MT 95/484

Location	National Archives
Title	Roundabouts design policy
Date range	1958-1967
Catalogue	See entry

Context

As the title implies, this file deals with the design of roundabouts for most of the late 1950s and 1960s. It is divided into two folders.

The first folder has some interesting information on the first mini-roundabout, an experimental scheme installed where limited space was available for a junction improvement where the A35 and A350 met before the bypass of the area was built in the 1970s. The rest of this folder is tedious RRL work.

The second folder is equally soporific, but is saved by a submission from Mr. Rowland Nicholas, City Engineer of Manchester, who in 1946 sent the Ministry his designs for two angular roundabouts to be installed in the city. These appear to be the very first "squareabouts", a piece of urban roundabout design that found favour in the 1960s but has since been dropped. Possibly Mr. Nicholas was the inventor of the squareabout.

Contents of note

• Diagrams and rationale for the UK's (and probably the world's) first mini-roundabout.

• Diagrams and correspondence on the earliest known squareabouts.

Links to other files

MT 95/134 Roundabouts (1950-1960)

MT 95/485 Roundabouts design policy (1946-1969)

MT 152/55 Roundabouts: policy including rules and design (2 parts)

People with camera copies

None known.

Chris Marshall intends to return for camera copies at a later date for a CBRD feature.