That is a fascinating set of pictures, charting the construction of the first section of the Wessex Way almost from start to 'finish'. I found myself browsing through them one wet morning recently and using googlemaps/street veiw to try and find the places as they are today. I found in the early pictures i couldn't identify places from memory but as the construction developed an the landscape became closer to what i am familiar with and so didn't need to look up places on a map.
Its a pretty impressive civil engineering project when you think about it. Had a close up look at the Bourne Valley viaduct on a recent visit to the town (this prompted me to look again at the photos).
One photo that really fascinated me was at the end of the photostream showing the finished section of road. It shows the temporary western terminus of that section of the WW. I knew the road had opened in sections but had always assumed the current roundabout at the end of the D2 was the original terminus before the onward S2 extension to County Gates. The photo shows it narrowing to D1 and ending onthe junction of 2 urban/suburban roads (Cambridge Road and Surrey Road), with what appears to be a one way/gyratory system to distibute the traffic from the D2. i would be fascinated to know just what the layout was here and how long it lasted. Another photo taken from the terminus junction even gives a good view of the signage here:
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-dBrschnzng8/UAbwYkEt1aI/AAAAAAAAACI/zG5-agVbrP4/s640/6347179373_7c2e7e63a0_b.jpgAnother veiw, under construction
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-8xXOL2_W7mM/UAbwdJ3OQnI/AAAAAAAAACQ/EPqmWNCAN_4/s640/6347163767_8829d0f099_b.jpgI would be interested in any information other sabre uses may have regarding the history/construction/opening time line of the road, over and above what is in the wiki. As a regular visitor to Bournemouth it would be nice to know more.
I also noted in the narrative text on the flickr page, reference to bigger plans for the road that were not realised, namely a westward extension through Poole, scuppered partly by Poole BC's reluctance to demolish parts of the town along the proposed route (and also no doubt by the 1970's fuel crisis). This is not referring to more recent plans for a relief road scheme along the Bourne Valley to Wallisdown. Does anyone know anything about this and what route it might have taken? as far as i know it would have continued westwards from the current terminus and is clearly the reason why the last section is only S2. Princess Road is mentioned as being blighted by the plans so this road might have formed part of the route but i dont know where it might have gone next. Any ideas?
