Was there a golden age of widening the A road network?

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ajuk
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Was there a golden age of widening the A road network?

Post by ajuk »

Using the B3227 which seems to be of quite a high standard it came as no surprise to me it used to be an A road that was down graded in the 70s. Although considering the distance away the A361 is and it's standard, I'm surprised it's not still an A road. I'm not sure if Sabre has a list of B roads that used to be A roads or list of roads of a high standard because they used to be more important.
Maybe on the pages for Motorways there could also be a list of roads downgraded when it was built.

That got me thinking was there a time before the motorways were built where there was a big effort to improve the A road network to the width they are now, or were most of the main routes already that wide before the advent of tarmac and the motorcar? I know many of the trunk roads were given sections of S3 and new sections to smooth the curves, but I'm talking more about the general A road network.
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jervi
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Re: Was there a golden age of widening the A road network?

Post by jervi »

If you look on old maps you can get an idea when roads got online improvements. Usually the removing/smoothing of bends would of happened at the same time as general widening of the carriageway.
https://www.old-maps.co.uk also has some more super high scale maps where it is possible to see the smaller changes too.

Some of these were happening from the 30s, although most from what I can find is about the 60s or 70s

One of my favourite examples in the B2036 between Cuckfield and Crawley, it never was an A road, however in the 40s it had large amount of it realigned to be straight as well as widening the highway corridor to 100ft, which is comparable to D2s of the time. Potentially before the war got in the way, there was going to be a dual carriageway along the route of the B2036 instead of the A23.
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Re: Was there a golden age of widening the A road network?

Post by M4Simon »

SABRE Maps offers a tool where you can browse through loads of old maps and overlay a modern (Open Street Map) layer to compare the difference. Just browse to the old map of choice - the OS One-inch layers are a good starting point, then click on the fader button and slide to compare with a modern map.

Have a look at the A414 through Harlow and Sawbridgeworth: https://www.sabre-roads.org.uk/maps/ind ... 13&layer=0 then use the fader to see that the route through Sawbridgeworth is now unclassified. There is also a route trace of the old A414 route on the A414 wiki page.

I realise that none of this answers the original question which relates to a golden era of widening the A road network. I would say that the A road network has been improved over a far longer period than the golden era of motorway building because it is possible to upgrade the A road network in a much more piecemeal process. I think it is hard to say that there was a golden era of road widening, but if there was, I'd say it was following the advent of motor vehicles, before the authorities began to consider off-line improvements. I know that some of the great urban dual carriageways in London date from the 1920-30s. As an example, see the wiki A4 article which shows that when the A4 was first designated in the 1920s, there was a gap later filled by the Great West Road.

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From the SABRE Wiki: A414 :


The A414 manages to achieve what the A604 used to do, a non 1-zone road that almost makes it to the Essex coastline. However, the A604 is now defunct and the A414 carries on in its legacy.


The A414 runs from Hemel Hempstead in Hertfordshire to Maldon in Essex, but very little of it follows the original 1922 route. The construction of the M25 resulted in a large scale renumbering exercise which affected many roads, including the A405, A1057 and

... Read More
M19
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Re: Was there a golden age of widening the A road network?

Post by M19 »

Even in the late 80s and early 90s as I remember bends being smoothed out on the A19 between Thirsk and York when it was trunk. Stretches of road from Northallerton were improved around this time with parts of the A168 and A684 being transformed from widening levelling and having granite kerb edges rather than just earth, albeit no hard strips were provided. The same happened with a section of A170 across the North York Moors near the turn for Rievaulx and that was in the early 90s. The A167 between Northallerton and Topcliffe is still as it was - relatively narrow with a lot of bends.

The appetite for changing remaining section that are effectively wider country lanes seems to have waned, so you do end up with stretches of the same road varying a lot in quality. I reckon this must have happened mid 90s owing to slimmer budgets. Shame really.
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Re: Was there a golden age of widening the A road network?

Post by Bryn666 »

Roads like the A470 still are undergoing widening works, I don't think there's ever been a specific era where A roads were never off the radar - we do considerably less these days but between 1930 and 1990 it was virtually endless.
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Re: Was there a golden age of widening the A road network?

Post by SteveA30 »

I would home in on the period 1958-1968. Many of the trunk routes were widened, straightened or dualled around then. A30 in Hampshire from 58-63. More would have been dualled but, the M3 was on the horizon. A303 through villages like Weyhill, Zeals or Sparkford to Ilchester. A38 most of the way from Gloucester to Exeter became S3 or WS2 or D2, as late as 1967/68 in some cases. A4 was given similar treatment throughout its length. A3 also. A48 in S. Wales. Parts of A55.

The 1920's-30's improvements seem mostly to have been new roads, arterial routes, like A13, A127, A4 out of London. A3 Kingston bypass. A580.
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Re: Was there a golden age of widening the A road network?

Post by Herned »

What was the actual process for getting minor improvements done? Take for example here on the B3227 as mentioned by the OP, where the road has been straightened offline for about a quarter of a mile. Did the council/DoT just call the landowner and come to some arrangement and get on with it?
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Re: Was there a golden age of widening the A road network?

Post by KeithW »

The 1960's and early 1970's was the golden age of online widening. Much of the A1 north of Baldock was widened that way as is evident when you look at the resultant low cost bodges. The last remnant north of Doncaster is Redhouse to Darrington. . In Scotland a good example was the A74 which was widened north of Gretna. As the limitations became obvious many sections were bypassed and often the bypass was bypassed. The most obvious case is Wetherby but Billingham has had at least 2 bypasses. The inadequacy of this was obvious this week end when the A19 was closed northbound and the traffic diverted along the original bypass which is Wolviston Road . Traffic was unbelievably heavy, using local knowledge I found a back route but what is normally a 14 minute drive took an hour.

Original Billingham bypass , now downgraded from D2/S4 to D1/S2 with signalised turn lanes.
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@54.61204 ... authuser=0

The A19 is an interesting mix of online and offline widening and was dualle over many years. Another example of now bypassed widening is the A1306 in Essex which until 1983 was the A13 until 1983 as I recall.
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.50361 ... authuser=0
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Re: Was there a golden age of widening the A road network?

Post by fras »

What do I remember from the 50s and 60s when we lived in Tadley on the estate built for the Aldermaston atomic weapons establishment ?
Well, the Bath Road was pretty much a wide road that had obviously been improved for some time, I suspect in the 30s. There were a few bypasses on it, like Twyford, (I saw the CND procession come along on that when out with my father on hour bikes !), and also Colnbrook. I'm not sure about Slough, the "B" bus went along a DC by the industrial estate which had sequential traffic lights. That seemed to be pre-war. Our local A340, the road to Basingstoke was very gradually widened and straightened by Hant CC, over what seemed like decades. My father said it was a typical potboiler project - nothing to repair next week, get back onto the A340 programme !
It is surprising how much was actually done before WW2, and after it, councils did a lot of straightening and some widening, but where the money came from I know not. Then we got the regional road construction units which I know little about. Perhaps we need them back together with a strategic emphasis to stop main roads having vast developments built alongside them with no though about through traffic.
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Re: Was there a golden age of widening the A road network?

Post by Bryn666 »

fras wrote: Mon Jun 14, 2021 12:53 What do I remember from the 50s and 60s when we lived in Tadley on the estate built for the Aldermaston atomic weapons establishment ?
Well, the Bath Road was pretty much a wide road that had obviously been improved for some time, I suspect in the 30s. There were a few bypasses on it, like Twyford, (I saw the CND procession come along on that when out with my father on hour bikes !), and also Colnbrook. I'm not sure about Slough, the "B" bus went along a DC by the industrial estate which had sequential traffic lights. That seemed to be pre-war. Our local A340, the road to Basingstoke was very gradually widened and straightened by Hant CC, over what seemed like decades. My father said it was a typical potboiler project - nothing to repair next week, get back onto the A340 programme !
It is surprising how much was actually done before WW2, and after it, councils did a lot of straightening and some widening, but where the money came from I know not. Then we got the regional road construction units which I know little about. Perhaps we need them back together with a strategic emphasis to stop main roads having vast developments built alongside them with no though about through traffic.
Regional Roads Authorities would be a big leap forward. The current centralised HE model where "we exist to facilitate developers, not promote safe and fit for purpose roads" is the prevailing attitude needs binning ASAP.
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Re: Was there a golden age of widening the A road network?

Post by KeithW »

fras wrote: Mon Jun 14, 2021 12:53
It is surprising how much was actually done before WW2, and after it, councils did a lot of straightening and some widening, but where the money came from I know not. Then we got the regional road construction units which I know little about. Perhaps we need them back together with a strategic emphasis to stop main roads having vast developments built alongside them with no though about through traffic.
In the North East it was often a combination of Unemployment relief works and strategic planning. I can think of 2 examples.

1) The A1085 from Middlesbrough to Redcar via Grangetown and Dormanstown. Built in the 1930's as a mixtures of S4 and D2 it was both an unemployment relief project and a major road improvement. Prior to its opening road traffic had to use the A174 through Ormesby , Normanby and Eston which was little better than a country lane. The strategic aspect was that the new road allowed the steel works which were mainly clustered in Middlesbrough to expand along the south bank of the Tees through South Bank to Lackenby. Post war the large new Wilton Site was built to produce plastics, nylon and terylene.

2) The Newport Bridge and the A1130 from Middlesbrough to Billingham. In the 1920's and 1930's the new ICI chemical site at Billingham became a strategic asset supplying everything from synthetic fertilisers to precursors for explosive manufacture and the production high octane aviation fuel from coal. The site quickly grew to employ thousands of people but the only practical road route from Middlesbrough took you through the centre of Stockton-on-Tees.
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Re: Was there a golden age of widening the A road network?

Post by ajuk »

jervi wrote: Sun Jun 13, 2021 15:44 If you look on old maps you can get an idea when roads got online improvements. Usually the removing/smoothing of bends would of happened at the same time as general widening of the carriageway.
https://www.old-maps.co.uk also has some more super high scale maps where it is possible to see the smaller changes too.

Some of these were happening from the 30s, although most from what I can find is about the 60s or 70s

One of my favourite examples in the B2036 between Cuckfield and Crawley, it never was an A road, however in the 40s it had large amount of it realigned to be straight as well as widening the highway corridor to 100ft, which is comparable to D2s of the time. Potentially before the war got in the way, there was going to be a dual carriageway along the route of the B2036 instead of the A23.
I do look at a lot of old maps and they show a lot of little oxbow roads on many A roads but they don't really show if the road has been widened at some point.
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Re: Was there a golden age of widening the A road network?

Post by KeithW »

ajuk wrote: Tue Jun 15, 2021 02:33 I do look at a lot of old maps and they show a lot of little oxbow roads on many A roads but they don't really show if the road has been widened at some point.
As well as being straightened a lot of roads were widened as part of the process. Here are a couple of examples
The A171 between Whitby and Scaborough near the Flask Inn which was improved in the 50's and 60's. Partly due to the expected closure of the railway line which was not only lightly used but rather decrepit.

Junction between the old and new route.
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@54.39372 ... authuser=0

New section past the Flask
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@54.39409 ... authuser=0

Old section past the Flask
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@54.39320 ... authuser=0

Here is another example - the bottom of Mill Bank near Skinningrove as it is now, the whole bank was reprofiled and widened.
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@54.56213 ... authuser=0
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@54.56068 ... authuser=0

As it was pre improvement when it was an accident black spot. It was a classic layout of the time, a sharp bend and narrow stone bridge with all to many buses and coaches ending up in the stream.
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Re: Was there a golden age of widening the A road network?

Post by M4Simon »

On a much smaller scale, I remeber the A4118 being widened through Killay, Swansea during my early childhood, including this section of dualling put in presumably to stop people turning right across the road to park outside the shops.

I also remember this section of A483 Carmarthen Road being widened in the early 80s. The bus stop is where my grandmother's house once stood.

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Re: Was there a golden age of widening the A road network?

Post by Glenn A »

Biggest schemes in the sixties and seventies were probably the A1 and A74. From 1958 to 1972, those sections of the A1 from the edge of London to Morpeth deemed not to be replaced by the A1(M) were almost completely replaced by D2 with important settlements by passed. Similarly the A74, the most important road linking Scotland with England, was completely replaced by D2 from the end of the M74 to Carlisle by 1973. This did mean it was possible to drive from the edge of Glasgow to London on D2 and D3M.
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