Westway (London)
It was the first urban motorway project in London and attracted criticism for the lack of care over the environment, the well-being of local residents and communities, and the handling of those whose homes would be demolished.
As the road passes Westbourne Green on the north and Royal Oak Underground Station on the south, it gains a lane from a climbing slip-road from Gloucester Terrace.
[10] The elevated roundabout junction with the West Cross Route was built with the capability to be extended once the planned northern continuation of the latter road was constructed to Harlesden.
[1] The main contractor was John Laing & Sons,[12] while the flyovers at the eastern end were engineered by Sir Bruce White and Partners.
[13] To the east, the GLC had purchased slums between Harrow Road and the Grand Union Canal for redevelopment, and the Westway was planned to run along the southern edge of this.
[a] London County Council architect Hubert Bennett speculated that some sections of the road viaduct would pass within 20 feet (6.1 m) of people's homes.
[1] At its opening the road was the largest continuous elevated structure in Europe and was constructed with some advanced features, such as heating grids on slopes to control the formation of ice.
[24] The Westway was planned and constructed in an era before environmental impacts were routinely considered, and it caused controversy at the time for the effects it and the vehicles it carried had upon the local community and the environment.
[22] A group of squatters moved into vacant houses on Freston Road near to those demolished for the Westway, forming a so-called "independent state" of Frestonia.
[24] Residents on Acklam Road, which ran parallel to the Westway between Ladbroke Grove and Westbourne Park, draped a large banner across several houses reading "Get us out of this hell!
[21] Shortly after opening, a group of residents planned to blockade the motorway and stop traffic in protest at the excessive noise of the road.
[27] The following month, the GLC announced that a further 28 homes on Walmer Road would be compulsory purchased and the residents moved, in order to build a new school.
[30] In 1974, the GLC announced 11.5 acres (4.7 ha) of land in Notting Hill to the north of the Westway would be compulsory purchased and redeveloped with new apartments and screening walls to reduce noise from the motorway.
"[32] The North Kensington Playspace Group was established in 1966 by Adam Ritchie, who strongly criticised the Westway, saying "a more inappropriate and negative use for the space could not be imagined".
[33] Since 2000, local charity Urban Eye has initiated a programme of cleaning, painting, and lighting to improve the visual appearance and safety of the areas under the flyover structure.
[40] The 1997 murder mystery A Certain Justice by P. D. James was set in an area being demolished for the Westway, referring to houses "rising in great choking clouds of ochre dust".
[40] Episode Mangrove of the anthology series Small Axe features a time lapse visual effects montage of the Westway construction.
[47][48] One such concert by the Pink Fairies under the Westway - disrupted by the police because a neighbour complained that was unable to hear his television over the noise - is referenced in the track "Right On Fight On" on their second album What A Bunch Of Sweeties.
