The
West Cross Route (WCR) is a 0.75 mile (1.2 km) segment of
dual carriageway section of the A3220 route in central
London in The
Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, with a small part being shared with borderlining borough
Hammersmith and Fulham. It runs north–south between the northern elevated roundabout junction with the western end of
Westway (
A40) and the southern
Holland Park Roundabout. It opened in 1970, together with Westway. The WCR was formerly the M41 motorway. Its status was downgraded to an
A-road in 2000 when responsibility for
trunk roads in
Greater London was transferred from the
Highways Agency to the
Greater London Authority. Approximately halfway along the road's length a new junction was built to serve the
Westfield London shopping development. The WCR was originally the designation for the western section of
Ringway 1, the innermost circuit of the
London Ringways network, a complex and comprehensive plan for a network of high-speed roads circling central
London designed to manage and control the flow of traffic within the capital. The road would have run from
Battersea to
Harlesden and would have paralleled the
National Rail West London line as an elevated road. Although the road no longer has motorway status, pedal cycles are prohibited by a sign at Holland Park roundabout.
Context :
See London Ringways for a detailed history The WCR and the other roads planned in the 1960s for
central London had developed from early schemes prior to the
Second World War through
Sir Patrick Abercrombie's County of London Plan, 1943 and
Greater London Plan, 1944 to a 1960s
Greater London Council (GLC) scheme that would have involved the construction of many miles of motorway-standard roads across the city and demolition on a massive scale. Due to the huge construction costs and widespread public opposition, most of the scheme was cancelled in 1973 and the WCR,
Westway and the
East Cross Route in east London were the only significant parts to be built. At the northern end, had the road been built in full, the entry and exit ramps to and from the elevated roundabout with the Westway would have been slip roads. The main route would have continued north beneath the roundabout into
North Kensington and on to the junction with the
North Cross Route at
Harlesden. The alignment of the slip roads leaves a wide space between for the unbuilt carriageway. On the north side of the roundabout, two short stubs indicate the starting point of the slip roads that would have been provided for traffic joining or leaving the northern section of the WCR. South of the Holland Park roundabout, which the WCR would have passed above on a flyover, the route would have continued along the alignment of the West London Line passing over
Kensington (Olympia) station to a westbound-only interchange with the
A4 at
Talgarth Road. It would then have been elevated over
Earls Court Exhibition Centre, skirted the western edge of
Brompton Cemetery, and passed by
Stamford Bridge stadium before an eastbound-only interchange along Lots Road to meet
Cheyne Walk. Next the WCR would have crossed the
River Thames on a new bridge and entered Battersea where it would have had a junction with the
South Cross Route. ==External links==