MT 95/85

Ring road 'D': plans

Date range	1949-1962
Location	National Archives (see all files stored here)
Catalogue	See entry
File base	Series MT, subseries MT 95

Context

This file seems to be the final resting place of a wealth of assorted plans of the D-Ring at various times in its life. Many of them struggle with ways of getting Abercrombie's and Bressey's routings to work on the ground – lots of close-up plans showing a dashed “approximate line” and a newer favoured one that had presumably been properly surveyed.

The folder full of promising-looking plans is actually a frustrating assortment of plans showing different land features, different scattered sections of the D-ring and different types of road proposal for the route which were drawn up by different people for different reasons at different times. As a result it's very hard to get any kind of information out of it – for the most part it's little glimpses of something that might be interesting but which it's impossible to learn about without greater context or at least the plans that should be joined on at each side.

Contents of note

• Line of the D-Ring around the south of London, including a close-up of Sandown Park, where one roundabout would connect the A3 (and the Kingston Bypass) to the D-Ring. Ouch.
• Grade-separated junction planned where the D-Ring was to meet the A41 near Watford.

People with camera copies

Chris Marshall has a partial copy.