M32 Bristol Parkway

Where is it?

Bristol.

It leads from the M4 at junction 19 in towards the city centre.

Can you show me that on a map?

Of course!

When was it built?

The first section, from the M4 to J1 was completed in 1966. From junction 2 to junction 3 was fininshed in 1970, and the final section was completed in 1975.

What makes this a pathetic motorway?

Erm, well, erm...

Get on with it!

OK, it's reasonably short, the first bit was just a bit of the M4... Oh, and Bristol City Council apparently want to remove the motorway restrictions from its bit of the M32 and put a bus lane on it!

Now that seems a bit pointless to me!

Yes, me too. If you accept that the motorway has already been built, then simply replacing the blue signs for green ones won't make the slightest bit of difference to anything. Except, perhaps, to discourage traffic from using it and encourage the use of other routes into Bristol, most of which won't have been designed to take as much traffic as the M32...

Makes you just shake your head doesn't it?

It certainly does.

Can I see some photographs while it's still a motorway?

You only need to ask...

Can I comment on this motorway?

Of course! Contact me and I'll put them here!

Have any other visitors commented?

Comments before September 2007 can be found in the relevant archive.

Richard points out [September 07]:

I wouldn't worry too much about it ever being downgraded, Bristol City Council pretty much had to can the idea of installing a bus lane on the M32 as they spent too long procrastinating about how to do it and consequently lost the funding offered by the government to do it. what a bunch of muppets.

Whilst Adam notes [Dec 07]:

It's just been announced by the Transport Minister Tom Harris that the M32 will not be detrunked, although Bristol City Councillors have stated that this will not affect their decisions to install a bus lane. However I reckon the M32 will remain the same for a long time to come now!  Hurrah!

More bus lane fun, as reported by David Smith [July 08]:

The M32 bus lane is planned to go ahead as part of the Greater Bristol Bus Network.  It will not take away one of the traffic lanes, but will be a third lane, presumably reallocating the hard shoulder.

Joe reports [Jan 09]:

Just to update you, the bus lane has now been built, although it only starts after Junction 3, where the Motorway ends.

There are still two traffic lanes and the bus lane has been put on the offside, akin to the M4, rather than the more conventional location on the nearside.

M32

Bristol Parkway

County:

Gloucestershire

Length:

4.5 miles

7 km

Built:

1966 - 75

Status:

Current

Map Links:

Might Have Been Map

Present Day Map

On other websites:

CBRD Motorway Database

The Motorway Archive