Queensway

The Plan First plans for the Southend town centre by- pass were debated in 1961, however, the talks dragged on and it would not be until 1966 when work finally began on the northern part new roadway scheme skirting the High Street. The High Street traffic had become extremely busy especially for through traffic at the Victoria Circus junction. The idea was to direct traffic away from the area ready for a new shopping centre and pedestrianisation of part the High Street for shoppers. In December 1965 the Ministry of Transport made a grant of £869,986,0s,0d towards the cost of the northern section and part of the eastern section, the total estimated cost of the northern & eastern sections was put at £2,000670,0s.0d. Plans were advertised and the council asked contractors to submit their tenders for consideration, the closing date was Friday 28th January 1966. The planning application submitted by City of London Real Property Company & British Railway Board, gained planning approval on 3rd March 1966, however, whilst the walkway and shopping centre were constructed the redevelopment of Victoria Railway Station never took place although the original building has been refurbished over the years. North & East Section The north and east section of the new road was the joining of several roads and making them into a dual carriageway. Starting at London Road it incorporated Dowsett Avenue up to it’s junction with Victoria Avenue, it then went on past the then proposed Victoria Circus roundabout into Bradley Street and into Prittlewell Street, the route would then carry on down Prittlewell Street (renamed Bradley Street) to join up with Porters Grange Avenue, where it would run past the railway bridge that crosses over the road into Bankside, following into Corsham Road and into Darnley Road at the roundabout outside the Seaway car park, it would then swing left and finally end at the roundabout at the junction with Woodgrange Drive and Southchurch Avenue.

Southend-on-Sea

Queensway Construction The by-pass was designed and laid as a two-lane each way road with an extra wide central reservation, its design allowed expansion, if demand later required an extra lane this could easily be achieved in each direction by reducing the width of the central reservation. The estimated cost of the new road was put at £12million. The new dual carriageway was not easy for pedestrians to cross, so an “overbridge” with shops was constructed for people to cross from Southend Victoria Railway Station to the first floor of the new shopping development at Victoria Circus. In April 1966 a number of trees that had suffered from root damage during the construction of the ring road were removed, it was stipulated that they had to be replaced on a one for one basis with the replacement trees being located within the ring road scheme area. In October 1973 the Government released 75% of the funding needed to buy up buildings and land in advance of the construction of the eastern section of the road that was to run south of Bankside, the southern section spur to Woodgrange Drive/Southchurch Avenue. The development of what would become Queensway was holding up the pedestrianisation of the High Street, because of traffic reasons the section between Hotel Victoria and Warrior Square South had to wait until the first section of the Ring Road had been completed and opened. The roads incorporated in the scheme all kept their own identities until Queen Elizabeth's 1977 Silver Jubilee when the entire length of the road was re-named Queensway, this also saw the opening of the £1million underpass section at the Southchurch Road/Sutton Road junction.

Property Acquisition Because of the size of the project and the fact many private dwellings sat directly in the way of the proposed roadway the council had to rely on Compulsory Purchase Orders (CPO) to buy up the houses and shops to enable the road to be constructed, between 1965 & 1966 a number of properties had been purchased by the council with the CPO's including: July 1965 43 & 103 Porters Grange Avenue. November 1965 15 & 15a Dowsett Avenue, 20 & 48 Milton Street, 38 Porters Grange Avenue, 12 Prittlewell Street, 34 Sutton Street. February 1966 9 & 41 Dowsett Avenue, Essex Garage Essex Street, 4, 14, 22, 24, 26, 28, 62, 64 & 68 Milton Street, 49 Porters Grange Avenue, 52 Prittlewell Street. April 1966 23 & 39 Dowsett Avenue, 34 & 36 Milton Street, 52 Prittlewell Street, 141, 143, 147, 155, 165 & 169 Southchurch Road, 33, 35 & 43 Sutton Street. June 1966 11 & 31 Dowsett Avenue. September 1966 27, 29 & 33 Dowsett Avenue. June 1971 321 Southchurch Road, 51 & 52 Porters Grange Avenue, 104 - 109 Porters Grange Avenue. September 1973 T. A. Centre Corsham Road demolished. October 1973 62 & 64 Darnley Road demolished. April 1975 Porters Grange Avenue service station purchased. Houses bought up by the council were quickly boarded up while they awaited demolition, some were already in a state of dilapidation and were quickly demolished. NOTE. This section will be updated as and when further details are found.

Dowsett Avenue to Victoria Avenue (London Road to Victoria Avenue) The Dowsett Avenue section of the by-pass (Queensway) starts at a newly formed junction at London Road it sweeps in a gentle progressing curve to the Victoria Gateway (Victoria Circus) junction at Victoria Avenue. Whilst the name Dowsett Avenue was chosen, the ring road is actually on a slightly different alignment to the original Dowsett Avenue, however the name has historical links to town. Thomas Dowsett was a local business man who became the first Mayor of Southend in 1892, he was also an estate agent and developer he built many properties in Southend including the listed Clifton Terrace. Victoria Gateway was originally know as Victoria Circus, as well as the more recent name change the site of Victoria Circus has also moved. It was originally located about 420ft further South than its current position. The original position put it outside the old Dixons Department Store (now W. H. Smiths), Talza Arcade (demolished and replaced by the Victoria Shopping Centre, Victoria Plaza) and the Technical College (demolished and replaced by the Odeon Multiplex Cinema). The new ring road also saw the bisecting of Boston Avenue, the two sections could not be more different. The main remaining section is some 1732 ft long it is lined with houses and the St Mary's Prittlewell Church of England Primary (formerly Dowsett High School for Girls). The the cut off piece is not more than 90ft long and doesn't retain the Boston Avenue name, it just an access slip road for the businesses that operate there, this section of Boston Avenue was originally called Edward Road, this small section ran from London Road to the junction with Dowsett Avenue, it was such a small stretch road it became absorbed into the larger road. To reduce the risk of flooding on the new ring road the Dowsett Avenue section of the new road saw a £54,000 surface water drainage system installed.

Bradley Street/Prittlewell Street to Southchurch Road/Porters Grange Avenue After leaving the relocated Victoria Gateway (Victoria Circus) the ring road followed the line of Bradley Street before sweeping gently into what was Prittlewell Street, this whole section was named Bradley Street. The name Prittlewell Street was not entirely lost one small section survives as a residential street to this day. A public footbridge was also included, this connected a housing estate to Queensway House and the Victoria Shopping Centre/Victoria Plaza. Further down Bradley Street a new public footbridge was built over the ring road this connected a housing estate to Queensway House and the Victoria Shopping Centre.

Porters Grange Avenue into Bankside In December 1973 the Department of Environment awarded a grant of £869,223 totalling 75% of the estimated £1,194,964 total cost of the works to restructure the roadway between Southchurch Road roundabout & Bankside taking in Porters Grange Avenue. The works included widening the road and building the underpass. Further works on the area saw an injection of funds of £837 for the realignment of Sutton road. Originally Bradley Street section of the by-pass (Queensway) ran directly to a roundabout at the junction of Southchurch Road and Porters Grange Avenue, however, a few years after completing the road a new underpass and roundabout was constructed, the underpass would enable quick and easy unimpeded access to Porters Grange Avenue, for traffic travelling along the by-pass towards the seafront, whilst traffic wishing to access Southchurch Road or Sutton Road could use the roundabout over the top. A public subway and footbridge was included at the junction to help those on foot. A second pedestrian underpass was included further down this section opposite Grange Gardens The new ring road also cut Milton Street in two, the section south of the ring road (outside the Victoria Shopping Centre running to the bus station) was renamed Chichester Road, the remaining section retained it's name, however it was not connected to the ring road.

Bankside into Corsham Road Porters Grange Avenue ended at the railway bridge taking the London Tilbury and Southend Railway over the ring road. The other side of the bridge was known as Bankside, this was by far the shortest section of the ring road for as soon as Bankside started Bankside ended! however, as the bridge had been built long before the road had been proposed it was only wide enough to handle a single lane in either direction and two footpaths, the bridge needed to be lengthened. On the 17th September 1970 an agreement was reached with British Rail to transfer the land needed to extend the railway bridge so that the new ring road could pass underneath it. The work to lengthen the railway bridge started in December 1973 and was forecast to take 18months to complete, during the construction, a one-way system was implemented southbound between Whitegate Road and Portland Avenue, two way traffic was maintained on Porters Grange Avenue, existing parking bays on the road were also closed and removed from the ring road once it was completed. This section of the ring road was the shortest that retained its name.

Corsham Road into Darnley Road Corsham Road ran from Bankside to York Road, but to enable the ring road to be constructed a number of private dwellings had to be demolished, York Road was cut through and is now in two distinct sections, however, both parts retain the York Road name. The evidence of these demolitions can still be seen in the buildings that were left. To reduce the number of possible accidents Portland Road that had always run into Corsham Road was closed off to all traffic entering or leaving the new ring road, access is now only possible to traffic from Baltic Avenue. In September 1973 the Corsham Road T. A. Centre was demolished to clear the way for the road to continue.

Darnley Road to Seaway Roundabout Darnley Road ran from York Road down to the Seaway Roundabout. On Tuesday 21st September 1937 a special meeting of the then Southend Town Council agreed to, purchase 4.65 acres of land laying either side of Seaway (a road leading from Darnley Road to Hartington Road) from the trustees of the late Mr. Alfred Tolhurst for the sum of £31,000. The land was purchased by the Council due to the growing need to create car parking facilities in the vicinity of the seafront and pier. The sale was agreed without any restriction placed upon the land, this would enable the Council to construct Southend’s first Municipal car park, giving the town a new stream of revenue income, and taking as many as 500 cars away from the free street parking. The land had previously been used as a car park but had never been laid out for such use, it was thought that if the Council did not buy the land other interested parties would buy the land and set up their own car park thus depriving the Council of the income it could generate. Traffic would grind to a halt during the summer and illumination seasons, as cars would trawl the streets looking for a parking space, the belief a large car park just off the seafront would help alleviate the pressure of the narrow residential streets close to the seafront. It was also possible that the land could in future be developed to generate new tourist facilities, the land was acquired and a car park was built. The Council bought what land was available however it was not until April 1974 that all the land had been acquired with a section between the Seaway Car Park and 78 Darnley Road being one of the last remaining sections to be acquired. The car park was at the centre of a major planning application. Major plans for the development of a £50 million leisure and residential scheme at Seaway car park. The proposals, which would transform the land near to the seafront at Lucy Road, include a ten-screen cinema, eleven restaurant units and a 99-apartment residential scheme. A 480 space multi-storey car park is also planned to replace the current 453 space surface parking. Also included in the plans is the site of the former Rossi Ice Cream Factory and Number 29, Herbert Grove, which were purchased by the Council in 2008, to enable future regeneration in a deal funded by the Homes and Communities Agency which is fully supportive of the proposed development.

Seaway Roundabout to Southchurch Avenue/Woodgrange Drive The final section of the ring road is a section that many people forget is still actually part of the Queensway. This section leads from the Seaway roundabout to the roundabout at the junction of Southchurch Avenue and Woodgrange Drive, this section enables traffic to access the seafront at the Kursaal, head up Southchurch Road or access Woodgrange Drive to Thorpe Bay and Shoebury. This short section of Queensway is a single lane in either direction.

The Tesco Proposal The B&Q DIY chain moved out of the building off Short Street and moved to a new purpose built £3 million superstore at Fossetts Farm which opened on Friday 27th July 2007. The old Short Street building was 30,000 square foot, the replacement was 150,000 square foot, the new gardening section alone matching the size of the old building! The old Short Street building sat empty, and soon became a target for vandals and the graffiti artists. Pre-empting the relocation of B&Q to Fossetts Farm it was reported that Tesco had made an offer for the Royal Mail Short Street sorting office. The report said that an initial offer for £10 million had been rejected a second offer included the construction of a replacement sorting office in Priory Crescent, it was said that Royal Mail had no plans to vacate the Short Street site. In January 2008 news that Tesco wanted to create a department store on the old B&Q site was bounding about the town. Tesco announced that it had indeed bought the B&Q site and were evaluating it for a “multi-use & retail” development. In March 2008 £150 million plans were revealed for a major redevelopment of the B&Q site, these plans were for a multi-storey building covering 83,000 sq ft, raised on stilts to permit space for 900 cars below, a skyway walk would link it directly to the Victoria Shopping Centre/Victoria Plaza, plans also included 272-flat tower block and 20 family houses allocated as affordable housing, the proposals also predicted 600 jobs would be created. In June 2009 with the credit crunch hitting a high, Tesco announced it would be submitting revised plans, this included scrapping the proposed flats, and redesigning the store proposals with the recession to blame for the redrawing of the proposals saw the square footage reduced by a quarter and the proposed jobs cut to 450. The revised plans were formally submitted to the Council in June 2010, the changes retained the bridge linking the new store to the Victoria Shopping Centre/Victoria Plaza and a replacement for the Focus Youth Centre. The changes to the application included a reduction in the number of parking spaces to 540m with 90 cycle stands, all traffic would use Short Street to access or exit the site. In November 2011 the big vote took place on the proposals, the development was passed by the Council, a “barrier” system was to be included to enable a better flow of traffic into and out of the car park, electronic signs informing drivers of the state of the car park were also included as a provision of the approval, a charging system was also part of the approval were people using the car park and not shopping would have to pay a parking fee whilst shoppers would be able to redeem the cost of parking. A contract drawn up between Tesco and the Council included a financial deal where Tesco would pay £50,000 towards new cycle routes, £120,000 for public art and £42,000 towards an extension of the CCTV network. Despite the approval no work begun on the site and in December 2012 dark clouds of doubt began gathering over the site, as Tesco was beginning to shy away from the large scale supermarkets. In June 2013 the news that everyone was half expecting came out that Tesco was scrapping the Short Street scheme, the retailer was carrying out a major strategy review into its core business practices relating to the larger superstores and the smaller local stores. In August 2013 it was announced that the home and garden retailer the Range were looking at Southend for a new store. The retailer soon announced that the old B&Q store was in the prime location and soon set about renovating the old store into a modern fresh retail unit. The new store opened on 29th November 2013.

Residential Development With a large number of residential properties being demolished to make way for the new ring road a way of replacing them needed to be put in place, thought also had to be given to the expected growth in the population in future years. A major limiting factor on what could be done to replace the building being demolished whilst not encroaching on the ring road development site was the lack of building space within the town centre area, demolition work saw whole streets lost, with Prittlewell Street loosing three quarters of its length. The redevelopment proposed to include three 16 storey tower blocks on what was Prittlewell Street with a fourth on the other side of the ring road. The £1,360,000 project was scheduled to take 124 weeks to build, with John Lang Construction chosen to undertake the work. There was a total of 176 Bored Pile foundations up to 42.5 foot deep sunk into the ground to support the new buildings. The four new tower blocks were at the time the tallest buildings in Southend, they were set upon columns lifting them above ground level so that car parking and garages could be laid out for a total of 436 cars. There were 417 flats included in the scheme, made up of, 240 two bedroom flats, the rest for elderly made up from 120 single bedroom & 57 bed sits. The four blocks were interconnected by walkways at 1st floor level with a footbridge over the new ring road linking to the High Street, a laundry block was included a was a workshop for DIY fans. The four tower blocks were named: Quantock, Pennine, Chiltern & Malvern. A small number of two storey town houses were also included on the Southchurch Avenue side of the site.

Queensway House Queensway House was built in the 1970s and was home to a number of Council and health care facilities. The building was constructed of brick and reinforced concrete, it was connected to the Victoria Shopping centre/Victoria Plaza by a footbridge over Chichester Road with a second footbridge over Queensway ring road, there was also a multi-storey car park underneath. As Council services relocated elsewhere, the building become less used, it was announced that the last of the service provided from the building would be moved out in March 2013, and that the building would be demolished in preparation for the redevelopment of the area. Until such time funding and a full plan of the regeneration could be drawn up, the site would become a public single level car park opening for the first time on Friday 12th September 2014.

Defending the Queensway During the Second World War the roads that were to become the new ring road were a twisting and turning maze, the Dowsett Avenue & Victoria Avenue junction was a vital artery to defend and slow any advance from any possible invasion from German troops. To slow any advance the junction was covered by two pillboxes, one was located on the junction of Victoria Avenue & Dowsett Avenue, the second was located just inside the grounds of the Municipal College, a number of anti tank blocks were also situated around the junction. Further pillboxes were dotted around the London Road side of the Municipal College. The junction still remains a vital artery but without the risk of invasion its much more open and free flowing without the need for defence structures.

Buses on Queensway Long before the construction of the ring road, buses used London Road running parallel to Dowsett Avenue. Westcliff Motor Services opened a bus depot at no 33 London Road in 1922 to house their fleet, with an ever growing operation, by 1933 it was decided to expand the depot, WMS purchased Browns Garage at no 35 London Road which enabled them to expand their services. With further growth no’s 17/21 were acquired by WMS and construction started on a new depot linked behind the intermediate buildings opened on 2nd September 1937. The depot remained with its entrance/exit only opening on to London Road until the construction of the ring road, to make space for the ring road and bus depot the 22 houses on the south side of Dowsett Avenue were demolished so that a new entrance could be created with the London Road side becoming the exit, the new layout officially opened in June 1968. The depot remained operating until it was officially closed down on 27th June 1987, the depot moved to Fairfax Drive. The bus station was demolished and a Sainsburys superstore was built in its place, the new store opened in March 1989.

Lost Roads & Shorter Streets The new ring road originally saw each section keep its original name, however, as already mentioned the Queensway name was applied to mark Queen Elizabeth's 1977 Silver Jubilee. A number of other roads were also lost these were swallowed up by the construction of the Queensway Housing Estate development that includes the Quantock, Malvern, Pennine and Chilton high-rise blocks. The roads that no-longer appear on road maps of Southend include: North Street, Lambert Street, Sutton Street & Station Approach. Milton Street was cut in two by the new road, the section leading to and from the bus station by the Royals Shopping Centre became Chichester Road, whilst the section on the other side of the new road was blocked off from joining the new ring road, the parallel running Short Street slowly developed into a major new access road for the Royal Mail sorting office that would be developed in future years followed by a small trading estate. Another Road effected was Essex Street, this was sliced in two by the by-pass, the section on the north side of the ring road was covered by the high-rise flats of the Queensway Housing Estate and the ring road. The section of Essex Street on the South side of the ring road still appears on maps, the road was realigned after the construction of the ring road so that it absorbed an access road behind the shops on Southchurch Road, it also acts as a route to the new Essex Street car park, exiting on to Southchurch Road. Prittlewell Street is now much shorter than it was before the construction of the by-pass, much of it was absorbed into the new road whilst another section currently sits under garages linked to the flats these were redeveloped for Social Housing.

Heritage Street signs of the old roads.

Pocket Park During June 2014 work started on installing new planters at Victoria Gateway. Also work begun on a “Pocket Park” at the junction of Queensway and Boston Avenue. Works to create the Pocket Park included moving the footpath away from the brick wall from the trees, this enables the trees to carry on growing without the roots damaging the footpaths. The construction of the new Pocket Park meant that the last remaining vestiges of the original Dowsett Avenue would be covered, thus bringing a small piece of Southend history to an end.

Future... Further plans include the demolition of the 16 storey “Quantock” tower block with residents being re- housed in low-rise buildings built elsewhere in the town or in converted office blocks on Victoria Avenue, further ahead plans could include the demolition of Malvern, Pennine and Chilton high-rise blocks, and replacing them with low-rise homes.

Drawing of the new road layout showing north, east, south & west parts of ring road

Quantock High Rise

The last remaining section of road from the original Dowsett Avenue

The new Boston Avenue/Queensway Pocket Park

At the entrance of Queensway once stood a road sign revealing the former name of that section

A fading road sign showing the "Formerly Bradley Street" name, the wooden part dates from 1977, now gone

The construction of the Queensway ring road saw Boston Avenue sliced in two, this photo shows how it looks today with the two red lines depicting the original line of Boston Avenue

The last remaining section of the original Essex Street is an exit route from the rest of the realigned Essex Street

Essex Street running behind the shops in Southchurch Road

Closed and awaiting demolition Queensway House, in 2012

Opening day programme for the Queensway Day Centre

The Range store early on the morning of 24th December 2015

Queensway Start/End at the junction of Southchurch Avenue A1160 & Woodgrange Drive

The Seaway roundabout links the Ring Road to Chancellor Road

Darnley Road ran from its junction here with York Road down to the roundabout at Seaway

Map of the area redeveloped for the bus depot, the yellow box is the site of the original WMS depot, the two red lines designate roughly where the entrance for the later bus depot was to be positioned

The 1922 Westcliff Motor Services bus depot exit on to London Road, is the grand red brick building to the centre of the photo

The London Road exit from the 1968 bus depot

The scene today, Sainsburys and its car park which replaced the bus depot

The bus depot replaced the housing that lined the original Dowsett Avenue, the new entrance allowed buses to enter the bus station from Queensway and exit on to London Road, a works and maintenance facility was included in the depot

Corsham Road runs up to the traffic lights, these mark the separated junction at York Road

The stopped-up Portland Avenue, with turning bay

Two houses that were clear of the new ring road planned route these were luckier than their adjoining properties, the unusual look to the end of the buildings are the chimney stacks. Evidence that there was once more to the building than there is today

Street sign, the name of Prittlewell Street lives on

The last remaining section of Prittlewell Street

Footbridge over the Bradley Street section of the ring road

View of the over-bridge on a rather cold and snowy day with the original pedestrian foot-way still separated from the road, the shared space route follows the almost same route as the road

Victoria Circus to Victoria Gateway As part of the Better Southend scheme, Victoria Circus was chosen as one of the areas that would benefit from the scheme. £7.5million was spent completely rebuilding the area, the roundabout was completely removed and a new traffic light controlled T junction was constructed, a new public square was included outside Southend Victoria Railway Station which included one of the first Shared Spaces in the town, this enables buses to avoid the traffic lights giving them a clear dedicated route. A bus interchange was included under the over-bridge giving people waiting cover from the rain. Work started in January 2010 and area was officially opened on 1st June 2011. The public square is also home to a public work of art £50,000 bronze sculpture by Belgian artist René Julien, The Return, depicts two lovers reunited after time apart. The work was paid for out of a grant from the Government’s Homes and Communities Agency as part of a project to revamp Victoria Gateway Square, the statue was chosen as it represents what the location is all about people return home to their loved one at a palace where pedestrians, cars, buses and trains all converge in one location.

The bus interchange under the over-bridge

The Return

A snow covered roundabout during the works to replace it with a T junction, 10th January 2010

Policeman directing traffic at the busy Victoria Circus junction

From Victoria Gateway to Porters Grange Roundabout

Construction of Porters Grange underpass

Empty B&Q building

Focus Youth Centre

1974 Construction of Queensway House

Victoria Gateway 2012

South & West Section The south section of the ring road was planned to come off the Seaway roundabout and follow Chancellor Road, it would have carried into Grover Street where a new roundabout was planned linking the ring road to the High Street, the southern section would have carried on along from the new junction into Royal Mews and Richmond Avenue, then would gently sweep up crossing the rear yard of the old Alexandra Street Police Station before merging with Alexandra Road at its junction with Capel Terrace and Devereux Road, with no access to the ring road from Capel Terrace or Devereux Road both being blocked off at one end. From Alexandra Road it would have passed the southern end of Cashiobury Terrace, where it would turn up to cross the southern part of Runwell Terrace (both being closed to through traffic), before heading north to cross Cambridge Road. The road would then have been built across Milton Place before joining the western section at Scratton Road railway bridge, the western section would of continued into Hamlet Road head north up Princes Street but on a slightly different angle and finish at the roundabout at London Road Dowsett Avenue junction where it started, this would have seen the whole demolition of the western side of Princes Street for its entire length, it would also have seen the demolition of the southern east side of Park Street. It was quickly established that having a dual carriageway slicing through the High Street would cause major problems to shoppers and visitors arriving at the train stations wanting to get to the seafront. A new plan was hatched, the answer was to scrap the southern section of the ring road, and instead construct an underpass at the northern part of the by-pass, which would still direct traffic away from the High Street. Both the southern and western sections of the ring road were scrapped soon after work had started on the project. Many properties had been demolished to make way for the north and east new road and many more would go in the south and west sections, which meant falling numbers of people living along the route of the proposed section. The Deeping underpass was constructed as part of the Hammerson Shopping Centre development using the diaphragm tunnelling method, this would see the site dug out before piles were driven into the substrata, a base was then laid along with retaining walls before the site was capped and built over. It was estimated that the cost was in the range of £220,000. One element of the proposed western section of the proposed road was built and today remains as a single solitary element of the greater plan. Before the western section was scrapped work had been undertaken to double the width of the Scratton Road bridge that crosses the railway line to Fenchurch Street, it was widened to accommodate the new ring road, these alterations remain, with the bridge twice the width than all of the others in the area, whilst the bridge is wide enough to carry a dual carriageway, it is restricted to a single lane in either direction, the rest of the road is given over to a cycle path. None of the roads in this area were widened.

Map 1, before ring road. Map 2, proposed north (in red ), south section (in yellow ), underpass (in blue ) route

Queensway’s wide central reservation

The over-bridge leading to the shopping centre, providing a safe way to cross the dual carriageway

The start of the by-pass (Queensway) at its junction with London Road

Ring road sign in Dowsett Avenue

Bradley Street section of Queensway before the under pass was built

The underpass on what was Bradley Street that takes traffic directly under the junction of Southchurch Road/Sutton Road traffic would emerge on to the Porters Grange Avenue section of the road

The entrance to Porters Grange Avenue section is dominated by the bypass roundabout, it includes public subways and footbridge

The railway bridge was doubled in length to enable it to accommodate the new road to run below

Standing under the railway bridge where Bankside starts the end can clearly be seen where Quebec Avenue joins the ring road

The only part of the western section of the ring road to be built was the widening of the Scratton Road railway bridge

Chancellor Road as it is today, leads from the Seaway car park to Church Road and the Royals Shopping Centre

The remains of Boston Avenue (Edward Road) that is now an unnamed access road