MT 120/172

London North Orbital `D' Ring: road traffic surveys proposed study by consultants and review of progress

Date range	1965-1968
Location	National Archives (see all files stored here)
Catalogue	See entry
File base	Series MT, subseries MT 120

Context

This file is a mix of documents about the "D" Ring in north west London, and the North Orbital in the same area, so contains the background to parts of Ringway 3 and parts of what is now the M25 near Rickmansworth.

There are documents offering some interpretation about LTS forecasts, one of which indicates that London is its own main traffic generator, to the extent that 0.2% of traffic in LTS area is "through" traffic. Demand for traffic going past the city was minimal. The implication is that 99.2% of the rationale for the Ringways was to serve traffic in London.

There is some detail about the North Orbital between Maple Cross and Hunton Bridge being "6 3/4 miles of single 24 feet carriageway at an estimated cost of £1 million; later a second carriageway would be added". The elevation of this section to motorway standards seems to have happened at breakneck speed, and some of the work to make that happen is evident here.

Freeman Fox & Partners were engaged for the North Orbital Study, which had to start from scratch on traffic forecasts because the LTS didn't extend this far out. Thre are lots of correspondence and minutes here to do with traffic surveys.

The Ministry's side of the debacle around the publication of the Brandt and O'Dell line for R3 NW, and the GLC's unveiling of their own alternative, is here, with the Ministry's civil servants looking more kindly on this than might be expected, in private at least.

People with camera copies

Chris Marshall has a partial copy.