GLC/TD/DP/LDS/02/098
West Cross Route drawings Holland Park Avenue - Chelsea Basin
| Date range | 1970 |
| Location | London Metropolitan Archives (see all files stored here) |
| File base | Fond GLC, subfond TD/DP/LDS |
Context
The consulting engineers Husband & Co were asked to produce a report outlining proposals for the West Cross Route - how it could be fitted above a railway line and what form it would take. They published a draft report in 1962 and a final report in 1964, but it appears that this file comes from a third edition, published in 1970, in which the motorway takes a slightly different form.
In this iteration the route is largely unchanged, but the layout of interchanges is significantly different. At the A4, there is a free-flowing junction permitting access to the west only; at Chelsea basin another free-flowing three-way junction links to the Chelsea Embankment. From that point the mainline of the motorway joins Townmead Road, running along the north bank of the river towards Wandsworth Bridge. There appears to be vacant space between the main carriageways at Chelsea basin, perhaps intended to allow for future extension over a river bridge towards Clapham Junction as shown in previous versions of the plan, but there's no reference to this here.
The cross-sections and construction plans indicate that it was now planned as a dual two-lane motorway with hard shoulders, as opposed to the previous proposal for dual four lanes. There are sketchy notes suggesting that future widening to dual four lanes would be possible, but the overall impression is that they were now planning a two-lane motorway that would disperse traffic onto existing bridges at the southern end, and the idea that it would eventually be widened to dual four lanes and cross a new bridge to reach the South Cross Route now seems more distant and hazy.
However, this file only contains the drawings, not the report itself, so it's hard to judge what the full picture might be.
Contents of note
- Full plan diagrams of the route as proposed in 1970.
- Elevation plans, cross sections and diagrams showing the modular construction method proposed for the route.
- West Cross Route: Interim Report on Stage I (1962)
- MT 106/188 Principal roads and motorways: GLC; West Cross route, stage 2; consultants report and drawings (1961-1969)
People with camera copies
Chris Marshall has a complete copy.
