MT 95/1007

Location	National Archives
Title	Traffic sign authorisations: hovercraft crossing over road
Date	1966-1968
Catalogue	See entry

Context

Initially I requested this file for its intriguing title. I was hoping for the sort of thing that The National Archives very occasionally produces - some fascinating proposals for a hovercraft crossing; a 1960s utopian scheme describing how hovercrafts were the transport of the future, etc. etc.

What it actually contains is some brief discussion within the Ministry of Transport surrounding two locations on the south coast near Portsmouth where the Royal Navy had hovercraft landing sites, and where the craft had to cross a public road between the slipway and the base. Initially the Navy was sending out men to stop the traffic and allow it to cross, but this was deemed unsafe, and warning signs were erected, accompanied by level-crossing type flashing lights supplied by British Railways. Unfortunately even the warning signs were uninspiring.

Contents of note

• Site plan showing one hovercraft crossing and the siting of new signs.
• Sketch diagram (not pattern-accurate) showing the warnings themselves. They were a triangular "!" sign with large plate underneath reading "Hovercraft crossing/STOP/when lights show".

People with camera copies

Chris Marshall has a partial copy including all diagrams and plans.