Cuerden embankment, view north, 10 January 1996

Cuerden embankment, view north (see all photos of the same view)

Work continues to build up the massive Cuerden embankment. It has reached the height of the sliproads, but the mainline of the motorway will run even higher on its approach to the viaduct. In the centre of the picture more material is about to be piled up for this purpose.

Date
Direction of view
North

What's new

The road that made no sense

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 forever bottleneck, part 2

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 forever bottleneck, part 1

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

Share this page

Have you seen...

M1 under construction

Pictures taken as the first section of the M1 was being built in 1958-9, with all its unique architecture still under construction.