Welcome!
What is this all about then?
Pathetic Motorways is dedicated to those motorways within the United Kingdom and Ireland that are not perhaps, the greatest feats of engineering ever seen...
It's designed to combine fun with some serious research about the motorway network, including some ideas and plans that never got off the ground.
How are the motorways arranged?
Into six different categories:
- Current - motorways that are well, currently still both motorways and pathetic!
- Former - motorways that, well, aren't any more!
- Secretive - motorways that aren't obvious, mostly because they don't appear with their numbers on maps.
- Unbuilt - motorways so pathetic that they were planned but never actually built!
- Lost - motorways that have lost their original numbers. Sometimes this is because the number itself has changed, sometimes because they're now part of something bigger, and generally far duller.
- Unfinished - those non-pathetic motorways that have unbuilt sections, usually extensions.
You can also visit the summary page containing information about all the motorways featured on this site, and if you're a new visitor, the FAQ should answer some of your questions!
If you've been here before, you might have missed Features, which is a small but growing section - this is where you'll find the Might Have Been Map...
What's going on around here then?
The latest additions to Pathetic Motorways are:
- In "Unbuilt", it's a trip to Central London for a completely and uttely bizarre motorway. Amaze your modern eyes with those ideas from our 1940s and 50s planners - it's the 'A' Ring.
- In "Unfinished", it's the M1. Yes, yes, I know...
- And for all you unbuilt motorway aficionados (if there are any of you out there!), head for an update to the Ringways History over on CBRD for more London unbuilt motorway goodness.