This beachside road blazed a trail
You might never have heard of the Studland Motor Road. It's a private road leading to the Sandbanks Ferry in Dorset, but don't be fooled by its ordinary appearance. This might be the UK's first motorway. The company that owns it has never enforced the rules, but the 100-year-old law that created it did something that had never been done before - it gives them the option to restrict it to motor traffic only.
Filmed on 13 June 2009, this video takes a drive up the Motor Road from Studland to the ferry port on a sunny summer's day, with glimpses of the blue waters of the bay here and there along the road.
See the full story of the Studland Motor Road.
Map extract from OS Opendata 1:250,000 Scale Colour Raster under the
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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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