Update: just had the following email response from Amey:

The road marking that you requested has been included in a package of minor works at the junction which is included in the forward programme works for this area.

We are also carrying out a safety review at M42 J6 and I have forwarded your email below and photographs to the engineer carrying out that work.

Hopefully this page won’t be needed for much longer…

This is the account of a still-ongoing personal quest of mine, to get a short stretch of white line painted on the roundabout where the M42 meets the A45 to the east of Birmingham at junction 6.

As a quick summary, the lack of a line encourages traffic to stay in a lane when it should (according to road signs and lane marking text) be spiralling outwards, to the detriment of traffic to their right who need to spiral outwards at that point. It causes daily frustration, aggression, congestion and delay.

I’ve sent several emails to the Highways Agency and Amey Mouchel (who are responsible for that junction) with no effect other than a polite content-free reply. Here’s the latest missive I sent. If this junction’s poor design affects you too, feel free to write to the same people.

to: enquiries@ameymouchel.com,
cc: ha_info@highways.gsi.gov.uk
date: 4 November 2009
subject: M42 J6 lane markings

The chaos continues at this junction. A reminder of my previous complaint:

At the south to west quadrant of the roundabout, the lane text and road signs make it abundantly clear that M42(N) traffic should move outwards from lane 3 (inside) to lane 2 (middle). Anyone in lane 2 at the south traffic lights should be either moving to lane 1 (NEC) or exiting to the A45(W).

However, the white lines do not encourage this behaviour. Many drivers heading for M42(N) take up position in lane 2 on the south section and stay in that lane, causing chaos at busy times as sign-abiding drivers attempt to merge in from lane 3 in the short west section.

All that’s needed to fix this problem is an extra white line making it clear that the right of way lies with traffic changing from lane 3 to lane 2; and that staying in lane 2 is not correct behaviour. This is exactly what happens in the east to south section where there are no such difficulties.

The attached image shows the problem from the air, together with my proposed solution.

If there’s someone else I should be contacting to get this change implemented or at least reviewed, please let me know.

and the image — click to open a large version in a new window:

There is a Highways Agency webcam covering the patch of road at the top-left of my image. Check it out on this BBC site — around rush hour, you should regularly see the inside lane blocked by someone attempting to move to the middle lane, but unable to do so due to someone else incorrectly staying on the middle lane from the previous section.