Paul Terry wrote:

Richard J. writes:

... it's obvious that the
first bend on the M4 going west was designed to a lower standard.

If you mean the Chiswick flyover, it wasn't even part of the motorway
when it was built in 1959 by Tory transport minister Ernest Marples'
construction company, Marples Ridgway - it was just a flyover on the
A4.

You must be thinking of a different stretch of road - perhaps the
Hammersmith Flyover (which *is* part of the A4).

It didn't become the most easterly part of the M4 until six years
later

I'm sure the Chiswick Flyover was built in the 1960s (along with what was
then the rest of the M4, as far as Maidenhead). It was originally going to
be designated A4(M) [1] - ie, the motorway was only going to be a bypass of
A4 from Chiswick to Maidenhead), but it was still a motorway.

[1] According to early 1960s street maps I have seen, with the motorway
shown only as "under construction" and designated A4(M).


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