In and out of a sixties New Town
Basingstoke is one of the UK's sixties New Towns - whole new urban areas planned and built back when we thought the car was king. That means it has a network of urban roads that are unlike anything in most UK towns, including one right through, and under, the town centre.
Back on 4 January 2008 we took a spin around the town to see its expressway ring road, Ringway, and to pass through the middle on Churchill Way. This looping journey starts and ends at Black Dam Roundabout in the south east of town. In the years since then the town hasn't changed hugely but its roads do look different - how many differences can you spot?
Map extract from OS Opendata 1:250,000 Scale Colour Raster under the Open Government Licence 3.0.
What's new
Where did the M25 come from?
London’s notorious orbital motorway turns 40 years old today. Where did it come from - and why the number “25”?
The long way round
When a road is closed, why isn't the diversion route just the quickest way past the closure?
Signs and sensibility
The one great attempt to make London’s streets logical - and how one retired chauffeur’s favourite routes changed the way you get around the capital.
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.
