1960s road proposals in Low Fell, Gateshead

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Bryn666
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Re: 1960s road proposals in Low Fell, Gateshead

Post by Bryn666 »

Steven wrote: Tue Dec 07, 2021 15:04
Chris5156 wrote: Tue Dec 07, 2021 14:57 Everything Steven writes about researching unbuilt roads is entirely true. It's like trying to nail jelly to a wall, with the added disadvantage that you don't necessarily know that the jelly exists, and nor do the people in charge of retrieving the jelly from the cupboard for you.
Yes, it's something that folk who've never tried to do this simply don't get - there's a kind of idea that there's a nice folder tied up with a bow with everything in it, properly labelled and indexed. And that's so far from the truth as it can be, although there are occasional utter gems you come across.

(that's not meant as a dig at anyone who hasn't done archival research in case it reads like it does - it's just very difficult to explain without sounding that way!)
I haven't forgotten that the post-1973 entries for R3 in the roads programme need to be added to that page - it's on my list!
I know, but it was the best example I could think of where we thought we have something completely sorted and know what happened; and then some more documentation turns up that adds a complete curveball at you. It can be deeply frustrating, as in this case, where it turns up just after something's been committed to publication!
The M65 between the M6 and Blackburn is a classic case in point. Everything I've written about it is from a single snapshot taken in the early 70s - design work carried on in all sorts of ways for all sorts of time up until the cancellation in 1980 and subsequent resurrection around 1985.
Bryn
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She said life was like a motorway; dull, grey, and long.

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Truvelo
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Re: 1960s road proposals in Low Fell, Gateshead

Post by Truvelo »

Bryn666 wrote: Tue Dec 07, 2021 15:10
Steven wrote: Tue Dec 07, 2021 15:04
Chris5156 wrote: Tue Dec 07, 2021 14:57 Everything Steven writes about researching unbuilt roads is entirely true. It's like trying to nail jelly to a wall, with the added disadvantage that you don't necessarily know that the jelly exists, and nor do the people in charge of retrieving the jelly from the cupboard for you.
Yes, it's something that folk who've never tried to do this simply don't get - there's a kind of idea that there's a nice folder tied up with a bow with everything in it, properly labelled and indexed. And that's so far from the truth as it can be, although there are occasional utter gems you come across.

(that's not meant as a dig at anyone who hasn't done archival research in case it reads like it does - it's just very difficult to explain without sounding that way!)
I haven't forgotten that the post-1973 entries for R3 in the roads programme need to be added to that page - it's on my list!
I know, but it was the best example I could think of where we thought we have something completely sorted and know what happened; and then some more documentation turns up that adds a complete curveball at you. It can be deeply frustrating, as in this case, where it turns up just after something's been committed to publication!
The M65 between the M6 and Blackburn is a classic case in point. Everything I've written about it is from a single snapshot taken in the early 70s - design work carried on in all sorts of ways for all sorts of time up until the cancellation in 1980 and subsequent resurrection around 1985.
And the A167/Askew Road junction just south of the Tyne Bridge is another example. Each time I've been to archives I've found another design for it so choosing which one to show on the map isn't at all easy. I suspect there may be even more versions which have yet to be discovered.
How would you like your grade separations, Sir?
Big and complex.
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