OS Route Planning Maps - annual layers

[Steven]

And a couple of months late due to life, the 1973 Route Planning Maps are now available on SABRE Maps.

There were two revisions printed of the southern sheet, which are the K and K/* revisions, and both are available to view in SABRE Maps and to use as inset mapping on the SABRE Wiki. There's some very clear differences between the two of them, despite them both claiming to be "Major Roads revised July 1972" on them! Again, there's a slight style change where there's now some height information in a relief style, which to my eyes makes the maps look far more "washed out" than their predecessors.


And of course, there's a lot of differences from both of them to the 1972 RPMs. Enjoy the motorways!

[DavidB]

I'm guessing the Theale bypass on the A4 was never planned to be a motorway and that this is a mapping error on the 1972 map?

I've just been looking at the two 1973 maps and on both of them the Theale bypass is shown as a completed motorway. In the early 70s I used to make frequent visits with my parents to relatives who lived in the village and I can clearly remember my Dad driving on it just after it opened. I'd have definitely remembered if it had been signed as a motorway!

[Ross Spur]

I've just been looking at the two 1973 maps and on both of them the Theale bypass is shown as a completed motorway. In the early 70s I used to make frequent visits with my parents to relatives who lived in the village and I can clearly remember my Dad driving on it just after it opened. I'd have definitely remembered if it had been signed as a motorway!

Reading Evening Post of 14 December 1971 described it as A4 in their report of the full opening on the previous day. One carriageway had been in operation since August 1971 whilst finishing touches were completed.

[Steven]

I'm guessing the Theale bypass on the A4 was never planned to be a motorway and that this is a mapping error on the 1972 map?

I've just been looking at the two 1973 maps and on both of them the Theale bypass is shown as a completed motorway. In the early 70s I used to make frequent visits with my parents to relatives who lived in the village and I can clearly remember my Dad driving on it just after it opened. I'd have definitely remembered if it had been signed as a motorway!

There's definitely a few cases on the RPMs where if a road was constructed as part of a motorway contract (which I think the Theale Bypass was), then the assumption was made that it was all to be motorway. See the various M2 spurs and extensions for other cases.

[frediculous_biggs]

Interesting that the A2020 is shown as thus on the 1972 and 1973 sheets, despite the A20(M) being the M20, but this is corrected on the 1973 2nd edition

[Ross Spur]

Thanks for the new maps, Steven.

Here's some changes in Scotland between the July 1971 and July 1972 maps:

A87 Clachan Duich Bridge and causeway across the head of Loch Duich
A951 cut back from Cairngorm to Coylumbridge (nearer to Aviemore)
M90 Kinnaird (between J4 and J5) - J8
M9 Winchburgh (between J1a and J1b) - J4 still under construction
A77 Kilmarnock bypass still under construction
A77 Ayr bypass south of A70 Holmston
M73 J2 - J3 (then J1 - J2) A8 to A80

There was also:
A749 dualling north of East Kilbride from above Nerston to just north of B749 junctions

However, this is not shown on the OS one inch map revised January 1974 so it's likely that they misrepresented the new Nerston bypass section and north to Greenleeshill. This came on the OS one inch map between the November 1968 and February 1972 editions. The quarter inch map of April 1971 also showed dualling only to the south of Nerston.

[DavidBrown]

What's with the spur motorway shown coming off the under construction M63 in the Manchester town plan inset? Completely the wrong line for the original M60 Altrincham - Sale - Stretford Bypass, and doesn't tie in to any proposals of any sort for the area over the years - not even a more standard urban dual carriageway or similar, as far as I can see? I must admit, though, it's been so many years since I did the maps for Steven on PM that I may very well have forgotten a key detail or two!

[Chris5156]

What's with the spur motorway shown coming off the under construction M63 in the Manchester town plan inset? Completely the wrong line for the original M60 Altrincham - Sale - Stretford Bypass, and doesn't tie in to any proposals of any sort for the area over the years - not even a more standard urban dual carriageway or similar, as far as I can see? I must admit, though, it's been so many years since I did the maps for Steven on PM that I may very well have forgotten a key detail or two!

Oh wow - that's really weird! I've never seen it before either. It's on the main map too, though not as easy to see.

The closest thing it seems to match is the Hardy Lane Extension, which was a longstanding plan to extend the (unclassified) Hardy Lane/Mauldeth Road West to reach M60 J6. Among other things it would have allowed journeys between Princess Parkway and the M60 to/from the west, which may be why there are no direct sliproads for those movements at J5. The road was never built but there is now a Metrolink line on the proposed alignment.

However, while the Hardy Lane Extension would meet the M60 at the right point, it would have gone east, not curved north towards Chorlton.

(Using the modern designation M60 and current junction numbers for simplicity - obviously in the past this motorway was M63.)

[wrinkly]

What's with the spur motorway shown coming off the under construction M63 in the Manchester town plan inset? Completely the wrong line for the original M60 Altrincham - Sale - Stretford Bypass, and doesn't tie in to any proposals of any sort for the area over the years - not even a more standard urban dual carriageway or similar, as far as I can see? I must admit, though, it's been so many years since I did the maps for Steven on PM that I may very well have forgotten a key detail or two!

It's on both versions of the 1973 map. It appears to be the formerly proposed Hardy Lane extension, but is shown with 3 errors:

1) It's shown as motorway but was in fact meant to be all-purpose.

2) Its north end is shown too far west. It should have been an extension of the existing Hardy Lane, which is not shown but is the extension of Mauldeth Road West to the south of Barlow Moor Road.

3) The part of it that was actually built, connecting the motorway (now M60 J6) to Old Hall Road, Sale, and known as A6144, is not shown.

The part north of the motorway was never built but its route was used in the 2010s for the Metrolink airport line.

Edit: time overlap with Chris!

[Steven]

What's with the spur motorway shown coming off the under construction M63 in the Manchester town plan inset? Completely the wrong line for the original M60 Altrincham - Sale - Stretford Bypass, and doesn't tie in to any proposals of any sort for the area over the years - not even a more standard urban dual carriageway or similar, as far as I can see? I must admit, though, it's been so many years since I did the maps for Steven on PM that I may very well have forgotten a key detail or two!

Yes, it's a badly-mapped Hardy Lane Extension.

It's on both versions of the 1973 map. It appears to be the formerly proposed Hardy Lane extension, but is shown with 3 errors:

1) It's shown as motorway but was in fact meant to be all-purpose.

RPMs do seem to regularly have a problem with roads that were constructed (or due to be) as part of a motorway contract. There's quite a few examples across the years of all-purpose roads associated with a motorway contract being shown as a motorway themselves.

3) The part of it that was actually built, connecting the motorway (now M60 J6) to Old Hall Road, Sale, and known as A6144, is not shown.

It's shown in the 1974 RPM in exactly the same way as here. Oddly, the part you mention here isn't actually shown at all until the 1980 RPM, with the open junction connecting to nothing, and the A6144 shown as terminating on the B5397, or in later editions, just in the middle of nowhere!

In short, that area of that inset is not the OS's finest work.

M63 J8..JPG (23.25 KiB) Viewed 8946 times

[Steven]

And it's 1 January!

Which means that the 1974 Route Planning Map (copyright 1973) is now available for us, so it's now online for everyone to enjoy.

The M63 shenanigans mentioned above is still on there, but what else can you find that's changed during this peak of roadbuilding time?

[Truvelo]

It shows the A5 fully dualled between the Rising Sun and Wall Island.

[Ross Spur]

Thanks for the new maps, Steven. Here are some of the changes in England and Wales from the previous year:

M5 J22 Edithmead - J23 Dunball
M40 J1 Denham to J2 Beaconsfield
M62 J6 Tarbock - J10 M6
A1(M) Welwyn - Stanborough
A329 (M) Reading - Lodden Bridge
A12 Mountnessing Bypass
A19 Castle Eden Bypass
A38 Chudleigh Bypass
A40 Andoversford Bypass
A45 Bury St Edmunds Bypass
A45 Felixstowe Southern Relief Road
A182 Mount Pleasant Link (Washington)
A338 Bournemouth Wessex Way (in town centre, note unclassified road shown on earlier OS One inch maps)
A417 spur Barnwood Link Road (Gloucester)
A500 Stoke D Road Talke - Etruria
A614 Clifton Bridge Dualling
A617 Mansfield Inner Ring Road section

It's given me a few leads.

The dual carriageway from Hooton to Ellesmere Port is also shown for the first time as well as the Eastham to Ellesmere Port Road that had disappeared off the OS One inch map by 1957!

A6067 from Annfield Plain to A692 was downgraded.

[Jonny A46]

One noticeable difference on the route planning map itself from the previous year's editions is the return of showing primary destinations, which were not highlighted on either version of the 1973 map. Unlike the 1967-72 maps, however, super primary destinations are not distinguished from other primary destinations, as in all cases the place name is shown against a green background, using the colour scheme previously reserved for super primaries as opposed to the white background with a green box outline used for standard primary destinations on the earlier maps.

Having inspected the 1972 and 1974 maps, there don't appear to be any changes to the list of primary destinations between the two editions.

[Summers-lad]

The 1974 Route Planning map shows the widespread cull of A roads in Aberdeenshire (and one in Banffshire), namely the A973, A974, A979, A920 (Keith-Dufftown), the southern part of A981, and the western part of A948, as well as the rerouteing of the southern end of A939. The new and much longer A920 is also shown. Interestingly, A943 is unchanged on the 1974 map.