Cuerden embankment, view north, 14 February 1997
Cuerden embankment, view north (see all photos of the same view)
With Cuerden embankment now finished and landscaped, its enormous scale can be seen. On top, the road bed appears to have been prepared and graded, but no surface courses have been laid yet.
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.
Have you seen...
M25 Orbital Motorway
The M25 is either one of the greatest transport achievements of the 20th century or one of Britain's largest planning failures, depending on which way you look at it. This booklet takes the former view, celebrating the completion of the circuit in 1986.
