Motorway junctions or bridges that were built prior to their road
Moderator: Site Management Team
Motorway junctions or bridges that were built prior to their road
https://www.sabre-roads.org.uk/maps/ind ... =oneinch67
It would be interesting to know if there were any other junctions in the UK that were originally similar to this, not including ones that were originally built as temporary termini with the motorway/dual carriageway connecting to one side of the junction.
This 1972 OS map shows J19 of the M5 as being complete, with the motorway still unopened. I'm unsure though if it was originally built on its own (like J4 of the M6) or if it was simply the first part of the construction project for the Avonmouth section of the M5, though:
https://www.sabre-roads.org.uk/maps/ind ... =oneinch72
The Avonmouth crossing immediately north of the junction was in the later stages of construction in 1973 when the US Geological Survey took high resolution satellite imagery of the UK.
See my Geograph profile here - http://www.geograph.org.uk/profile/74193
The Swindon Files - Swindon's modern history - http://rjdg14.altervista.org/swindon/
----
If I break a policy designed only to protect me and nobody else, have I really broken anything?
- RichardA35
- Elected Committee Member
- Posts: 5722
- Joined: Thu Jul 11, 2002 18:58
- Location: Dorset
Re: Motorway junctions or bridges that were built prior to their road
Re: Motorway junctions or bridges that were built prior to their road
I wouldn't count this, I'm afraid. There are plenty of junctions that were originally like this, including the M5/M50 junction and M4/A48(M) junction.RichardA35 wrote: ↑Thu Jan 11, 2024 19:53 Does the M42 M40 junction count where the M42 links and bridges were built and in use awaiting the M40 to plug into the junction?
See my Geograph profile here - http://www.geograph.org.uk/profile/74193
The Swindon Files - Swindon's modern history - http://rjdg14.altervista.org/swindon/
----
If I break a policy designed only to protect me and nobody else, have I really broken anything?
- Patrick Harper
- Member
- Posts: 3213
- Joined: Sat Jan 16, 2010 14:41
- Location: Wiltshire
Re: Motorway junctions or bridges that were built prior to their road
Re: Motorway junctions or bridges that were built prior to their road
-
- Member
- Posts: 302
- Joined: Fri Aug 19, 2022 16:49
Re: Motorway junctions or bridges that were built prior to their road
Re: Motorway junctions or bridges that were built prior to their road
My mission is to travel every road and visit every town, village and hamlet in the British Isles.
I don't like thinking about how badly I am doing.
Re: Motorway junctions or bridges that were built prior to their road
Yep, I had that one in mind. It was something that I noticed when browsing through the freely downloadable satellite imagery on the USGS EarthExplorer from 1973, which covers much of southern England and the Midlands. The half built junction looks pretty out of place in the image.rileyrob wrote: ↑Thu Jan 11, 2024 21:51 This Bridge just off the M5 at Weston was built in the 1970s with the motorway junction and crossed a field for around 20 years before the dual carriageway was finally built under it in the 1990s. Not a motorway, but the original plan was (I think) for a motorway spur to pass under it.
See my Geograph profile here - http://www.geograph.org.uk/profile/74193
The Swindon Files - Swindon's modern history - http://rjdg14.altervista.org/swindon/
----
If I break a policy designed only to protect me and nobody else, have I really broken anything?
Re: Motorway junctions or bridges that were built prior to their road
This image from 1999 of (I think) this portion of the road under construction suggests that might not have been the case, as there is what looks to be a bridge being built:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ ... 808057.jpg
See my Geograph profile here - http://www.geograph.org.uk/profile/74193
The Swindon Files - Swindon's modern history - http://rjdg14.altervista.org/swindon/
----
If I break a policy designed only to protect me and nobody else, have I really broken anything?
Re: Motorway junctions or bridges that were built prior to their road
By Swanley, do you mean Darenth? This is what the junction there looked like in 1973 (on a USGS satellite image that is in the public domain):Patrick Harper wrote: ↑Thu Jan 11, 2024 20:38 The top-level flyovers at Swanley and Mardyke are classic examples.
I probably wouldn't count it though since the junction did still serve a purpose despite the modern M25 to the south not having yet been built.
Here's what the northern end of the Dartford Tunnel approach at Mardyke looked like at the same time:
It was originally built without flyovers.
See my Geograph profile here - http://www.geograph.org.uk/profile/74193
The Swindon Files - Swindon's modern history - http://rjdg14.altervista.org/swindon/
----
If I break a policy designed only to protect me and nobody else, have I really broken anything?
Re: Motorway junctions or bridges that were built prior to their road
https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/808057 is just south of Daisy Nook. That's the northern end of contract number 2.RJDG14 wrote: ↑Thu Jan 11, 2024 22:06This image from 1999 of (I think) this portion of the road under construction suggests that might not have been the case, as there is what looks to be a bridge being built:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ ... 808057.jpg
Very roughly:
Contract 1 - Structures between Heaton Park and Daisy Nook
Contract 2 - All motorway between Denton Island and Daisy Nook
Contract 3 - Motorway between Heaton Park and Daisy Nook
Contracts 1 and 2 happened pretty much one after another. This led to there being a fully completed (including lane markings) and totally unused motorway between Denton Island and half way into a hill just north of the River Medlock viaduct at Daisy Nook for about 18 months before contract 3 was started.
Re: Motorway junctions or bridges that were built prior to their road
The biggest engineering task was of course reshaping Audenshaw reservoir to cater for the curve in the M60.
Terminally cynical, unimpressed, and nearly Middle Age already.
She said life was like a motorway; dull, grey, and long.
Blog - https://showmeasign.online/
X - https://twitter.com/ShowMeASignBryn
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@BrynBuck
- Steven
- SABRE Maps Coordinator
- Posts: 19257
- Joined: Tue Feb 12, 2002 20:39
- Location: Wolverhampton, Staffordshire
- Contact:
Re: Motorway junctions or bridges that were built prior to their road
It is perhaps an edge case as it was never a termporary terminus, so doesn't fall foul of the rules. It also wasn't a junction at the time, so...
Motorway Historian
Founder Member, SABRE ex-Presidents' Corner
Add your roads knowledge to the SABRE Wiki today!
Have you browsed SABRE Maps recently? Try getting involved!
From the SABRE Wiki: Catthorpe Interchange :
The Catthorpe Interchange is a major motorway and trunk road junction in the Midlands, named after the nearby village of Catthorpe. It marks the starting point of the M6 and the A14, meeting at Junction 19 of the M1.
Originally constructed as a fork junction where the M1 and M6 split (with the local route running underneath), it was adapted during construction of the A14 in 1994. Due to budget constraints, a simple roundabout interchange was built,
-
- Member
- Posts: 1334
- Joined: Fri Apr 20, 2018 16:49
- Location: County Down
Re: Motorway junctions or bridges that were built prior to their road
- RichardA35
- Elected Committee Member
- Posts: 5722
- Joined: Thu Jul 11, 2002 18:58
- Location: Dorset
Re: Motorway junctions or bridges that were built prior to their road
That's the southern of the pair of roundabouts - Mardyke is the northern one of the pair where the A13 now crosses and where the flyover was built ahead of the westwards extension of the improved A13.RJDG14 wrote: ↑Thu Jan 11, 2024 22:58Here's what the northern end of the Dartford Tunnel approach at Mardyke looked like at the same time:Patrick Harper wrote: ↑Thu Jan 11, 2024 20:38 The top-level flyovers at Swanley and Mardyke are classic examples.
It was originally built without flyovers.
Re: Motorway junctions or bridges that were built prior to their road
https://www.google.com/maps/@51.5826106 ... ?entry=ttu
Re: Motorway junctions or bridges that were built prior to their road
I thought the Society had agreed never to speak of that abomination again?Steven wrote: ↑Fri Jan 12, 2024 09:07 I'm surprised no-one has mentioned Catthorpe Interchange yet.
It is perhaps an edge case as it was never a termporary terminus, so doesn't fall foul of the rules. It also wasn't a junction at the time, so...
From the SABRE Wiki: Catthorpe Interchange :
The Catthorpe Interchange is a major motorway and trunk road junction in the Midlands, named after the nearby village of Catthorpe. It marks the starting point of the M6 and the A14, meeting at Junction 19 of the M1.
Originally constructed as a fork junction where the M1 and M6 split (with the local route running underneath), it was adapted during construction of the A14 in 1994. Due to budget constraints, a simple roundabout interchange was built,
- the cheesecake man
- Member
- Posts: 2482
- Joined: Mon Jan 07, 2019 13:21
- Location: Sheffield
Re: Motorway junctions or bridges that were built prior to their road
Re: Motorway junctions or bridges that were built prior to their road
See here. https://pathetic.org.uk/unbuilt/weston_spur/rileyrob wrote: ↑Thu Jan 11, 2024 21:51 This Bridge just off the M5 at Weston was built in the 1970s with the motorway junction and crossed a field for around 20 years before the dual carriageway was finally built under it in the 1990s. Not a motorway, but the original plan was (I think) for a motorway spur to pass under it.
Re: Motorway junctions or bridges that were built prior to their road
We can all come up with something like that!the cheesecake man wrote: ↑Fri Jan 12, 2024 13:30 There's this bridge built in 1840, about 120 years before the motorway
How about a bridge or two for a motorway that never arrived?