Nestled in the heart of Gloucestershire is a motorway like no other. It is nine lanes wide, comes complete with hard shoulders, signage and gantries, and even has a proper number. However, you cannot access it, you cannot drive on it, and you cannot see it from any other roads.
This motorway is the M96. It is as important as many other motorways, but it has a completely different purpose. It is a dummy motorway, constructed as part of the Fire Service College's facilities. The FSC provides training facilities for fire-fighters from across the UK and further afield. There are many specialist scenarios, from oil rigs and ships to trains and aeroplanes.
It is also used for filming by television crews, due to its realistic nature, and has appeared in several programmes, including "The Day Britain Stopped".
Access is not normally available to the site, however permission was granted for Roads UK to take photographs of the motorway, as part of a special tour for SABRE members. Many thanks go to the Fire Service College for allowing this to happen.
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Just to show how well laid out the college site is, there are direction signs all over the complex, advising staff and visitors on where each area is. The M96 is signed complete with chopsticks symbol, whilst the British Rail logo appears on the arm directing people towards the dummy railway station. |
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This is the sign approaching the same roundabout (and there are several on the site!), but on the road heading away from the station. |
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A close-up of the patch containing the M96 number. The lettering looks newer due to the colouring, which seems to suggest that the sign may have been recycled? |
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The entrance to the motorway comes complete with a proper "start of restrictions" sign. Adding to the authenticity is a motorway "NO" sign, which would have been commonplace on the earliest stretches of motorway. |
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A close-up photograph of the "NO" sign, stating what is not permitted to use the motorway. It does look good for its age! |
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The reverse side of the "NO" sign, which shows the originality of the sign - many early "Anderton" and "Warboys" were bolted onto the supports like this (nowadays, there are reacks that the supports slide into). |
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A general view of the northbound carriageway. |
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Looking down the motorway, heading northwards along the length of the M96. Yes, that is indeed a "70" sign, something that isn't seen very often these days! |
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A close-up of the "70" sign. Yes, the speed limit is 70mph, although as the motorway is on private land, the National Speed Limit cannot be applied - these 70 signs are the next best thing! |
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An "end of motorway restrictions" sign, located at the southern end of the motorway. |
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Another original "NO" sign, although this one states what motorists are not permitted to do once on the motorway. Again, these would have been commonplace on early motorways. |
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A look towards the end of the southbound carriageway, where six lanes of motorway come to an abrupt halt! The coned area marks a turning area for HGVs |
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The motorway even comes with its own crossover point, just to add to the authenticity, although there is a "no U-turns" sign to reiterate what the blue sign above instructs. |
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The southbound carriageway, looking to wards the overhead gantry. |
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This is an emergency refuge, set out in a similar fashion to the refuges found on motorways with Active Traffic Management (ATM). |
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A pair of electrical control boxes. |
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The detail this motorway has is immense, even down to the small features such as this LED cat's eye. |
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The southbound carriageway comes complete with an overhead gantry, in the same style as those found on ATM motorways. The only thing missing are the variable message signs! |
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A series of dashed markings are found on the southbound carriageway. This is because similar markings are found in ATM zones due to the presence of speed enforcement cameras. |
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Looking southbound along the central reservation, showing the full motorway in context. |
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Chainage markers run along the length of the M96, although in this case they appear on the central reserve instead of at the sides of the road. They even come with their own numbering system! |
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The start of motorway sign, which is sited at the opposite end of the motorway to the one shown at the top of this page. |
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2nd Avenue, the M96's official name - all of the roads within the complex are numbered in such a fashion. |
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A look beyond the start of motorway towards the gantry. |
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The northern end of motorway's "end of restrictions" sign, which comes complete with an original "end of motorway" sign. The road in the background is a smaller road used by Highways Agency - they utilise parts of the facility for their own training programmes. |
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A close up of the "end of motorway" sign, which nicely brings us to the end of the tour! |