M16
Where's this then?
The M25.
What do you mean, the M25?
What do you think I mean?
Don't be awkward - I ask the questions around here!
OK, you do. What was to be the M16 has ended up being subsumed into today's M25.
Can you show me where it was supposed to be on a map?
Right. So some of the M25 was supposed to be M16?
You've got it! In fact, you can see a map of the first section here, and thanks to Chris Marshall, you can also see a map of the entire eastern section, and compare M16 with M25.
So, tell me more about it then.
OK. Yet again we'll be talking about London Ringways, and the plans for a network of motorways around (or through!) London.
The outer orbital motorway for London was Ringway 4. This was planned to be a combination of M25 South Orbital Motorway, which went from the M20, along today's M26, round the south and west of London to end at Hunton Bridge, present J19a where it would end on the A41(M) motorway. The rest of Ringway 4 to the north would have been built as an all-purpose road.
The next orbital in would have been Ringway 3. This consisted of the M16 from Dartford heading around the present M25 to junction 23 where it would have diverged to the southwest, meeting the M1 between junctions 4 and 5, heading round to M4 J3, then across to M3 J1. It would then have moved around the south of London to Addington, and back to Dartford.
However, the first section of both M16 and M25 (between present J17 and J19a) were both opened all-purpose roads despite being planned and built as motorway, and intended to be renumbered later when more of the routes were opened. The M16's "alter ego" was A1178.
Then came late 1975.
What happened in 1975?
The DoT announced that there would be one outer orbital motorway around London: the M25. The planned route of M16 from junction 23 to Dartford was given the go-ahead, but several important changes were made to the plan. Firstly, the M26 was born as the M25 was turned north instead of east, to head towards Dartford, and the mess that is the present day junction 5 was born. The new southern approach roads to Dartford under construction at the time were hurredly redesigned to take the motorway into account, and a whole new section connecting the present J3 to J5 was born.
Sections of M16 and M25 to the north had opened earlier than this, but they had been opened without motorway restrictions, so there was a renumbering to occur there anyway.
The biggest change occurred in the Watford area. Suddenly, there was a gap where the two rings were never meant to meet, but they suddenly had to! What was the solution? The current "bump" around Watford was shoehorned into the plans, including a new junction to take the motorway away from Hunton Bridge, and a section of A6 was stolen to be upgraded into a part of the M25. At around the same time, the A41(M) was cancelled and voila, a fully orbital motorway!
Can I see some photographs?
Can I comment on this motorway?
Of course! Contact me and I'll put them here!
Have any other visitors commented?
Mark Whittingham starts:
I clearly remember the M16 being built, in the mid-1970's. It was also labelled 'The South Mimms Improvement'. My dad always got frustrated because this road was only about 3-miles long. At least it cut-out Potters Bar town centre from our route....