Automotive

A guide to some of the terminology and obscure acronyms that sometimes come up in references to London's planned and abandoned motorway network.

A detailed breakdown of all the known cost estimates for proposed Ringways road schemes, taken from evidence at the GLDP inquiry in 1972.

London's motorway plans were under attack on all sides by 1972 - but the political situation was about to make that an irrelevance.

The Greater London Council's 1960s masterwork created a vision for a new London ringed with urban motorways - and when it was published, it seemed utterly unstoppable.

The 1940s and 50s were an era of growing traffic and growing institutional panic about the state of London's roads. The suggested fixes were the precursor to London's urban motorway plans of the 60s.

The early 20th Century saw numerous inventive schemes to fix London's ever-growing traffic problem, few of which saw the light of day.

A whistle-stop tour of the motor age, from the turn of the twentieth century to the present. No pedestrians, horse drawn vehicles, invalid carriages or motorcycles under 50cc please.

Officially the seventh most frightening thing on the road network - but actually it might just be the most efficient junction ever designed.

County Surveyor and Bridgemaster for Lancashire in the 1950s and 60s, Drake was instrumental in the motorway revolution.

The very first motorway was eight miles of relief for the Lancashire town of Preston. It goes without saying that there's an interesting story to be told about it.

This is the story of one man at Oxfordshire County Council who pre-empted the development of modern road signs - much to the annoyance of the men from the Ministry.

In days gone by, new roads were often celebrated with a grand opening ceremony and the issue of a commemorative booklet heralding the exciting new highway. You'll find some of them here, complete with a glimpse of all that empty tarmac and a healthy dose of modernist optimism.