Old USGS imagery showing former road layouts

[RJDG14]

I feel like we should get all of this on the SABRE Maps.

There's nothing legally preventing us from putting it on SABRE Maps since the images have been released by the US government into the public domain. The only issue would be that the imagery is not completely to scale due to the fact that it was captured by satellites, meaning that due to the curve of the Earth, the view at the edge of the each imageset is squashed looking (the Winchester Bypass was in roughly the centre of the image so is fairly to scale). Check out the far left and far right of this low resolution preview of the imageset that I extracted the Winchester Bypass image from, for example:

https://ims.cr.usgs.gov/browse/declass3 ... 41F015.jpg

What might be practical to do, however, would be for me to prepare a library of snippets of interesting road images covering roughly the area of the Winchester Bypass one that could go on SABRE Maps.

[Berk]

That’s really great, thanks for that.

You can tell it was before 1982 - there is no left-hand pull-in for right-turn traffic at Hockley.

For the life of me, I cannot understand why the turn-left-to-turn-right order wasn’t made when this photo was taken.

It caused years of congestion.

[ForestChav]

That does rather nicely show the section south of Hockley, which isn't as easy to pick up these days.

The interesting thing is after it's crossed under the railway then meets the old road out of Winchester, which appears to have diverged - the NB just carries straight on as the bypass heads off to the right then the outbound side goes off under the bypass before the slightly mad T-junction with the Shawford road (which is probably a bit east of where they currently meet) and then the Compton junction itself really does look like it's impressive for what it actually is...

How little of this is there these days...

[ForestChav]

That’s really great, thanks for that.

You can tell it was before 1982 - there is no left-hand pull-in for right-turn traffic at Hockley.

For the life of me, I cannot understand why the turn-left-to-turn-right order wasn’t made when this photo was taken.

It caused years of congestion.

also interesting to see how primitive the road in to winch from Hockley looked even then - it's as though what we see now on street view doesn't reflect any work to make it seem less so

[RJDG14]

That does rather nicely show the section south of Hockley, which isn't as easy to pick up these days.

The interesting thing is after it's crossed under the railway then meets the old road out of Winchester, which appears to have diverged - the NB just carries straight on as the bypass heads off to the right then the outbound side goes off under the bypass before the slightly mad T-junction with the Shawford road (which is probably a bit east of where they currently meet) and then the Compton junction itself really does look like it's impressive for what it actually is...

How little of this is there these days...

The bit where it made quite a sharp bend as it went under the railway has been completely returned to nature - today what was the former road is just part of a field, and you can't make out any trace of the former road there from the air. I have a feeling that the bridge is still there but otherwise that's it.

I don't think this photo was taken at a peak time by 1973 standards, and yet there is still a short queue at the traffic light junction near Hockley. I know that the road became a terrible bottleneck due mostly to this junction.

I'm wondering if the junction at Bar End was being grade separated in around 1973? It looks as though there are roadworks going on and as though the junction is in the late stages of construction (it was probably an early improvement work prior to the M3).

[Berk]

I'm wondering if the junction at Bar End was being grade separated in around 1973? It looks as though there are roadworks going on and as though the junction is in the late stages of construction (it was probably an early improvement work prior to the M3).

Yes, it was being worked on around this time. I haven’t been able to tell if it was already open yet.

[Berk]

That’s really great, thanks for that.

You can tell it was before 1982 - there is no left-hand pull-in for right-turn traffic at Hockley.

For the life of me, I cannot understand why the turn-left-to-turn-right order wasn’t made when this photo was taken.

It caused years of congestion.

also interesting to see how primitive the road in to winch from Hockley looked even then - it's as though what we see now on street view doesn't reflect any work to make it seem less so

Well it definitely looks like a country lane now. I can’t imagine it was much different back then.

The idea that it was still the “main” road to Portsmouth (even if that was due to the 1935 numbering) seems odd, even by 1970s standards.

[RJDG14]

A1:

Today this is the junction where the A1(M) and A14 meet. This is how it looked in 1973 prior to the modern A14 being built and prior to the A1 being upgraded to motorway:

Note the kink in the northbound carriageway immediately south of the roundabout.

This is another slightly noticeable kink in the northbound carriageway a little to the north:

(Today: https://www.google.com/maps/@52.4662904 ... ?entry=ttu)

[Berk]

That does rather nicely show the section south of Hockley, which isn't as easy to pick up these days.

The interesting thing is after it's crossed under the railway then meets the old road out of Winchester, which appears to have diverged - the NB just carries straight on as the bypass heads off to the right then the outbound side goes off under the bypass before the slightly mad T-junction with the Shawford road (which is probably a bit east of where they currently meet) and then the Compton junction itself really does look like it's impressive for what it actually is...

Indeed. You have to remember that the ‘old’ road was the one running on the east side (southbound) - well, diverted, anyway.

It was also two-way, due to the connection with what is now the B3335 Twyford road, and headed back to Winchester through the underpass.

I found that confusing at first, before I realised the northbound off-slip (which did use the old road) was much shorter (so didn’t cause a conflict).

How little of this is there these days...

I think one of the bridges at Compton must be original, they must’ve used it when they refashioned the interchange for local traffic.

But it’s a real shame it’s been lost forever, like the Spitfire Bridge. I don’t know why they couldn’t have kept that span for northbound traffic. Would just have meant a narrow hard shoulder.

[Berk]

A1/A14:

Today this is the junction where the A1(M) and A14 meet. This is how it looked in 1973 prior to the modern A14 being built and prior to the A1 being upgraded to motorway:

A1A14.jpg

Note the kink in the northbound carriageway immediately south of the roundabout.

Yes, that’s what I was talking about. It survived until the recent A14 scheme. Part of it was a service road at the services, and the other part abandoned.

[Truvelo]

A1/A14:

Today this is the junction where the A1(M) and A14 meet. This is how it looked in 1973 prior to the modern A14 being built and prior to the A1 being upgraded to motorway:

A1A14.jpg

Note the kink in the northbound carriageway immediately south of the roundabout.

Yes, that’s what I was talking about. It survived until the recent A14 scheme. Part of it was a service road at the services, and the other part abandoned.

The kink retained its road markings, catseyes and posts for the signage as well. I managed to take some photos before the A14 work started.

[RJDG14]

A1/A14:

Today this is the junction where the A1(M) and A14 meet. This is how it looked in 1973 prior to the modern A14 being built and prior to the A1 being upgraded to motorway:

A1A14.jpg

Note the kink in the northbound carriageway immediately south of the roundabout.

Yes, that’s what I was talking about. It survived until the recent A14 scheme. Part of it was a service road at the services, and the other part abandoned.

Based on a 1999 aerial image in Google Earth, the whole thing looked pretty much abandoned. It looks as though the junction had been grade separated several years earlier, probably sometime in the early-mid 1990s.

I look to have been wrong in saying that this section of the A1 is now A1(M), although it was upgraded to D3 fairly recently.

The imageset that I downloaded showing Southampton (most of Portsmouth is cut off though) appears to show much of the M27 being constructed. It looks like there was originally a gap between J8 and J4 which was built later.

[tom66]

I'm curious about the history of some of the St Neots bypass and the A1 nearby. It's my understanding this section is 1970's build, it's built to a relatively high standard unlike most of the A1 preceding it until Baldock.

[RJDG14]

I'm curious about the history of some of the St Neots bypass and the A1 nearby. It's my understanding this section is 1970's build, it's built to a relatively high standard unlike most of the A1 preceding it until Baldock.

The St Neots bypass is there on the 1973 imagery that I downloaded but looks relatively new so may have only been finished a year or two prior. The surface is pretty light compared with the other roads indicating that it likely originally had a concrete instead of tarmac surface. Here's what its southern end looked like in 1973:

[AnOrdinarySABREUser]

How about the A2 past Gravesend? There's imagery on Google Earth Pro from when it was a single carriageway, a six-lane dual carriageway and four-lane dual carriageway, but none of it from when it was a four-lane dual carriageway. I've always wondered what it would've looked like - the layout when it was a six-lane dual carriageway would've been quite similar to what it was back then from what I've seen on SABRE Maps.

[RJDG14]

How about the A2 past Gravesend? There's imagery on Google Earth Pro from when it was a single carriageway, a six-lane dual carriageway and four-lane dual carriageway, but none of it from when it was a four-lane dual carriageway. I've always wondered what it would've looked like - the layout when it was a six-lane dual carriageway would've been quite similar to what it was back then from what I've seen on SABRE Maps.

According to the 1973 imagery it was a six lane dual carriageway by then, the same as it is on 1990s and early 2000s imagery. Back in 1960 it looks to have been a 4 lane single carriageway.

The imagery shows the dualling works on the nearby Dartford Tunnel:

Also, here's the northern and southern termini (respectively) of the tunnel approach roads as they looked at the time:

It's interesting in my opinion that the southern terminus (which meets the A2) had provision for an extension (which was later built as part of the M25) while the northern terminus didn't and was just an at grade roundabout, albeit an oversized one. The northern/southern termini are today J31 and J2 of the M25 respectively.

[RJDG14]

M4 at Newport:
Here's the Brynglas Tunnels and the approaches (which look quite uncluttered compared with now) as they looked in 1973. I'd imagine they looked the same from the air at the point of opening about 6 years prior:

This was the original M4 terminus junction at Newport, which existed prior to the M4 being extended west later during the 1970s and today forms part of J28:

M5 Avonmouth Bridge under construction:

This appears to be the Avonmouth Bridge under construction. From what I can tell the M5 was at this point open to traffic to both the north and south of the bridge:

[Berk]

Another location you may wish to find: the Hog’s Back A3/31 turn-off near Guildford. I believe the westbound flyover was being built around the time these caps were taken.

Until then, the east/northbound A3 slip was actually two-way, which meant one was allowed to drive up to it, and then turn left - having to give way to the A31 westbound traffic before turning right to join it.

Nowadays the B3000 is used instead.

Finally, not forgetting Popham Interchange - when it allowed full access.

[wrinkly]

This appears to be the Avonmouth Bridge under construction. From what I can tell the M5 was at this point open to traffic to both the north and south of the bridge:

Yes, if I remember correctly it was delayed by the steel box girder bridge collapses in 1969-71.

[RJDG14]

This was the "temporary" unfinished junction on the M53 which is still standing half a century later:

It looks like the half finished junction was originally built with a bridge for the never constructed motorway, but this has since been demolished.