Over the years, there have been many plans for road schemes large and grand. Whilst many are built, a lot get stopped part way through, or never see the light of day. Yet, in preparedness of these schemes, earth mounds are formed, carriageways use temporary alignments and bridges are built.
However, with cancellation of schemes, it leaves odd layouts and unused bits of tarmac dotted around the place... and the occasional "ski jump" where sections of incomplete flyovers are constructed. Below is a list of places where evidence of unbuilt roads can be found.
If any are missing, please get in touch and we'll update the page accordingly!
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M8 Glasgow Unused westbound exit slip road to the east of Junction 17, complete with a bridge carrying the eastbound carriageway over it. There is also a space on the overbridge to the west of the junction, providing a space for an entry merge. |
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M8 Glasgow A wide central reserve at Junction 20 shows where a free-flow junction would be built onto the southern side of the "Glasgow Box" motorway. An unused elevated strip of road exists just off the motorway to the east of the junction, showing where the motorway would have headed. |
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M11 Woodford, London At Junction 4, a wide central reservation and flyovers, lots of hatched markings and bridges over nothing show that the motorway should have extended further into London, and provided space for the proposed M12 towards Chelmsford. |
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M23 Hooley Two unused bridges at Junction 7 where the motorway should have continued northwards into South London. |
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M53 Hooton, Wirral The northbound carriageway takes an odd alignment and a sharp turn, as the M53 should have continued southwards towards Dunkirk, with the existing motorway retaining its original designation of M531. |
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M57 Aintree, Liverpool Flared carriageways at Junction 7 were built to allow construction of an extension of the motorway over to the A565 near Crosby. M58 Aintree, Liverpool Extremely flared carriageways at Switch Island show that the motorway should have continued westward over to the docks at Bootle. |
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M58 Skelmersdale Missing free-flowing slip road at Junction 5 from the eastbound carriageway onto the northbound A577; instead traffic has to use the existing eastbound exit and loop round the half-dumbbell. |
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M58 Orrell, Wigan Flared carriageways at the Orrell Interchange show where the M58 should have continued eastwards to the M61, as part of the "Route 225" proposal. Instead, we have to make do with a rubbish little link onto a congested A577. |
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M60 Bredbury, Stockport Extremely wide central reserve just north of Junction 25 shows where the motorway should have continued southwards as the A6(M) around the south of Stockport. Blank gantry sign panels also give this away. |
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M61 Westhoughton Bridge over nothing constructed north of Junction 5, built in preparation for the never-built M58 extension from Orrell to the M61. |
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M67 |
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A14 Felixstowe Flared carriageways and earth mounds show that there were plans for a flyover to be built onto the A154 towards the centre of Felixstowe. |
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A27 Arundel The dual carriageway abruptly ends at an unfinished grade separated junction, with the line of the road partially built beneath the junction ready for its westward extension as part of the Arundel Bypass. |
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A35 Tolpuddle There is a short section of unused carriageway at the western end of the Tolpuddle Bypass, where the carriageways merge. Looks like future-proofing for a future extension of the dual carriageway. |
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A47 Dereham Several double-span bridges were built over the road west of Dereham ready for a possible future dualling project. |
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A47 King's Lynn There are flared carriageways and unused earth mounds at the western end of the King's Lynn Bypass, built for future grade separation of the junctions. A similar situation existed at the eastern end, but those mounds were used when the junction was recently improved. |
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A57(M) Manchester Slip road stump on the elevated section shows where a slip road was meant to be located, until planners realised it would send traffic the wrong way down a one-way street. |
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A58 Westhoughton Flared carriageways at the A6 roundabout, built ready for a dual carriageway link down to Leigh and Warrington. |
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A59 Clitheroe Evidence of a proposed dual-carriageway can be seen along the eight mile long stretch of road that forms the Whalley and Clitheroe bypasses. A wide highway boundary, double-span bridges and oversized roundabouts show what was meant to have been built. |
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A65 Burley-in-Wharfedale There is a short section of unused carriageway at the western end of the Burley-in-Wharfedale Bypass, where the carriageways merge. Looks like future-proofing for a future extension of the dual carriageway. |
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A69 Hexham A fluted raised roundabout junction was built at the A695 junction, with space for underpass. |
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A69 Styford At the roundabout junction with A68 southbound, the carriageways flare and earth mounds are present, ready for a flyover to be built above the junction. |
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A133 Clacton-on-Sea North of Clacton, three double-span bridges were built ready for a future dualling project. Some wide grass strips at the sides of the road have been left too, also hinting at this. |
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A444 Coventry Flared carriageways and unused earth mounds show that the A444 was meant to travel over the top of the roundabout where the road crosses the M6 at Junction 3. |
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A465 South Wales Several cases of grade separation just waiting to be built along the entire road, with plenty of earth mounds, huge roundabouts and flared carriageways. Most of these will be utilised as the road is gradually dualled in stages. |
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A533 Runcorn A huge roundabout and flared carriageways that cry out for grade separation; look like a free-flow link could have been built onto the M56 at a possible Junction 11A. |
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A555 Handforth Space has been reserved at the temporary terminus (at the B5358 junction), ready for the westward extension to Manchester Airport to be constructed. |
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A823(M) Dunfermline Flared carriageways at the western end, and a hugely over-engineered interchange at the M90 hint at the motorway's fuller potential, as it was planned to run from the Kincardine Bridge through the middle of the M90 junction and over towards Kirkcaldy, as part of a Fife Regional Road. |
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A1134 Cambridge An empty strip of land has been left, which was allocated for the planned route of the Ring Road, before the route was changed to its current course. |
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A3290 Reading Dual carriageway just to the north of the A4/A3290 roundabout slams abruptly into an at-grade roundabout, hinting that the road should have continued northwards across the River Thames. |
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A5209 Standish Fluted carriageways close to the M6 Junction 27, built ready for construction of a dual carriageway link road from the M6 into the north of Wigan. |
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Road off A120 Stansted Airport A combination of of fluted carriageways and a large at-grade roundabout clearly shows that an underpass was planned to head underneath. Just to the south-west of the junction are two short stumps of tarmac, proving this was to be the case. |
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