Blog

London’s notorious orbital motorway turns 40 years old today. Where did it come from - and why the number “25”?

When a road is closed, why isn't the diversion route just the quickest way past the closure?

The one great attempt to make London’s streets logical - and how one retired chauffeur’s favourite routes changed the way you get around the capital.

A bridge that was ruined by another bridge, and a type of highway planning beyond any of the UK’s worst nightmares.

What might it have been like to stand in one spot and witness the arrival, and the uncertainty, of plans for an urban motorway in West London?

It was the UK's only single-carriageway motorway, and twenty years ago it ceased to exist. This is the story of the strange fascination it held, and of my place in history.

The second part of the story, where we learn why exactly the M4 gets narrower on the final approach to Europe’s biggest city.

The M4 into London was one of the UK's earliest and most ambitious motorway projects. It was bold, pioneering... and almost instantly regretted.

An introduction to what I write, and why I write it, and where my strange new road sign simulator fits in to all this.

It was specially designed never to be noticed. And now it's disappearing, nobody has noticed its absence. It's London's own bespoke street light.

The wait is over! The full map of the Ringways, London’s unbuilt urban motorway network, is now online. Not even the system's planners had anything like this.

Kent County Council is run by eurosceptic nationalists. So why are they putting EU flags on their road signs?

On Saturday 31 May something historic happened. The Heads of the Valleys Road was finally complete.

Our much-loved Opening Booklets section has two new publications for you to explore, and we’re making some overdue changes to make them easier to find and easier to read.

The Silvertown Tunnel is finally open for business. One question remains: what’s it for?

For the first time, we can share pictures of the pioneering experiment that lit up the Worcestershire countryside with enormous signs 61 years ago.

In July 2024, a new Government entered office with a very different set of priorities. What does it mean for a faltering roads programme?

It's 100 years since the opening of the world's first motorway, the Autostrada from Milan to the Lakes.

In 2022, Manchester City Council say they reduced the speed limit on the Mancunian Way to 30mph. But it’s not clear if they did. It’s not even clear if they can.

Road numbering is a system with clear rules. What happens when the people responsible for numbering roads don't follow them?