M1 Or M40?

[SteveD]

Travelling from Dover to central Birmingham on a Friday morning in September and assuming no hold-ups, roadworks etc (if only!), what are the pros and cons of M25 anticlockwise and M1 over M25 clockwise and M40?

[DTCwordfan]

Easy one - go the M40......I've been up and down the M1 from Leeds to London in the past month and the M1 is hell from just north of the M25 turn to north of Bedford - nigh on 40 miles of crawling. It's not an assumption but reality.

In theory, I would say it depends on which side of Brum you want to be on.

[Togo]

I suppose the M1 route is the more convenient, but it may depend where in Birmingham you are heading for. There is nothing in it in distance(about 8 miles) but the M40 is a nicer motorway if that bit longer. The M40 would therefor be my choice. If there is bad traffic on the 25 there is another route via the M11 A14 although this is about 17 miles further than the M40 route and 25 miles further that the M1 route.

[sddsddean]

M40. I have been working on the 'smart motorway' works between J13 and J16 on the M1 and it takes one puncture (or worse!) to cause chaos! M40 is a much safer bet.

[mushroom25]

if you go M1, you'll also have to negotiate the M6 smart motorway works between Coventry and the M42.

[SteveD]

Thanks to all. M40 it is unless indicated otherwise onthe day.

[spathiphyllum]

I'd take the M40, it goes closer to Birmingham than the M1. If you take M1 you will need to change to either m6 or m42 anyway.

[SteveD]

Well, we took the M25 / M40 route and it was a frustrating stop, start, stop, start crawl round the M25, then the M40 and then the M42. It was hot and the sun was low so it was all a bit of a pain. There were no accidents and no roadworks which appeared to cause any real problems - just density of traffic, I guess. We took the opportunity to visit Waterperry gardens at Wheatley just off the M43 - worth the detour!