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We write about UK road infrastructure and history! Join us for updates and other stuff from the UK's favourite roads website, www.roads.org.uk
Pinned
Yesterday we took the deepest dive into the untold history of an unremarked piece of street furniture, and how detail is everything if you want to forge a city's identity. roadsorguk.substack.com/p/london-in-...
Reposted by Roads.org.uk 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️
The opening ceremony brochure for Westway and the West Cross Route from July 1970. “Guests will be invited to […] proceed with a police escort to Westway where the Minister will be invited by the Leader of the Council to cut a ribbon on the westbound carriageway and to declare the new roadways open”
December 26, 2025 at 10:14 AM
The opening ceremony brochure for Westway and the West Cross Route from July 1970. “Guests will be invited to […] proceed with a police escort to Westway where the Minister will be invited by the Leader of the Council to cut a ribbon on the westbound carriageway and to declare the new roadways open”
How do you fix the M4 into London? The Ministry of Transport thought you couldn't. But a team of engineers had other ideas, and wanted to extend it as a right-hand-drive elevated road across London to Barking. ("Barking" was the operative word in their plan.) www.roads.org.uk/ringways/wes...
M4 and A4
Serving Reading, Bristol and South Wales, the A4 and M4 are one of London's most important approaches. But the wildest fantasies of the sixties couldn't overcome its trickier problems.
www.roads.org.uk
December 24, 2025 at 6:58 PM
How do you fix the M4 into London? The Ministry of Transport thought you couldn't. But a team of engineers had other ideas, and wanted to extend it as a right-hand-drive elevated road across London to Barking. ("Barking" was the operative word in their plan.) www.roads.org.uk/ringways/wes...
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Oh I say! @showmeasign.online @roads.org.uk @sabre-roads.org.uk A fine, early M1 sign c.1964
flic.kr/p/2n7DeXz
flic.kr/p/2n7DeXz
318 M1 Motorway
In June 1964 my Dad and his parents stopped off in Coventry on their way home from Scotland. Some pictures taken by Dad, some by his Dad.
flic.kr
December 23, 2025 at 9:48 PM
Oh I say! @showmeasign.online @roads.org.uk @sabre-roads.org.uk A fine, early M1 sign c.1964
flic.kr/p/2n7DeXz
flic.kr/p/2n7DeXz
The UK pioneered changeable road signs of all types - we gave the world the matrix signal, but we also had a go at all sorts of other novel ideas. Take a tour of some of the wildest ideas of the 60s, part of our Mixed Signals long read. www.roads.org.uk/articles/mix...
New signs for new ideas
While the headlines were still full of fog worries, and the Ministry of Transport was mainly preoccupied with emergency warning signs on motorways, local authorities were tasked with keeping the…
www.roads.org.uk
December 23, 2025 at 5:47 PM
The UK pioneered changeable road signs of all types - we gave the world the matrix signal, but we also had a go at all sorts of other novel ideas. Take a tour of some of the wildest ideas of the 60s, part of our Mixed Signals long read. www.roads.org.uk/articles/mix...
Reposted by Roads.org.uk 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️
For this week's #MapMonday, you can discover the OS London Two Inch Ministry of Transport maps from 1922, and see just where the A1, A2, A3 etc all meet at "point zero" in London. Or not...
buff.ly/BAr8iFr
buff.ly/BAr8iFr
December 22, 2025 at 6:00 PM
For this week's #MapMonday, you can discover the OS London Two Inch Ministry of Transport maps from 1922, and see just where the A1, A2, A3 etc all meet at "point zero" in London. Or not...
buff.ly/BAr8iFr
buff.ly/BAr8iFr
Fancy a stroll on a motorway? Before the M621 opened to connect Leeds with the motorway network you could do just that. #leeds www.roads.org.uk/blog/walk-m621
A walk on the M621
Fancy a stroll? In 1972, the City of Leeds was about to open its new South East Urban Motorway and proudly showed off the achievement with a "walkabout" event.
www.roads.org.uk
December 22, 2025 at 5:08 PM
Fancy a stroll on a motorway? Before the M621 opened to connect Leeds with the motorway network you could do just that. #leeds www.roads.org.uk/blog/walk-m621
Last week I added a new video to my YouTube channel featuring the strange and brilliant Studland Motor Road. There's a whole article about it on the website too, complete with a photo gallery to provide some summery seaside sunshine to your dark December day. www.roads.org.uk/articles/stu...
December 21, 2025 at 2:38 PM
Last week I added a new video to my YouTube channel featuring the strange and brilliant Studland Motor Road. There's a whole article about it on the website too, complete with a photo gallery to provide some summery seaside sunshine to your dark December day. www.roads.org.uk/articles/stu...
One of London's unbuilt urban motorways was so unpopular that government officials decided to keep its plans a secret and pretend that they had never planned it at all. Their plan to drive a motorway through Barnes was the worst kept secret in West London. #barnes www.roads.org.uk/ringways/rin...
Ringway 2 Western Section
A critically important link in London's proposed urban motorway network - but fierce opposition from the locals made the authorities scared to ever reveal its route.
www.roads.org.uk
December 20, 2025 at 3:20 PM
One of London's unbuilt urban motorways was so unpopular that government officials decided to keep its plans a secret and pretend that they had never planned it at all. Their plan to drive a motorway through Barnes was the worst kept secret in West London. #barnes www.roads.org.uk/ringways/rin...
Yesterday we took the deepest dive into the untold history of an unremarked piece of street furniture, and how detail is everything if you want to forge a city's identity. roadsorguk.substack.com/p/london-in-...
December 19, 2025 at 5:48 PM
Yesterday we took the deepest dive into the untold history of an unremarked piece of street furniture, and how detail is everything if you want to forge a city's identity. roadsorguk.substack.com/p/london-in-...
Reposted by Roads.org.uk 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️
On this day 40 years ago (1985): the Thorney Interchange was completed. An offset stack with a railway line running through it made for an unusual junction on the soon-to-be-completed London Orbital Motorway.
December 19, 2025 at 1:50 PM
On this day 40 years ago (1985): the Thorney Interchange was completed. An offset stack with a railway line running through it made for an unusual junction on the soon-to-be-completed London Orbital Motorway.
Just published - we're slowly losing something we didn't know we had: a street light designed just for London. I've taken a deep (and deeply geeky) dive into the history of an everyday object that was designed not to be noticed. #london roadsorguk.substack.com/p/london-in-...
December 18, 2025 at 6:41 PM
Just published - we're slowly losing something we didn't know we had: a street light designed just for London. I've taken a deep (and deeply geeky) dive into the history of an everyday object that was designed not to be noticed. #london roadsorguk.substack.com/p/london-in-...
Just published: a drive through of the Studland Motor Road, a little road in Dorset that's the legal ancestor of the motorway network. Join us for a drive through the dunes! #dorset www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQPr...
- YouTube
Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.
www.youtube.com
December 17, 2025 at 6:58 PM
Just published: a drive through of the Studland Motor Road, a little road in Dorset that's the legal ancestor of the motorway network. Join us for a drive through the dunes! #dorset www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQPr...
The government is still figuring out how to pay for new infrastructure, but back in January one thing was already becoming clear - the five year cycles of Road Investment Periods weren't delivering any of their promises. www.roads.org.uk/blog/all-cha...
All change
In July 2024, a new Government entered office with a very different set of priorities. What does it mean for a faltering roads programme?
www.roads.org.uk
December 16, 2025 at 5:47 PM
The government is still figuring out how to pay for new infrastructure, but back in January one thing was already becoming clear - the five year cycles of Road Investment Periods weren't delivering any of their promises. www.roads.org.uk/blog/all-cha...
The UK's highest numbered motorway is too narrow to have hard shoulders, too short to fit in a lay-by and has a junction named for a toll plaza that doesn't exist. The oddball M898 is full of surprises. #glasgow www.roads.org.uk/motorway/m898
M898
The highest-numbered motorway in the UK is a tiny spur that connects the Erskine Bridge to the motorway network west of Glasgow.
www.roads.org.uk
December 15, 2025 at 5:08 PM
The UK's highest numbered motorway is too narrow to have hard shoulders, too short to fit in a lay-by and has a junction named for a toll plaza that doesn't exist. The oddball M898 is full of surprises. #glasgow www.roads.org.uk/motorway/m898
In the 1950s the man in charge of Oxfordshire's roads didn't like the UK's road signs, so he invented his own. The Ministry hated them - first because they weren't allowed, and second because they were better than the real thing. www.roads.org.uk/articles/oxf...
Oxfordshire Signs
This is the story of one man at Oxfordshire County Council who pre-empted the development of modern road signs - much to the annoyance of the men from the Ministry.
www.roads.org.uk
December 14, 2025 at 3:03 PM
In the 1950s the man in charge of Oxfordshire's roads didn't like the UK's road signs, so he invented his own. The Ministry hated them - first because they weren't allowed, and second because they were better than the real thing. www.roads.org.uk/articles/oxf...
You can drive London's North Circular today, but it would have been a different road if sixties planners had their way. Take a look at the plans that would have fitted it in to a city-wide network of motorways. #northcircular www.roads.org.uk/ringways/rin...
North Circular Road
1960s plans to upgrade the North Circular Road to form one of London's motorway "Ringways" would have seen it change out of all recognition.
www.roads.org.uk
December 13, 2025 at 3:20 PM
You can drive London's North Circular today, but it would have been a different road if sixties planners had their way. Take a look at the plans that would have fitted it in to a city-wide network of motorways. #northcircular www.roads.org.uk/ringways/rin...
Work is nearly complete at M25 J10 Wisley Interchange after nearly four years of upgrade works. Will it be worth it? www.roads.org.uk/blog/we-need...
We need to talk about Wisley
National Highways are spending a third of a billion pounds rebuilding one of the most congested junctions on the M25. Is it money well spent?
www.roads.org.uk
December 12, 2025 at 5:48 PM
Work is nearly complete at M25 J10 Wisley Interchange after nearly four years of upgrade works. Will it be worth it? www.roads.org.uk/blog/we-need...
@mikeyashworth.bsky.social Do you happen to know which company made columns like these? i.e. tubular posts with the bracket coming vertically out of the top of the post and then curving horizontally. They were the GLC standard type (and widely used elsewhere), I think first made in the 60s.
December 9, 2025 at 11:00 PM
@mikeyashworth.bsky.social Do you happen to know which company made columns like these? i.e. tubular posts with the bracket coming vertically out of the top of the post and then curving horizontally. They were the GLC standard type (and widely used elsewhere), I think first made in the 60s.
Reposted by Roads.org.uk 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️
Cover of the day: from 1967 and the start of the Plummer era - the GLC’s London’s Roads, a programme for action. The motorway box was at the centre of policy (although, sometimes forgotten, so too were traffic restrictions and public transport), but the Ringways were not yet fully formed as an idea.
December 9, 2025 at 8:43 PM
Cover of the day: from 1967 and the start of the Plummer era - the GLC’s London’s Roads, a programme for action. The motorway box was at the centre of policy (although, sometimes forgotten, so too were traffic restrictions and public transport), but the Ringways were not yet fully formed as an idea.
Bedfordshire's notorious Black Cat roundabout is being rebuilt as a three-level junction, which is just as well - we've got 20 years of visitor comments explaining exactly what's wrong with this eternally Bad Junction. www.roads.org.uk/badjunctions...
A1 - A421
On the Bedfordshire section of A1, notorious as an ancient section of A1 full of roundabouts and right-turns, where the A421 trunk route from Bedford joins in.
www.roads.org.uk
December 6, 2025 at 3:20 PM
Bedfordshire's notorious Black Cat roundabout is being rebuilt as a three-level junction, which is just as well - we've got 20 years of visitor comments explaining exactly what's wrong with this eternally Bad Junction. www.roads.org.uk/badjunctions...
Reposted by Roads.org.uk 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️
And you can see the route of what we lovingly call the PNLR right here on SABRE Maps:
www.sabre-roads.org.uk/maps/index.p...
www.sabre-roads.org.uk/maps/index.p...
December 5, 2025 at 5:56 PM
And you can see the route of what we lovingly call the PNLR right here on SABRE Maps:
www.sabre-roads.org.uk/maps/index.p...
www.sabre-roads.org.uk/maps/index.p...
Some of London's urban motorways were built. Some were planned but spades never hit the ground. And some were so vague, so ethereal, that we still don't even know what they were called. Take a journey with us on a road that's little more than a ghost. www.roads.org.uk/ringways/nor...
Possible North London Radial
Filling a gap in North London's road network, and potentially relieving two of London's existing major roads, this elusive motorway proposal never got beyond the ideas stage.
www.roads.org.uk
December 5, 2025 at 5:48 PM
Some of London's urban motorways were built. Some were planned but spades never hit the ground. And some were so vague, so ethereal, that we still don't even know what they were called. Take a journey with us on a road that's little more than a ghost. www.roads.org.uk/ringways/nor...
What if the local council had no responsibility for the street outside your house and instead it was yours to fix? Welcome to life on an unadopted street - and there's more of them out there than you think. We looked into life on the UK's suburban dirt tracks. www.roads.org.uk/blog/adoption
December 4, 2025 at 6:41 PM
What if the local council had no responsibility for the street outside your house and instead it was yours to fix? Welcome to life on an unadopted street - and there's more of them out there than you think. We looked into life on the UK's suburban dirt tracks. www.roads.org.uk/blog/adoption
Transport is full of terminology. Do you know your Pegasus from your Pelican? Could you point out a refuge or a repeater if you saw one in the wild? Don't worry, if you're lost in jargon our dictionary can help. www.roads.org.uk/dictionary
Dictionary
A comprehensive glossary of the terms used by those discussing British roads. Some are engineering terms, some were created by road enthusiasts, some have multiple meanings; all are defined here as…
www.roads.org.uk
December 3, 2025 at 6:58 PM
Transport is full of terminology. Do you know your Pegasus from your Pelican? Could you point out a refuge or a repeater if you saw one in the wild? Don't worry, if you're lost in jargon our dictionary can help. www.roads.org.uk/dictionary
Concrete roads make people cross. They're noisy and uncomfortable. But they don't have to be like that - a revolutionary treatment can rehabilitate them. One problem: you need a lot of diamonds. www.roads.org.uk/blog/diamond...
A diamond on the rough
Nobody likes a concrete road. Promises have been made time and again to get rid of them all - but perhaps there’s another solution.
www.roads.org.uk
December 2, 2025 at 5:47 PM
Concrete roads make people cross. They're noisy and uncomfortable. But they don't have to be like that - a revolutionary treatment can rehabilitate them. One problem: you need a lot of diamonds. www.roads.org.uk/blog/diamond...