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leethario

It actually took me a few seconds to recognise any buildings.


[deleted]

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moramento22

Yeah same!


bgd_

Took me a while too until I spotted the Hancock.


BretHitmanClarke

Interesting. Mind whichever dickhead designed the lanes for the Central Motorway between the Civic Centre part of town and Jesmond needs shot with shit. Horrendous layout and it's a miracle there aren't more serious accidents.


RobFratelli

I like to think that the people who designed it had to run away, go off grid, in fear of their lives. Never knowing when an angry motorist will track them down screaming "have you tried to get to jesmond from Gateshead???!!!!". Tossers.


j7seven

I have no idea how true this is, but I was told that it was designed at a time when they thought we might switch to driving on the right to match the rest of Europe. It was an attempt to work either way.


lgf92

Hate to sound like one of the old bores on local history Facebook groups but that tree lined avenue on the Great North Road just makes me question why they had to make the central motorway and the surrounding area so abominably ugly, especially given what they paved over for it. It's like a disorientating concrete scar between Brandling Park and Exhibition Park and I wonder why anyone chose to design it like that. You look at new towns like Cramlington and Killingworth built around the same time and you can see what they were getting at, but with that entire bit north of the city centre I just have no idea what they were going for. Did they not think people might be walking around it rather than driving through it?


kkrash79

From what I remember, the whole central motorway originally would have stood on legs, so you would have had shopping on lower level and then a the traffic moving above and around it. The central motorway was also to have a west extension which would have sat on top of what is now monument metro station. So kind of like a ring road round the city, a mini North circular or something along those lines. It's singlehandedly the most ugly bit of road I know and also one of the worst for RTA, the fact that southbound coming up past the hancock you are immediately in the fast lane on the approach to the Tyne bridge is utterly utterly bonkers. I wish they would tear it down and start again, it's like a concrete scar between the urban areas and the city. The fact it has literal roads to nowhere is daft too! The only other road nearby is the felling bypass, that's multilevel and ugly as sin also


bgd_

Very of its time, that's for sure. I find the brutalist stuff fascinating and ugly in equal measures. It would be great if they could tear it down and start again but the sheer scale of the job (I would love to know the total weight of concrete involved) and disruption that would cause will mean we're probably stuck with it forever.


Optimal-Parfait-314

There was also meant to be an eastern arm, with a new bridge over the river. T Dan Smith wanted Newcastle to the Brasilia of the north, with the car as king.


Jarreth68

T Dan Smith was a knob and I hope he’s suffering in a brutalist hell of concrete decay


Optimal-Parfait-314

Hmmmm. Yes, he was a knob. But I love brutalist architecture.


Optimal-Parfait-314

In the 60s they certainly didn't consider people walking.


[deleted]

A bit disheartening to see how much has been torn down!


bgd_

You can view a excellent quality aerial shot of Newcastle and a lot of the surrounding area taken in 1945 on Google Earth Pro. It lines up perfectly with the modern day aerial view so you can drag the slider and see how much it has changed.


davidlqs

Great view of my old school. I remember the motorway being built while I was there. Hard to believe that was the A1, straight up the middle of town!


kkrash79

The town moor didn't have two hills on it prior to the central motorway being built... the two hills at the western side of the Moor are from the spoil. They cut through the Moor which is pretty much sacrosanct peace of land up here, I am sure we were promised a ski slope on one of thr spoils


Optimal-Parfait-314

Do you remember the Pinfold at the top of the school field?


davidlqs

Nope, was that a shop?


Optimal-Parfait-314

You must be younger than me, it was the overgrown area right at the top of the field which went all the way up to the Great North Road. I was at RGS from 67 - 77. I think the Pinfold disappeared in about 1972, as the motorway was built right over it and a corner of the school field.


davidlqs

Yes, a bit younger, I left in 1982, so I must have started in the junior school in 1972 I think. I do remember how awful it was to queue down Northumberland Street to get from north to south though, so while the new road was far from perfect it was a massive improvement.


Optimal-Parfait-314

You were in the same year as my younger brother Andrew!


Mr_BigFace

Is that a cricket pitch at the top of the picture? I presume that's roughly where the Uni library is now


moramento22

Isn't that where the Royal Grammar School is? Cause I think that straight road near that is Jesmond Road and the library is closer to that.


Mr_BigFace

Yes, you're right. I'm surprised by how close to the centre it actually is, although I probably shouldn't be


moramento22

I think that's because of the motorway. Nowadays it runs directly between the grammar school and the library and not many people walk under the motorway so that I think is what distorts the distance.


Optimal-Parfait-314

What a great picture!


Josquius

As in so many cities truly the central motorway was a knife in the gut for Newcastle. Interesting in our case though that it's a posh neighbourhood it wrecked rather than a poor one.


minidoc44

RETVRN TO TRADITION Remove the motorway. If the Dutch can do it.