Summary of London's unfinished motorways

00:00:00 - 00:10:00

The video discusses the controversial plans to build a series of motorways in London in the 1960s. The plans were eventually abandoned, but not before one ring road was completed. Today, the M25 is notorious for its congestion. The video argues that, on balance, it is probably better that the motorways were never built, as they would have divided up the city and created boundaries between communities.

• 00:00:00 The narrator explains that in the 1960s, London was planned to be transformed by a new road system that would make traffic jams a thing of the past. However, the plans were met with opposition and only one complete ring road was ever built: the M25. Today, the M25 is notorious for its congestion.
• 00:05:00 The construction of London's Westway, which interrupted plans for Ringways 1-4, led to the cancellation of those projects and the resultant traffic jams.
• 00:10:00 The narrator discusses the pros and cons of building motorways in London in the 1960s. The motorways would have taken traffic away from the city's streets, making them much nicer and safer, but 60% of Londoners would have lived too far away to use them. The Ringways project would have divided up the city and created boundaries between communities. Londoners would probably have identified themselves by which ringroads they were stuck between. The lack of motorways has allowed areas like Camden to come to life. Future generations will likely be grateful for what the twentieth century didn't do with motorways, and so we will continue to sit in traffic jams.