special roads

Special Road status is a classification given to certain roads in the UK. You may wonder that you have never heard of the term, especially since it does not appear on any signage. However, chances are that your regular commute to work or a weekend away will involve you driving along such a road.

The reason for it not appearing on signage is because Special Road status is a legal term. It is basically a road that has restrictions imposed upon it - all motorways are Special Roads. In effect, it is the more formal legal term for a motorway, yet not all Special Roads are motorways.

The Background

For a road to become a Special Road, it must have a Statutory Instrument imposed against it, as required under the Highways Act of 1980. This outlines the proposed route and specification of the road, and must be approved before the road can be constructed.

Originally, Special Roads were designated under the Special Roads Act of 1949, which stated that Parliament could grant permission for roads to be constructed which revoked access rights to certain road users. Basically, they were not a right of way, but most vehicle users could still use the road. Previously, all roads were rights of way, so all vehicular traffic could use them, and pedestrians could walk alongside them. The Act would allow roads to be built solely for use by vehicular traffic.

The Special Roads Act was later incorporated into the Highways Act 1959, and later the Highways Act 1980. In all, Special Road status prohibits certain road users, these being:
- learner drivers (except HGV learners)
- cyclists
- horse riders
- invalid carriages
- agricultural vehicles
- motor-scooters
- motorcycles under 50cc
- pedestrians
The regulations also forbid stopping for any reason, except in an emergency, due to a queue, or under instruction of a police officer, traffic officer of Variable Message Sign.

Motorways as Special Roads

As previously mentioned, Special Road status must be applied to all motorways; this includes exit and entry slip roads. Speed limits do not need to be included in this, as they are set by the Motorways Traffic (Speed Limit) Regulations of 1974, which state a maximum speed of 70mph for most vehicles, with HGVs and vehicles towing trailers or caravans being limited to 60mph. Of course, there is an exception, which is where a lower speed limit needs to be imposed. These regulations were introduced as the National Speed Limit would otherwise not apply because it only covers rights of way - the regulations extend the limit to motorways.

In Scotland, different regulations mean that the 70mph speed limit must be signposted at all motorway entry points.

Non-Motorway Examples

Although most special roads are motorways, some are not. Most non-motorway versions are toll bridges, but there are some seemingly normal roads which are... well, special! These are generally high quality dual carriageways, often referred to as "Expressways". One term often used to describe them is "Secret Motorway", as they are effectively a motorway, but without the blue signs.

Again, because these roads are not designated as rights of way, their speed limits must be shown If not, there would be no enforceable speed limit. It often means the rare use of a 70mph sign, which looks unusual, especially when it is on the same pole as a National Speed Limit sign facing the other way!

Non-motorway Special Roads are found on these roads:

A1	Expressway in East Lothian between Tranent and Dunbar, which runs parallel (and bypasses) the old A1, now A199.
A55	Well constructed route along the Colwyn Bay seafront, through a cutting. A 50mph limit is in force here, however, due to some tight turns and a lack of hard shoulder.
A55	High quality section of route passing over the top of Llandudno Junction and through the Conwy Tunnel.
A720	Another high quality dual carriageway, bypassing Edinburgh to the south of the city.

High Quality Dual Carriageways

And beyond the Special Roads, there are some roads which are not. Yet they ought to be, because they're pretty good! Driving along them, you'd probably think they were motorways, because they have hard shoulders and big junctions, yet for one reason or another, they've not been upgraded. This is usually because there is no alternative route for banned traffic to take.

Here are some truly excellent roads, probably never likely to have a Statutory Instrument see light of day...

A1	The Blyth Bypass is an all-purpose two lane dual carriageway with hard shoulders for about two miles in total.
A8	Full dual carriageway with intermittent hard shoulders - is currently being upgraded to Motorway standard, and will form part of the M8.
A27	Very often the road that annoys enthusiasts, the A27 between the M27 and Havant is three to four lanes wide with hard shoulders. Some sources say a lack of alternative route stops this being a motorway (despite the old A27 running almost parallel), whilst others say the hard shoulders are a couple of inches too narrow!
A55	Large sections of the A55 (excluding the two sections mentioned above) are built to a high quality, complete with intermittent hard shoulders.
A167	A section of dual carriageway with three lanes and hard shoulders by-passing the area of Spital Tongues in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Again, its probably a case of hard shoulders being too narrow that prevent this road from turning blue. However, this road was meant to be a motorway. So what stopped it then?
A533, A557 & A558	The new town of Runcorn in north Cheshire has a road network with some extremely flamboyant junctions. These Expressways came complete with hard shoulders, although more recently some of those have been transformed into bus lanes. Another problem was the abundance of tight corners, which could be down to the geography surrounding the town.