Ex-industrial city Manchester has an urban motorway. Ex-industrial city Leeds has an urban motorway. Ex-industrial city Newcastle has an urban motorway. Are you seeing a trend? A glance at any map of Merseyside, on the other hand, reveals a city devoid of motorway mileage.
But in the early 1960's, Liverpool did make plans for an urban motorway - the Liverpool Inner Motorway - and got as far as drawing up detailed plans. There is evidence to suggest it was still on the cards as recently as the late 1970's. So what happened to it?
This section explores the LIM - what it would have looked like, where it would have run and what it would have connected to. It examines the history of the scheme and suggests some reasons why it was never progressed. It also looks into the closely related tale of the M62 - the motorway that finishes at junction 4, obviously pointing at the centre of Liverpool.
An ambitious plan - see the facts, read the spec sheet and examine every inch of the route in its original plan diagrams. Then find out what happened to it.
All that was previously known about M62 J1-3 was that it should have come between the centre of Liverpool and J4. This page reveals where the route would have gone, with a couple of surprises uncovered.
Sources
- Shankland, G. Planning Consultant's Report, no.7: Central Area Roads: Inner Motorway System. 1962.
- Shankland, G. Planning Consultant's Report, no.11: Central Area Parking. 1962.
- Amos, FJC. M62 Urban Section: Area Action Plan. 1974.
This article was made possible by the friendly staff of Liverpool Central Library. It would not have been possible without their help, and I would like to thank them all, except the grumpy one on the front desk who didn't seem to like me much. You can keep your blunt pencils.
