On Sep 29, 5:18 pm, John Hearns wrote:
On Sat, 2007-09-29 at 09:12 +0100, Paul Terry wrote:
In message . com,
Boltar writes

as the M23 originally supposed to have continued further north than it
does now?

Yes, it was to have continued as far as Balham, from where spurs would
have connected it to the inner London Ringway ("London Motorway Box").

In which case it really WOULD have become the 'Gateway to the South'

In the same vein, just before J8 on the Londonbound side of the M4,
there's a curious bit where the roadside fence stops and it looks like
there was some sort of exit at some point. Google Earth just shows a
field beyond and a fairly new housing estate. It does however look as
if something turned away from the motorway at some point in the past.
Was it a contractors depot or similar?

Neill