View west from Leeds-Liverpool Canal underbridge to Sandy Lane, 20 July 1995

View west from Leeds-Liverpool Canal underbridge to Sandy Lane (see all photos of the same view)

The new bridge over the canal now has its deck in place, but is not yet in use for construction traffic. The temporary bridge on the left is still in situ, but will shortly be removed. On the right, one of the new embankment slopes has been grassed over, the first of the new motorway earthworks to be fully complete.

Date
Direction of view
West
Structures visible

Structure 19 (Leeds-Liverpool Canal underbridge)

What's new

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

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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?

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.

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