Grid Road Speed Limits

Since 2004, the grid road system has been subject to a rolling program of speed limit reductions. Although several attempts at a citywide speed limit review have been quashed by public opposition, Milton Keynes Council has nonetheless proceeded with a piecemeal program, reducing individual sections of road one at a time. The below maps illustrate the scale of change in grid road speed limits between 2004 and 2024:

Green = 60mph+ / Yellow = 50mph / Orange = 40mph / Red = 30mph

There have been a few pretexts for these speed limit reductions:

  • To reduce pedestrian/car collisions, such as along the V7 at Eaglestone and Netherfield.
  • As part of a “safety scheme” to reduce road traffic collisions at junctions, such as H2 at Stacey Bushes and V3 at Furzton.
  • To accomodate at-grade pedestrian crossings, such as V4 at Whitehouse, V10 at Walton Park, and V6/H10 around Denbigh North.
  • To accommodate a new road design with junctions (e.g. signal junctions or mini roundabouts) or lane widths not suitable for high speeds, such as V7 at Denbigh North and H5 around Portway Roundabout.

In all these cases, the speed limit reductions represent a failure to invest in a solution that addresses the safety issue (where one exists) without compromising the design standards of the grid road system. In some cases, such as H4 at Two Mile Ash, all this required was a design with wider lanes. In other cases, such as V7 at Eaglestone and Netherfield, this required the full dualling of the road to accommodate its heavy traffic flows with central reservation barriers to prevent unsafe pedestrian activity on the grid road.

City of the Future’s Position

City of the Future is campaigning for the following policy on grid road speed limits and crossings:

  • A citywide 60mph speed limit, including dual carriageways:
    • 70mph dual carriageways should be reduced to 60mph, except for the long section of H8 between V8 and V10.
    • All other grid roads with limits below 60mph should be raised back to 60mph once suitable safety interventions have been made where necessary.
    • The only grid roads below 60mph should be Grafton Gate, Saxon Gate, and Overgate through CMK and Campbell Park (40mph) and the short section of V7 outside Bletchley bus station (30mph).
  • The removal of all at-grade crossings on the grid road network, except those with very low traffic levels (e.g. H1), and the provision of new grade-separated crossings to replace them where necessary. This will require:
    • 1 new crossing on H2
    • 1 new crossing on H3
    • 1 new crossing on H4 (another will be required when H4 is extended to meet V2)
    • 1 new crossing and 1 diversion through existing grade-separated crossing on H10
    • 1 new crossing on V2
    • 3 new crossings on V4, assuming 1 crossing on the H8-H10 section
    • 1 new crossing on V6
    • 1 diversion through existing grade-separated crossing on V8
    • 1 new crossing on V10
  • The dualling of the busiest and highest-risk single-carriageway grid roads, including the following top-priority sections:
    • H5, V4-A5
    • H7, V6-V8
    • H10, V7-A5
    • V6, H2-H3 and H9-H10
    • V7, H3-H4 and H7-H10
    • V10, H3-H4
    • V11, H5-H6

For more information about how City of the Future expects these improvements to be funded, see our proposal for a Milton Keynes Infrastructure Trust.