Mark Goodge wrote:
On Wed, 14 Nov 2007 21:23:55 -0000, John Rowland put finger to
keyboard and typed:


I found a road today (Knapp Road E3) with a standard T-shaped "No
Through Road" sign, and underneath were the words "Except Access".
Every time I try to figure out what that might mean, my head turns
into a Moebius strip.

That's not entirely stupid. Assuming you have something like this:

| |
A ------------------B----------------C
| |

where the lines are roads, then if the section B-C is "no vehicles
except for access", then at junction A it would be entirely true to
say that A-B is "no through road except for access", and at junction A
would be the sign you describe.

A typical situation where this might occur is where the section A-B is
a normal-sized road, suitable for all traffic, but between B and C it
becomes extremely narrow and/or twisty. Another situation would be
where B-C runs through a housing estate but A-B serves an industrial
estate just on the A side of B, and the authorities want to exclude
industrial estate traffic from the housing estate - forcing it to use
access A at all times - while still permitting residents of the
housing estate to enter and leave via either A or C.

That's very clever - I never thought of that. I thought the sign was absurd
because "Access only" means "You aren't allowed here unless your journey is
terminating here", and "Dead end" means "This road is only useful if your
journey is terminating here", so "Dead end except access" means "This road
is only useful if your journey is terminating here, unless your journey is
terminating here, in which case this road is useful for journeys which
aren't terminating here". But your example does seem to defeat my "logic".

I finally got around to checking the other end. Cantrell Road has closed
gates on both ends which could theoretically be opened, but there are no
properties on the road apart from a yard at the east end. Presumably only
the yard staff have keys for either side. All in all, the sign still seems
strange - since the yard staff presumably know that their yard can be
accessed from either side, a simple "Dead End" sign would tell everyone else
all they need to know. After all, if a premises such as a bus garage or
industrial estate had entrances onto two separate dead-end roads, that
wouldn't stop the roads from being signed as dead end roads, and the only
difference between that situation and this one is that Cantrell Road is
presumably owned by the council and physically blocked, whereas the bus
garage or industrial estate would be private and physically unblocked.