A49 underbridge, view north, 17 July 1996
A49 underbridge, view north (see all photos of the same view)
The bridge over the A49 is now mostly complete. Some work appears to remain on the guard rails at the far side. At the bottom right, a small car park was built as part of the motorway project. It serves the footpath leading away to the right towards Cuerden Valley Park.
Structure 5 (A49 underbridge)
A49 Wigan Road
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...
A1(M) Darlington Bypass
Opened in May 1965, the A1(M) Darlington Bypass was one of the UK's earliest motorways and made huge strides in linking the North East to the rest of England. Explore the pioneering spirit of its engineers in the book they produced to mark its opening.
