Marston Road, Oxford

Formby Bypass

The four-mile dual carriageway bypassing Formby opened in 1938 with 6-ft-wide footways adjacent to 9-ft-wide cycle tracks. A period document reveals that the footway had a pink asphalt surface, and the cycle tracks had a non-skid green asphalt surface (none of which has survived). Read more

Wolviston Road, Billingham

Motorists who park their cars near Sandy Lane on Wolviston Road might be excused for thinking the strip of wide asphalt in front of the 1930s houses, and separate to the footway, is a service road. But should they drive south on this strip of asphalt (some do, to the houses) they would soon find themselves behind Armco motorway-style barriers because the “service road” is, in fact, a cycleway granted MoT cash in 1939 and finally opened in 1944. Read more

Coventry Bypass, A45

A 1930 Act of Parliament empowered the “Mayor, Aldermen, and Citizens of the city of Coventry to acquire lands and construct street works and a bye-pass road.” Land along the route of the planned Coventry bypass was “sterilised,” preventing any development but, remarked an Alderman in 1935, the road was “held up ... for various reasons, including the financial crisis and the fact that the Ministry of Transport could not make up its mind about the width.” Read more

Stony Stratford to Wolverton

The Stony Stratford to Wolverton cycle track was operational by the summer of 1934, the second to open in the UK following the trial track on Western Avenue in London. It was easy to build because works were already due to be carried out on the Wolverton Road but mainly because it involved the resurfacing of an existing roadside track, the short commuter route of a steam-powered tramway, dismantled eight years earlier. Read more

Links Road, Whitley Bay

“Concrete, lawns and flowers harmonise well on Whitley Bay’s new dual carriageway,” remarked a local newspaper in 1938. Read more

East Bawtry Road, A631, Nr. Rotherham

“Under a scheme which has been approved by the Minister of Transport part of the Tinsley-Bawtry Road, at Rotherham, will be widened by the Borough Council from 30 feet to an average of 160 feet,” reported a newspaper in 1937. Read more

Longniddry, A198

There were two cycle tracks installed on the Longniddry road but only one is visible today. The other, next to the East Coast Main Line rail track, is buried under turf and truncated by an Armco crash barrier. Only part of the visible track is marked as a cycleway on OpenCycleMap. Read more

Barnet Bypass, A1

The Barnet bypass, part of the A1 “Great North Road,” was opened in 1927 and retrofitted with cycle tracks eleven years later. Read more

Aughton, A59, “Northway,” Lancashire

“The new Aughton diversion, which is part of the Lancashire County Council’s scheme to improve the Preston to Liverpool road, was to-day officially opened by Lord Derby,” reported Lancashire Evening Post in May 1937. Read more

Sandwich Road, Sholden, nr Deal

Google Earth’s 1960 aerial layer shows the existence of a bright white 1930s-style cycle track and footway beside the Sandwich Road at Sholden, near Deal. The 1940 layer has no such cycle track or footway. Read more

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