Chronology Maps

1958 1959 1960

Click a section name to see full details and a map.

Completed Route Name Start End Original number Downgraded
M4 Chiswick Flyover J1 Chiswick Great West Road A4
M1 London-Yorkshire Motorway J5 Berrygrove J18 Crick
M45 Dunchurch Spur M1 J17 Kilsby J1 Dunchurch
A414 St Albans Bypass J1 Park Street M1 J7 Breakspears M10

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A bridge under troubled bridges

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

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.

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M1-A1 Link Road

Those last few miles of the M1 east of Leeds were completed in 1999. It looks for the most part like a fairly average piece of road, but one of the project's engineers describes some of the challenges that were faced.