I've often been held up in a two lane jam all the way up the hill to the
M40 from the Marlow junction. The OP should consider other ways to get
from Marlow to the M40, if possible! It might even be quicker to go down
to the M4 and east as far as J3, then north through Yeading and
Northolt.

Why? That's absolute lunacy.

Using "main" roads it would almost certainly reduce the journey time.

Would it? When you say through Yeading and Northolt I'm guessing you're
talking the A312, and not the old main road (Yeading Lane?). I certainly
wouldn't choose to go that way in the rush hour, having experienced queues
up to the White Hart roundabout to a small extent and, to a much larger
extent, up to the Target roundabout, with that peak hours bus lane taking
out half of the road capacity when it's needed most!

Or were you thinking about heading up past South Ruislip station and in to
Harrow that way?

The road up past Marlow Bottom (Wycombe Road)
is a very easy and hassle-free way to get up to Handy Cross.

Sounds fine, I've not tried that rat run, but thanks for alerting me to
it - I will next time I'm there!

Keep it quiet though, you don't want it getting all over the internet, or
the route will quickly clog up. :-)

--
Tell me your birthday! www.BornOnTheSameDay.co.uk
Called Pete? Join The Pete Collective NOW at www.thepetecollective.co.uk

In message , at 14:32:21 on Fri,
4 Nov 2005, AstraVanMan
remarked:
Using "main" roads it would almost certainly reduce the journey time.

Would it?

I'm comparing it with the route that involves sitting half on hour the
hill up to High Wycombe, remember.

When you say through Yeading and Northolt I'm guessing you're
talking the A312, and not the old main road (Yeading Lane?).

A312 all the way, past Northolt Station.

It's a few years since I've motored around there very much, so the fine
detail of exactly which roads to use might be different.
--
Roland Perry

On Fri, 4 Nov 2005 08:11:33 +0000, Roland Perry
wrote:

I've often been held up in a two lane jam all the way up the hill to the
M40 from the Marlow junction. The OP should consider other ways to get
from Marlow to the M40, if possible! It might even be quicker to go down
to the M4 and east as far as J3, then north through Yeading and
Northolt.

Handy Cross will be experiencing road works until end 2006 shortly to
add in extra slip roads. Odds are an unpleasant experience at peak
times until it's finished (or until the disaster that it is is ever
fixed properly..)

--
New anti-spam address cmylod at despammed dot com

In message , at 15:58:55 on
Fri, 4 Nov 2005, Colum Mylod remarked:
Handy Cross will be experiencing road works until end 2006 shortly to
add in extra slip roads. Odds are an unpleasant experience at peak
times until it's finished (or until the disaster that it is is ever
fixed properly..)

Perhaps it should be renamed "Not very Handy" Cross.

--
Roland Perry

Using "main" roads it would almost certainly reduce the journey time.

Would it?

I'm comparing it with the route that involves sitting half on hour the
hill up to High Wycombe, remember.

When you say through Yeading and Northolt I'm guessing you're
talking the A312, and not the old main road (Yeading Lane?).

A312 all the way, past Northolt Station.

It's a few years since I've motored around there very much, so the fine
detail of exactly which roads to use might be different.

I'm on about the bit before the A40. Right pain, that is.

--
Tell me your birthday! www.BornOnTheSameDay.co.uk
Called Pete? Join The Pete Collective NOW at www.thepetecollective.co.uk

"AstraVanMan" wrote in message
...

The road up past Marlow Bottom (Wycombe Road)
is a very easy and hassle-free way to get up to Handy Cross.

Sounds fine, I've not tried that rat run, but thanks for alerting me to
it - I will next time I'm there!

Keep it quiet though, you don't want it getting all over the internet, or
the route will quickly clog up. :-)

Too late!

You had to tell him, didn't you?!?!

AstraVanMan wrote:
Is this - via A40/M40 - going to be a nightmare ?

Any idea on time ?

Leaving Harrow in the morning, returning evening.


You will be going against the prevailing traffic, so it shouldn't be a
problem once you get to the A40.

...although sometimes Handy Cross (M40 junction 4) and the A404 can be a
bit of a pain.

Exit at J3 and use the Flackwell Heath / Sheepridge Lane route then.


That might be a good idea going to Marlow in the morning (not too familiar
with the traffic westbound coming off at J4 in the morning), but in the
evening, coming through Marlow Bottom, to go straight up to Handy Cross and
onto the M40 shouldn't be too much trouble at all - the roundabout itself is
never that bad from what I've seen, it's just the queues up to it, mainly on
the A404 from the South.

Handy cross i9s stuffed at the moment for about 150 years avoid at all costs

"AstraVanMan" wrote in message
...

I certainly wouldn't choose to go that way in the
rush hour, having experienced queues up to the
White Hart roundabout to a small extent and,
to a much larger extent, up to the Target roundabout,
with that peak hours bus lane taking
out half of the road capacity when it's needed most!

Generally the capacity of a road is limited by the capacity of the
junctions. If the bus lane doesn't reach the most restricted junction, it
doesn't reduce the capacity at all - it actually increases the capacity by
encouraging certain drivers to get the bus instead, leaving more capacity
free for people who can not reasonably use the bus for their particular
journey.

--
John Rowland - Spamtrapped
Transport Plans for the London Area, updated 2001
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acro...69/tpftla.html
A man's vehicle is a symbol of his manhood.
That's why my vehicle's the Piccadilly Line -
It's the size of a county and it comes every two and a half minutes

Is this - via A40/M40 - going to be a nightmare ?

Any idea on time ?

Leaving Harrow in the morning, returning evening.

The A312 is very slow going north from Northolt Target in the evening. Maybe
coming off at Polish War Memorial and going past South Ruislip station might
be better.

The OP might also try coming off at the Greenford B&Q exit, turning left
past Greenford tube station, past Westway Cross retail park, and then
getting onto Whitton Avenue and heading back towards Harrow that way.

It's a little detour, but it does avoid the queue getting off the A40 at
either Target or Polish - which can be as bad as 15-20 minutes or so.

Regards
Paul

I certainly wouldn't choose to go that way in the
rush hour, having experienced queues up to the
White Hart roundabout to a small extent and,
to a much larger extent, up to the Target roundabout,
with that peak hours bus lane taking
out half of the road capacity when it's needed most!

Generally the capacity of a road is limited by the capacity of the
junctions. If the bus lane doesn't reach the most restricted junction, it
doesn't reduce the capacity at all - it actually increases the capacity by
encouraging certain drivers to get the bus instead, leaving more capacity
free for people who can not reasonably use the bus for their particular
journey.

All very well if any of that was relevant to this case. Unfortunately it
isn't. The Target roundabout's a very busy roundabout with a lot of people
going straight on towards Northolt station and Harrow, and a very heavy flow
of traffic taking the Eastbound A40. The traffic needs to be separated into
different lanes for a lot longer than the very short distance between the
end of the bus lane and the junction. And the bus theory would work if at
least 50% of drivers did take the bus. Unfortunately, for probably the vast
majority of the drivers, taking the car is far quicker than using the bus,
so that's not going to happen, and the congestion stays.

--
Tell me your birthday! www.BornOnTheSameDay.co.uk
Called Pete? Join The Pete Collective NOW at www.thepetecollective.co.uk