East Cross Route

At its northern end, the ECR (A12) follows part of the route of the former North London Railway between the closed Victoria Park and Old Ford stations.

The branch track to the docks that ran alongside the ECR to Old Ford, which had been used only for freight since the 1940s, was subsequently closed and lifted in the early 1980s.

South of this junction, the ECR passes Bromley-by-Bow station and skirts the River Lee Navigation for a short distance as it follows the line of the former St Leonard Street.

This extension was designated as the A12 and required just the sort of controversial construction methods and widescale demolitions of residential areas that caused the 1960s schemes to be cancelled and provoked to the major M11 link road protest.

Parts of the route, at the northern end between Hackney Wick and Old Ford and south of the river between the Blackwall Tunnel and the Sun-in-the-Sands interchange, were previously classified as urban motorways and given the designation A102(M).