The M53 (+M531) - The History Of Wirrals Motorway - 8th Aug 2006 3:03pm
Im not sure if this is the right forum for this thread, but I am posting it here anyway!
I was recently chatting to my uncle (who was a plod for 27 years including a traffic sergant for 12 years in the Merseyside bacon), and we got chatting about the M53 motorway. He was telling me all about the history of it and how it never ended up the way it was originally panned.
He was also telling me about the "relics" you can still see along the original planned route of it.
Anyway, needless to say, this was all a bit confusing trying to picture it all at the time although I got the gist of what he meant.
So I decided to have a look on the internet for information and came across a website called the CBRD Motorway Database.
One the website I found two very interesting web pages:
- Overview of the M53 Motorway
- The original plans and story of what actually happened
Ive found it all very interesting, indeed me and Pomp were discussing it for quite a while before. It is mad to see the original planned route that it should have taken and how it actually ended up.
I agree with the CBRD, it did end up a complete bodge job, something like you see Del Boy doing on OFAH lol! But fortunatly, it seems to have actually worked out well, as it does not tend to struggle.
Its amazing to think that from Junction 5 onwards (Eastham/A41 Junction) its wasnt "really" a motorway, and originally it was given the name M531 because they tried to convert it into a motorway.
It has certainly made me look at the M53 a bit differently lol!
What are your opinions or comments? Anyone on here old enough to remember much about it at the time it was actually getting built?
I always wondered why the older generation call it the "contaversial" M53. Well now we know why!
I was recently chatting to my uncle (who was a plod for 27 years including a traffic sergant for 12 years in the Merseyside bacon), and we got chatting about the M53 motorway. He was telling me all about the history of it and how it never ended up the way it was originally panned.
He was also telling me about the "relics" you can still see along the original planned route of it.
Anyway, needless to say, this was all a bit confusing trying to picture it all at the time although I got the gist of what he meant.
So I decided to have a look on the internet for information and came across a website called the CBRD Motorway Database.
One the website I found two very interesting web pages:
- Overview of the M53 Motorway
- The original plans and story of what actually happened
Ive found it all very interesting, indeed me and Pomp were discussing it for quite a while before. It is mad to see the original planned route that it should have taken and how it actually ended up.
I agree with the CBRD, it did end up a complete bodge job, something like you see Del Boy doing on OFAH lol! But fortunatly, it seems to have actually worked out well, as it does not tend to struggle.
Its amazing to think that from Junction 5 onwards (Eastham/A41 Junction) its wasnt "really" a motorway, and originally it was given the name M531 because they tried to convert it into a motorway.
It has certainly made me look at the M53 a bit differently lol!
What are your opinions or comments? Anyone on here old enough to remember much about it at the time it was actually getting built?
I always wondered why the older generation call it the "contaversial" M53. Well now we know why!