GLC/TD/PM/CDO/07
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Jump to navigationJump to searchAPERTURE CARDS OF TRUNK ROADS SCHEMES
| Date range | 1921-1986 |
| Location | London Metropolitan Archives (see all files stored here) |
| Catalogue | See entry |
| File base | Fond GLC, subfond TD/PM |
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Chris5156 is returning to this file later. Why this might be the case is open to all manner of unsavoury speculation, but one insuperable fact remains: Chris5156 has taken this file out before, and he has every intention of taking it out again soon. In most cases this is because he wants camera copies and wasn't able to get them on the first attempt, but it may also be just because he misses it and longs to be near it again. |
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This file is truly delightful. It is likely to bring a smile to your face, probably because it contains the sort of thing that makes trawling through dusty archive documents worthwhile. The thing in this file that makes your day might actually have nothing to do with its subject matter. |
Context
Many trunk roads entered Greater London, until the detrunking of routes that coincided with the creation of Transport for London in 1999, and during the existence of the GLC the council would routinely be provided with copies of plans produced for trunk road schemes, either because the GLC acted as the Ministry's trunk road agent and would carry out or oversee the improvement scheme, or because they were consulted on schemes at the planning stage.
This file contains a huge number of aperture cards, each of which holds a photograph of a large plan sheet ("large" means comparable to A1 or A0 size) that is, in some way, loosely concerned with trunk roads in the GLC area. It also contains a fair few sheets produced by the GLC themselves, concerning Metropolitan Roads, that have ended up here by accident. The plan sheets themselves were, presumably, destroyed after being transferred to aperture card to save space.
Because of the way the LMA works - which we will describe here as "delightfully quirky" because they seem like genuinely nice people and it would be unkind to use a term like, I don't know, "wilfully obtuse" - the catalogue entry GLC/TD/PM/CDO/07 actually contains hundreds upon hundreds of individual items, each of which is a bundle of aperture cards, but those hundreds of items are not listed in the catalogue. They are listed, of course - LMA staff can call up a full and complete listing on their internal computer system - but they do not appear in the public catalogue. On the bright side, though, you can still order them if you know the item number, and since dozens of bundles will be held in the same box, once you order one bundle you'll get a large number of nearby ones as well.
Item listing
As a service to humanity, here is an obviously incomplete listing of the individual items found within this collection so far.
| Item | Contents | Copies of item |
|---|---|---|
| GLC/TD/PM/CDO/07-014 | Dagenham Corridor. This is the name of a corridor of open land between Romford and Dagenham which was considered for a secondary road in the 1960s. When that idea was abandoned, proposals were made for ways to use it as a linear park with new recreation facilities. Here are five aperture cards showing various ideas for the new open space. | Chris Marshall |
| GLC/TD/PM/CDO/07-064 | A3 West Hill. Seemingly relates to a 1964 project to dual the A3 West Hill near Wandsworth, but only fragments are here and no plans of the actual scheme. There are various traffic counts and some small outline plans showing the boundaries of the road or the project in relation to specific properties. | None known |
| GLC/TD/PM/CDO/07-068 | A3 Robin Hood Gate Junction. A plan dated 1968 of the proposal for a GSJ at Robin Hood Gate (northern terminus of A3 Kingston Bypass) as also visible via the BGS Borehole website. There are also more modest plans from the late 1970s for this junction including various iterations of an awkward roundabout, which appear to be evolving towards the junction as built, and plans for an equestrian subway. | None known |
| GLC/TD/PM/CDO/07-069 | London-Portsmouth Trunk Road (at Coombe Lane Junction) Improvement. Various plans circa 1968 for the dualling project between the railway bridge over the SWML and Coombe Lane. Some are highway plans and others labelled "public health" as they relate to the diversion and culverting of Beverley Brook. Others are misfiled plans (for item 070?) relating to dualling a bit further south around Bushey Road flyover. Several signing plans for the completed road. Indications that the dead space inside the NE sliproad at Coombe Lane was meant for a filling station. Dualling plans show original layout underneath current as-built layout; together with signing plan these make clear the Kingston Bypass was S3 with a 40 limit and service roads here, not dualled in the 1930s as often supposed. | Chris Marshall |
| GLC/TD/PM/CDO/07-079 | Ludgate Circus Development - proposed future land uses. Two cards here; one is a plan of the Blackfriars Bridge junction and Lower Thames Street tunnel as built, dated 1967. The other is a 1961 plan for widening Seacoal Lane, either for a gyratory scheme at Ludgate Circus or to serve as a connecting sliproad if the Circus was to have a flyover. No indication what Ludgate Circus would have become. | None known |
| GLC/TD/PM/CDO/07-092 | A4 Widening Warwick Road to Earl's Court. Relates to proposals for widening the A4 around Earl's Court, starting in the late 1960s with suggestions for a temporary 5-lane tidal working section and a flyover to serve the BEA Air Terminal at Gloucester Road. Plans are here to show various iterations, including temporary flyovers and a permanent four-lane flyover, until by 1971 the plans have evolved into the widened junction complex with large right turn lanes as exists today. | Chris Marshall |
| GLC/TD/PM/CDO/07-096 | A4 East of Hogarth Roundabout. One plan is here showing a proposed roundabout GSJ close to British Grove, serving a spur leading to Goldhawk Road, and written indication that it would be paired with a free-flow fork junction at Hogarth. No other plans here relating to this but it appears to be misfiled and should belong with items at 097. Other plans here show small-scale junction improvements (turning lanes, kerbline modifications etc) for junctions between Hogarth and Hammersmith. | Chris Marshall |
| GLC/TD/PM/CDO/07-097 | A4 Hogarth Roundabout. A jackpot find that seems to contain all the (many) plans from a late 60s/early 70s Freeman Fox study into Hogarth Roundabout - seemingly superseding the wacky earlier study held at MT 118/251 - which looked at junction options for Hogarth, some free-flow, and options for the local A316 connection to Chiswick High Road, many of which involved a new spur on the line of British Grove. Also includes a single plan, dated 1970, showing the Ringway 2/A316 interchange as a simple roundabout GSJ, though this also massively underestimates the width of R2 and may be only illustrative since the project brief doesn't appear to have included this junction. | Chris Marshall |
| GLC/TD/PM/CDO/07-098 | A4 Sutton Court Road. Many plans for a flyover at Sutton Court Road to eliminate the traffic lights, all of which are minor variations on the same theme. Legal orders for the project appear to have been published at one stage. Later 1970s plans consider an underpass for Sutton Court Road, or an underpass for the A4, and one version includes sliproads to create a diamond junction. | None known |
| GLC/TD/PM/CDO/07-112 | A5 Kilburn. A single item dated January 1974 relating to a new development on the A5 at Kilburn, highlighting the plot of land and the development control line along the road. Not Ringways related but a useful example of development control in action. | Chris Marshall |
| GLC/TD/PM/CDO/07-120 | Watford By-Pass at junction of Brockley Hill. Plans for a roundabout GSJ between the A41 Watford Bypass and the A5 at Brockley Hill, dating from the late 50s or early 60s, indicating that the road east of there would have been diverted, perhaps to create an offline bypass of the bypass, though where it would have gone is unclear. It's even possible this is an early iteration of what eventually became the Hendon Urban Motorway. Various other plans for modifications to the roundabout and accident statistics for this location from the 1950s. | Chris Marshall |
| GLC/TD/PM/CDO/07-121 | Watford Road, Elstree, A411. A single plan for a minor realignment of this road between Aldenham Road and the A5, which is exactly as built. | None known |
| GLC/TD/PM/CDO/07-135 | Great Cambridge Road. Misfiled: the bundle is labelled North Circular but is actually a load of much older Middlesex plans for Great Cambridge Road (now A10), including an extension to Green Lanes. | Chris Marshall |
| GLC/TD/PM/CDO/07-136 | North Circular: Great Cambridge Junction. A mixed bag, but includes a plan dated 1971 of a flyover scheme. There's also a revised version dated 1973. | Chris Marshall |
| GLC/TD/PM/CDO/07-174 | A13 Dovers Corner to Rainham. A dualling scheme for A13 Rainham Bypass (as was) circa 1972, with GSJs. Alternative scheme for underpass through Rainham, and another with a length of cut and cover tunnel - the latter proposed by the GLC who were typically more adventurous in reducing the impact of road schemes. | Chris Marshall |
| GLC/TD/PM/CDO/07-206 | Coldharbour Lane Brixton. A 1982 plan to divert Coldharbour Lane along the line of Rushcroft Road, allowing it to emerge onto what was then the St Matthews one way system, and conversion of the A23 to two-way working to create enough capacity on Effra Road to enable it. This was part of wide ranging changes suggested for Brixton to reduce traffic on the shopping streets and regenerate the town centre. Other plans here show related changes nearby, including alterations to one way working around Atlantic Road and Electric Avenue, and creation of the bus bays and pedestrian crossing outside the tube station. | Chris Marshall |
| GLC/TD/PM/CDO/07-243 | Holland Park Avenue Junction. Plans relating to the Holland Park Roundabout at the southern end of the West Cross Route, as built, some from the time it was constructed. Includes plans of the area to be CPO'd, elevations, pedestrian subways, traffic management during various construction phases, etc. Some later plans for artwork to be painted inside the subways. | ??? |
| GLC/TD/PM/CDO/07-244 | White City Area Proposed Development. Appears to relate to the building of what is now the W12 Shopping Centre in Shepherd's Bush, which dates from the late 1960s; while it is now an unremarkable suburban shopping mall, it was built as a rather pioneering regional shopping centre and attracted some considerable excitement. The GLC provided a footbridge, now demolished, to link it to Shepherd's Bush tube station, which crossed Uxbridge Road towards Shepherd's Bush Place and had escalators at each end. Plans are here for the escalators (referred to throughout as "conveyors") and bridge, and for temporary arrangements put in place for their closure and refurbishment in 1980. | ??? |
| GLC/TD/PM/CDO/07-248 | Gypsy Corner Improvement. Plans dated January 1967 showing an extended flyover crossing the whole of the one-way gyratory system at Gypsy Corner. These appear to be the later iteration of the flyover scheme seen at MT 106/423. There are also earlier plans for modifications to the traffic signals here; plans for the installation of the gyratory system and simplified diagrams of it for circulation to the press; and a later scheme for a flyover dated 1976 that is shown with very little detail. | Chris Marshall |
| GLC/TD/PM/CDO/07-249 | Western Avenue Major Improvement Schemes. This is less exciting than the title would have you believe; dating from around 1976, there are plans for modifications to the A40 in Inner London and much detail on plans for parking control and traffic flow around White City Stadium. There are also plans of speed limit sign locations on the Westway between Savoy Circus and Wood Lane, and plans for what might be an installation of variable message signs on Wood Lane southbound towards the A40. | Chris Marshall |
| GLC/TD/PM/CDO/07-250 | Western Avenue at Perivale Lane/Alperton Lane. A small number of plans for minor changes at this site, including right turn lanes through the central reserve and closure of other central reserve gaps. | None known |
| GLC/TD/PM/CDO/07-251 | Western Avenue at Greenford Road. A collection of plans relating to the Greenford Flyover as built, though none of the flyover itself. Some show proposed public conveniences at the junction; others show the system of pedestrian subways and aesthetic treatment of the roundabout island below the flyover. Many others show elevations and spot heights around the junction site. | None known |
| GLC/TD/PM/CDO/07-252 | Western Avenue widening at Northolt. This relates to dualling the A40 around Northolt and Ealing. All the plans here relate to property boundaries. | None known |
| GLC/TD/PM/CDO/07-253 | Western Avenue at Church Road: Proposed Roundabout. Church Road is the A312 interchange near Northolt. The plans here refer to proposals for a modified roundabout to replace the 1930s original. | None known |
| GLC/TD/PM/CDO/07-254 | Western Avenue at Church Road/Islip Manor Road. Plans relating to the A40/A312 interchange, and also the Polish War Memorial junction to the west. These are relatively small scale ideas to upgrade the roundabouts here as part of dualling or traffic flow improvement schemes. | Chris Marshall |
| GLC/TD/PM/CDO/07-255 | Western Avenue at Long Lane. This is the Hillingdon Circus junction, eventually provided with an off-line underpass in the 1990s. Plans here include a Middlesex CC proposal for a GSJ with folded slips extended far out to the east of the junction, and also some misfiled plans of the Ealing Road junction further east with the roundabouts as originally built. | Chris Marshall |
| GLC/TD/PM/CDO/07-256 | Western Avenue at Swakeleys Road. A surprisingly early plan by Middlesex CC for a roundabout GSJ with A40 underpass on this site, similar to what was eventually built several decades later. | Chris Marshall |
| GLC/TD/PM/CDO/07-258 | M41 Freston Road. Proposals drawn up in 1980 by the GLC to provide a new left-in-left-out junction on the M41 to allow access to a development side on the east side of the motorway at Freston Road. Three options are presented which are almost identical, and the scheme never happened. | None known |
| GLC/TD/PM/CDO/07-266 | Hendon Way. Various plans relating to Hendon Way, which is the present A41 between Hendon Circus and Finchley Road. These include a 1960s plan for signalisation of the Finchley Road junction, including the location of pneumatic tubes to detect approaching vehicles, and plans for the dualling of the road through Hendon Circus, which involved removal of the roundabout that originally existed there. The dualling ran out immediately to the north and south. | Chris Marshall |
| GLC/TD/PM/CDO/07-267 | Brent Cross Flyover. Various plans for improvement of the junction between A41 and A406, as part of the dualling of the A41 in this area. Early designs circa 1961 included a roundabout GSJ, with the North Circular stopping at the roundabout, and a full cloverleaf junction compressed into something like the footprint of the existing junction, if you can imagine such a thing. The final iteration is the three-level roundabout junction as built. There are also numerous plans here, misfiled, of the Watford Bypass as built, dating from the 1920s. | Chris Marshall |
| GLC/TD/PM/CDO/07-280 | Blackwall Tunnel and Blackwall Tunnel Southern Approach Signage. As you'd expect, signage plans for the A102 between the southern portal of the Blackwall Tunnel and the Sun-in-the-Sands interchange, south of where it is shown reverting to a single carriageway road, which was the temporary terminus of the route until it was extended circa 1982. Southbound traffic was signposted Folkestone & Dover, northbound traffic was The North & Blackwall Tunnel. | None known |
| GLC/TD/PM/CDO/07-290 | Victoria Station Area. A large collection of plans relating to Victoria Station, including the changes to the underground station made in preparation for the arrival of the Victoria Line and a new pedestrian subway from Wilton Road. The construction of the Victoria Line in the 1960s seemed to coincide with a period of great optimism for Victoria as a hub for public transport and a project appears to have existed within the GLC called the Victoria Transportation Hub. Consultants' plans for this hub are here in full. The idea appears to have been to redevelop the station to provide integrated connections between the existing station's BR services, underground lines, the Victoria Coach Station, new rail services direct to both Gatwick and Heathrow airports, terminal facilities to allow the airport trains to be "airside", and an extensive road vehicle concourse for pick-up, drop-off, taxis and parking. A large office block would surmount the whole structure, which appears to have been an attempt at a multimodal interchange site. The consultants also proposed new road underpasses to serve the site and relieve the existing one way system which can be seen at GLC/TD/C/36/016. | Chris Marshall |
| GLC/TD/PM/CDO/07-300 | Whitehall Traffic Scheme. It seems a firm of consultants was asked to come up with ways of alleviating the traffic problems at Parliament Square, and came up with no less than 26 options, lettered A-Z, all of which are wild flights of fancy involving roads under the Thames past Parliament and underground interchanges on the Embankment. My favourite was the one that shows a free-flowing interchange built entirely in tunnel below the Treasury. The 26 route options are on cards 4989 to 5025. | None known |
| GLC/TD/PM/CDO/07-301 | Hammersmith Bridge Replacement. A 1960s-70s study into the replacement of Hammersmith Bridge, which appears to have produced plans for a new bridge immediately downstream of the existing one. It is labelled here as being a negative return on investment. There are also a handful of plans for signing the stricter weight limit introduced in 1977. | Chris Marshall |
| GLC/TD/PM/CDO/07-308 | Hanger Lane junction. Not quite what you think - a couple of plans are here, relating to an improved layout for the signalised junction between the A406 and A4005 at Hanger Lane (introducing channelisation, turning lanes etc) that existed before the construction of the present gyratory system. | None known |
| GLC/TD/PM/CDO/07-309 | North Circular Road: Heather Park Drive junction. Plans for a 1955 improvement scheme for this junction, involving changes to kerb lines, and also similar treatment for the junctions of Stonebridge Park and St Annes Gardens. All these changes were swept away by the 1990s offline widening of the road in this area. | None known |
| GLC/TD/PM/CDO/07-312 | North Circular Road: Neasden Lane to Edgware Road. One single card is here, showing the addition of turning lanes in the central reserve of the North Circular, since removed. | None known |
| GLC/TD/PM/CDO/07-313 | North Circular Road: Golder's Green Road. A big wedge of cards relating to this junction, which remains a signalised crossroads today. Many refer to a straightforward flyover planned in 1971 which would have carried a dualled Golder's Green Road over the North Circular without interchange. This went through many versions that only differed very slightly; some include changes to the east-facing sliproads at the A41 to braid them through the viaduct arches and improve their merge lengths. The "final" scheme shows additional demolition on the south side of the A406 to smooth the curve of the road, though there are further schemes labelled "final" with other modifications too. A later bundle of plans date from 1973 and show the North Circular in underpass and west-facing sliproads, full sliproads to make a diamond interchange, or no sliproads. There are others from 1978/79 , and a few misfiled items showing a 1978 study into the A1 interchange. | Chris Marshall |
| GLC/TD/PM/CDO/07-314 | North Circular Road: A1 to A1000. An old Middx CC flyover scheme at East End Road. 1967 plans for dualling between Falloden Way and A1000. Improvement scheme for A1/A406 that appears to be as existed until recent TfL improvement, dated 1966. July 1970 plan of proposed GSJ at A1 interchange. A 1978 plan for Falloden Way to A1000 that has diamond at A1000. | Chris Marshall |
| GLC/TD/PM/CDO/07-315 | Item missing from collection. | None known |
| GLC/TD/PM/CDO/07-316 | North Circular Road: A1000 to A105. Huge numbers of cards carrying plans dated from 1967 to the early 70. There are earlier Middlesex CC plans for B550, Bowes Road etc, including plans for dualling through Bowes Road dated 1958. A 1968 scheme for flyover/underpass and massive squareabout at Bowes Road, in many iterations, some with offline section to the east. 1970 interim improvements to Bowes Road section seen elsewhere. | Chris Marshall |
| GLC/TD/PM/CDO/07-317 | North Circular Road: A105 to A10. Plans dated 1970 of crossroads as exists, then others labelled "Ringway 2" showing underpass and roundabout, 1972. Dozens and dozens then show a "main cable route" through surrounding suburbs - evidently the scheme would disturb a power line that had to be rerouted. | Chris Marshall |
| GLC/TD/PM/CDO/07-318 | North Circular Road: Silver Street Diversion. The Silver Street Diversion is the offline length of A406 between A10 and A1010 junctions. These cards have not been looked at; only the title of the bundle is known. | None known |
| GLC/TD/PM/CDO/07-319 | North Circular Road: A1010/Fore Street. Various improvements at Fore Street - 1967 options for signalised junction or roundabout, then 1969 plan for underpass listed as "preferred scheme". Other versions too. Further plans show interconnected flyover at Dysons Road immediately to the east, though this conflicts with plans at 07-320. Plans of a later scheme dated 1981. | Chris Marshall |
| GLC/TD/PM/CDO/07-320 | North Circular Road: Fore Street to Chingford. Minor improvements to Angel Road, 1950s, and Lea Valley Viaduct, 1969/70. A bizarre GLDP Primary Road Proposals map showing M12 extending beyond Ringway 3 - no idea where this even comes from. Plans and traffic flows for 1973 scheme from Dysons Road to Chingford, offline with free-flow to old NCR in Scheme A and big trumpet GSJ to Hall Lane in scheme B. | Chris Marshall |
| GLC/TD/PM/CDO/07-321 | North Circular Road: Chingford to Hale End Road. Mix of plans from the early 1970s and early 1980s. | Chris Marshall |
| GLC/TD/PM/CDO/07-322 | Misfiled. A single card containing text about Woodford Avenue. | None known |
| GLC/TD/PM/CDO/07-327 | Miscellaneous GLC Plans. A real jumble of stuff, including N&E London Motor Network plans from GLC and DOE - these contain one of the few references to the Possible North London Radial; designs for a one-way ring road around Elephant and Castle; three designs for noise barriers to be installed on urban motorways; some proposals for changes to the Primary Road Network at Eltham; proposed signage scheme for urban motorways; some misfiled plan sheets and traffic flow diagrams that belong in 07-331. | Chris Marshall |
| GLC/TD/PM/CDO/07-331 | North East London Study. A full set of plans from the NELS which designed the M11 and Eastern Avenue from Hackney Wick out to the Essex countryside, including all options and construction phases for the M11 between Hackney and Woodford. There's also a "final configuration" for Redbridge Roundabout in which the A12 gets a flyover. This is an absolute jackpot find. | Chris Marshall |
| GLC/TD/PM/CDO/07-334 | A13. Badly misfiled; this is almost exclusively plans for the Blackwall Tunnel Northern Approach. Most are for kerbline and signage changes at the Abbott Road junction proposed in the late 1970s. | None known |
| GLC/TD/PM/CDO/07-335 | A13 and BTNA. Plans of the final junction layout at Ringway1/A13, with variations, dated 1972. Space is indicated for possible third tunnel. Huge number of plans marked "unregistered" and apparently added to this set by donation from a private individual in 1985, including some design/architecture department sketches for road sign assemblies and a vast number of sheets showing environmental treatment of BTNA as built. Sheet covering Hackney Wick interchange as built indicates the "future" Secondary Road connections that will allow temporary slips to be closed. | Chris Marshall |
People with camera copies of this file
As listed above.
