Riley Green interchange, view west, 21 October 1996

Riley Green interchange, view west (see all photos of the same view)

The new interchange is seen at the bottom of this picture; stretching away in the distance, almost to the M61, the motorway itself is looking surprisingly near to completion from this angle.

Date
Direction of view
West
Structures visible

Structure 20/20a (Riley Green interchange bridges)

Roads visible

A674 Chorley Road

A675 Bolton Road

What's new

The monster seen from below

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.

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.

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