne Tunnel.

[@rogink]

@@axelBr1 Oh I've only done that route 2-3 times in the past 10 years. Even the satnav gets nervous :)

[@billmmckelvie5188]

Leeds, certainly keeps you on your driving toes, with the junctions changes and jct 2A westbound exit slip been totally eradicated. The Armley gyratory the leading to A58M is now a few months behind schedule, you wonder whether the city council have got to see the Wortley slip being completed or are we waiting April 5th for new funding.

[@cvsdigital]

Very informative and entertaining as usual. You've made the Leeds road system look good. Unfortunately beyond the inner ring road/A58m/A64m it most certainly isn't: Leeds City Council, in their absolute finest hour of idiocy, have shut City Square - very effectively cutting the city centre in half. We have a railway station with a car access and car park smaller than a postage stamp. Indeed, opening Marsh Lane as a second station would be a brilliant masterstroke. I wonder if it will happen while the clowns are running the circus?

[@danielmarshall4587]

I have had a good week thank you, and thank you for this video. "Traffic Mayhem" oh yes the good folk of Leeds stomach plenty of that most days. I drove through Bradford City centre just last week, where ROAD WORKS are currently taking place and that was a spectacle of a magnetude I'd not whitnessed in a good while.

[@peterburgin5073]

After weeks of having to search to find ya vids u popped up on my suggestions... They don't want me to watch but ..... Life finds a way 😂😂😂

[@david103857]

LEEDS LEEDS LEEDS Yeah Reading can keep the accolade of the worlds shortest motorway. Leeds is slowly improving following it's motorway-dominated passed! Shame you missed the jeopardy of the cycle lanes on Regent Street! They are fun!

[@LegendEaterPSR]

Drove past you while you were filming this one! Couldn't believe it

[@andrewholtham8048]

Considering the A64(m) is effectively the same as the A58(m), its oddities are remarkably differently odd, and despite being a conessure (occasional driver…who can’t spell), I was unaware of all of that. Tremendous week highlight as ever Jon.

[@SportyMabamba]

Connoisseur?

[@andrewholtham8048]

@@SportyMabamba that’s it.. thanks

[@GrAnTtAyLoR91]

These videos have absolutely no right to be this good

[@steverhysjenks]

This is one of those channels I didn't know I needed. Its lovely to nerd out and learn things on a totally unexpected topic - keep it up.

[@mattpotter8725]

Didn't The M1 used to finish in Leeds city centre? I seem to remember as a kid that being the case when my parents took me up there to see my nan and relatives? A video on that and what it has become would be cool, unless I'm just dreaming that this was the case, in which case ignore this whole comment!!!

[@pedanticradiator]

It finished on the edge of Leeds

[@kbtred51]

Getting more ambitious with the video technique, several learned commentaries for teleport effect.

[@JohnBoy75]

There is something satisfyingly geek like but i love these videos 🙂

[@Vtarngpb]

Can’t wait for the A66(M)!! 😅

[@martinjolly8351]

Loved the railway drone shot 😂

[@markparsons2864]

You can't beat a nice little dollop of road where "stuff just happens" 😂😂

[@iancrosby3475]

Another problem with an unmanned car park with motorway access is you park your car, walk away for some time then come back to find your car absent with no way of knowing it's present whereabouts because within a work day it could have been driven pretty much anywhere in the country

[@JBobjork]

You are welcome to Stockholm one day, there are a lot of motorway exits to the left (which is like your right), They have some in Gothenburg, as well as some "cut across all lanes to get off at an exit"

[@garethaethwy]

Are they the result of when Sweden switched which side you drive on in the 1960s?

[@flyingpanhandle]

Tbf, thats a reasonably solid artist impression to real life implementation.

[@theblueorder9005]

Glasgow has exit and entry lanes on the right between royal infirmary and Charing Cross on the M8 😊

[@mintimperial]

Ugh. I lived next to and drove on these roads for a few years. Pretty sure Leeds's highways planning department in the '60s just gave a cage of gibbons a map of the city centre, some wax crayons, and a load of drugs, and then built the results. Absolutely mental.

[@AaronOfMpls]

Nice! I think unfinished 1960s freeway plans are pretty universal across much of the then-developed world. 😁 (And the parts that _did_ get built are all similarly bleak-looking, unless they got built or rebuilt much later.) Regarding parking garages on a freeway... Here in Minnesota, Mn/DOT built _three_ of them over Interstate 394 in downtown Minneapolis. 394 runs from I-494 in the western suburbs, to I-94 on the edge of downtown, then continues into downtown to end at branching on/off ramps to a few major streets. Of the three parking ramps, Ramp A (at 10th St and 7th St) is the biggest; its northernmost block is over the freeway, with the rest stretching over 2-3 other city blocks.* (The southernmost block has the Greyhound intercity bus station, too.) Ramp B is only a block-and-a-half long, and sits between 6th and 5th Streets. Ramp C is similar-sized but different shape, and sits between 4th and 3rd Streets at the official end of 394. All three garages have direct access to and from 394 (eastbound offramps, westbound onramps), as well as from city streets. They're especially convenient for events, as Target Field (the Minnesota Twins baseball stadium) and Target Center (the Minnesota Timberwolves basketball arena) are on either side of 394, right next to Ramps A and B. All three garages have pedestrian skyway connections** to much of downtown, and during the day their spaces largely fill up with commuters' cars. And like other downtown parking ramps, they offer somewhat-discounted monthly rates for commuters who park there every (week)day. And having been built in the 1980s, they're a _lot_ less bleak-looking than Leeds's garage; they're all '80s postmodern, with a lot of warm brick, colored tiles, and some glass block. (Street View of Ramp A from a nearby street: maps.app.goo.gl/U4WrnzsfqNT3QkWB8 . Those awnings over the top deck have solar panels on them; they were still being installed when Street View took the pic there in 2019.) * The streets get a bit tangled there, due to three different street grids coming together. N 7th St and N 10th St run _one_ block apart on either side of the over-the-freeway block, instead of the _three_ blocks apart they usually are. 🙂 ** Downtown Minneapolis has an extensive network of fully-enclosed pedestrian walkways one story up from street level. They wind through buildings a lot, so they're harder to navigate than the mostly-straightforward street grid below. But they're lined with small shops and restaurants that cater to downtown office workers and residents. They were built from the 1960s on to keep downtown competitive with suburban shopping malls, because our area has cold winters and hot-and-humid summers. (Downtown St Paul -- the other Twin City -- has a similar skyway system, as does part of downtown Duluth (a smaller outstate city ~150 miles NNE).) EDIT: minor typo corrections

[@scottishcarenthusiastsandtrain]

Another informative and fantastic episode Jon.

[@andrewmullen4003]

Isn't there a right hand exit lane on the M8 in Glasgow?

[@mckenzie403]

Just like the A58(M) . I saw the title and clicked like for the other half of the A64(M)Leeds inner ring road 🛣️ 😂😂

[@adrianbyron-parker5797]

Thanks!

[@AutoShenanigans]

Thanks a lot mate, appreciate it!

[@john07973]

Good stuff 👍 Happy my local A308M still " leads"

[@scalecrawlnl]

Awesome reporting, thank you Jon. Former raildock looks like a great place to do some urban redevelopment. Put an old railways carriage there, make a park around it, charging station 😁 Really cool footage from the air in the videos, if I may add and speaking of which, fingers crossed for an Auto Shenigans meets Geoff Buys Cars collab video in 2024! The SAAB on the dyno station, Geoff off to buy a 9-3 diesel for his next challenge, Geoff & Jon on more UK motorway fact-finding missons? So many oppertunities! Cheers✌💯

[@Croz89]

I guess they might get to it eventually, half of Leeds is a building site at the moment, they're doing a lot of development where HS2 was supposed to go, though I don't know if the corridor is being kept open incase things change.

[@defender1006]

I used to visit Leeds once a year for a service on some equipment we'd supplied, from the mid 1990's until the early 2000's. Although it was a long day to carry out the service work, I enjoyed it, as it was somewhere I didn't usually go.

[@robbiehillier1760]

"Stuff just happens". Couldn't have descibed the A64M better myself!

[@Mustang00007]

Sunday/monday in Oz at 3.00am love you long time John great vid.

[@TheFunkadelicFan]

Sheffield is an amazing place! I love it.

[@handford170]

Love your work, John! Keep it going my dude!!!

[@oobs35]

Another exciting episode

[@Bozusername]

I saw you filming outside quarry hill keep up the good work.

[@Andrewjg_89]

Just like the A58(M) that meets up with the A64(M). The A64(M) is also a short motorway that passes through Leeds City Centre and could have been a proper motorway. Perhaps you should do A194(M) in Newcastle and A66(M) near Darlington.

[@jasonlegg3191]

I’m just wondering what the Christmas special will be about this year… loved the motorway services Crimbo shopping tips last time… 😊

[@jonathanhall7334]

Excellent Video John.

[@djsmithe]

Nice music over the credits. You might like electro swing lost in the rhythm. Are you going to update us on the Swede?

[@MYCROFTonX]

Wickedsweetawesome... I can have lunch now without getting indigestion.

[@patrickgregory2826]

keep it up John!

[@a100267]

Is the A64 eight times longer than the A8?

[@paulhellawell5920]

I used to love going to the woodpecker pub. Hear the ghost stories of the regulars and see their dodgy photo's---------of the ghosts.

[@fox586a]

Nice footage, bit Jonathan Meade's in style

[@brantnuttall]

5:09 your right foot looks weird! Great video!

[@leejohnson3209]

I like these little reminders of why I live in the countryside and never visit any of the big cities if I can possibly avoid it.

[@dave_h_8742]

W.S.A. As usual. Went to Leeds Armouries missed the sign heading East and ended up going through one if these tunnels towards Harrogate and turning around. Saw the sign heading west no problem.

[@jamesabbott5242]

Awesome video

[@minibus9]

awesome video

[@wiggly71]

Is the M181 the shortest motorway it was not very long and it has just been cut in half. I use if few times a week it dies not seem that long now

[@portlandfester7510]

Your awesome love the videos very interesting

[@clone_force_6952]

best series on youtube! enjoyed this one Jon :)

[@sapiotone]

Might have to take the mrs to Woodhouse Lane. She's American, so the danger of crossing those lanes to North Street will remind her of the stupidly designed on/off ramps they have on US freeways. I mean, who the hell thinks its a good idea to mix traffic that's trying to get up to speed with traffic slowing down??? Both fans of the channel, John. Keep up the good work! :)

[@goddam9925]

Awesome !!😁

[@RD-ht6go]

Another right-hand-side exit is the M25 jcn 5. You stay left to go on M25 and right to A21 or M26, but those slip roads are enormous and A21 is also a big dual carriageway.

[@missingtale]

Also M1 j43 to join M621 but it's not the same as that junction on the A64

[@vincentharriman3283]

That dates back to when the bit of the M25 north of junction 5 didn't exist. Instead all M25 traffic had to continue along what's now the M26. Why they couldn't have rehashed the junction when the missing bit of the M25 is a mystery to me.

[@PhilJohnsonMusic]

Did you know, when they upgraded the Regent Street bridge to steel girders they dropped one of the old reinforced concrete girders onto the road below. I don't think anyone was injured or killed thankfully.

[@rachelwalker7091]

I heard they loaded one onto an unsuitable truck and it squished it. Nobody was injured.

[@TonyLing]

Thanks Jon

[@FinnDeacon]

Thanks

[@AutoShenanigans]

Thanks a lot mate!

[@shaun30-3-mg9zs]

Hi Jon, great video 👍

[@petrolhead28]

A more interesting replacement for the top gear borefest

[@mark_8719]

Leeds centre is a bloody nightmare

[@A-90_M_]

I wish there was a leeds orbital moterway...

[@Rhodgie]

The M8 at junctions 15 & 17 (I think?) has entrances and exits on the right hand lanes 🤷‍♂️

[@carldickson2603]

How did you get on with the Ring road Jon? I spent 5 years delivering around leeds and was forever getting asked for directions by people perplexed by it!!

[@AutoShenanigans]

Woodhouse lane car park onto the A64M to then immediately exit on the right side... it was less than ideal but I managed, I feel sorry for the other cars in the pile up though.

[@chickenpopper]

John how many takes do you have to do when you're stood at the side of a busy road like this? Surely a few people recognise you and blast their horn or shout out of the window.

[@AutoShenanigans]

Far too many takes because yes they do.

[@Ibis117]

Question: Do you have plans for a series on "Coulda ,woulda, shoulda, usedta" been motorways? M41, A102 (M), A2(M), M10, etc?

[@tsukishiro70]

It's Jon. Automatic "Like".

[@jonathonbrett-qn1ic]

Brilliant thank you

[@andrewhotston983]

John, thanks for visiting all these urban motorway hellscapes so that we don't have to.

[@sarkybugger5009]

Leeds. Not been there for 20 years, but it was a bloody nightmare then, and it looks like nothing much has changed.

[@rachelwalker7091]

It has changed. It’s got much worse.

[@roberthindle5146]

Fab video as usual. Except, for the second time only, I didn't recognise the outro theme :( Any pointers?

[@Jamiered18]

"Planned in the 1960s, but never completed" is the story of this channel