The Chiswick flyover is a short elevated section of the M4 motorway in the western approaches to London, United Kingdom. The flyover in the west London suburb of

Chiswick Chiswick ( ) is a district of west London, England. It contains Hogarth's House, the former residence of the 18th-century English artist William Hogarth; Chiswick House, a neo-Palladian villa regarded as one of the finest in England; and Full ...

, was opened in 1959 with the intention of reducing congestion and the impact on local traffic of vehicles travelling around London on the

North North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating Direction (geometry), direction or geography. Etymology T ...

and South Circular Roads and between London and the west on the Great West Road. Although it was not originally built as a motorway, it was later incorporated into the M4 motorway.

Description

The original Chiswick flyover carries the first half a mile of the M4 from its start at junction number 1. The flyover was extended to be over two miles long in the early 1960s, forming part of the M4 junction 1 to junction 5 section that was opened in 1965. The first one-and-a-half miles of the flyover tracks the course of the A4 which is directly beneath it, effectively forming a two-tier road system. It then turns approximately west north-west across Boston Manor Park before the M4 returns to ground level, and widens from two to three lanes in each direction as it heads west through the grounds of

Osterley Park Osterley Park and House is a Georgian country estate in west London, that straddles the London boroughs of Ealing and Hounslow. Originally dating from the 1570s, the estate contains a number of Grade I and II listed buildings, with the park l ...

History

The flyover, built at a cost of £6 million, was provided to relieve the congestion at Chiswick Roundabout, the junction of

Chiswick High Road Chiswick High Road is the principal shopping and dining street of Chiswick, a district in the west of London. It was part of the main Roman road running west out of London, and remained the main road until the 1950s when the A4 was built across ...

North Circular Road The North Circular Road (officially the A406 and sometimes known as simply the North Circular) is a ring road around Central London in England. It runs from Chiswick in the west to Woolwich in the east via suburban North London, connecting ...

, South Circular Road and the Great West Road, caused by 40,000 cars per day using the junction. The opening ceremony for the flyover, which was performed by Hollywood actress

Jayne Mansfield Jayne Mansfield (born Vera Jayne Palmer; April 19, 1933 – June 29, 1967) was an American actress, singer, nightclub entertainer, and ''Playboy'' Playmate. A sex symbol of the 1950s and early 1960s while under contract at 20th Century Fox, Man ...

, took place on 30 September 1959. The second section opened on 25 November 1964. In 1964 the flyover became part of the M4 motorway and by 1969 was said to be the most dangerous road in Britain. By 2009, 97,000 vehicles per day were using the M4 over flyover. In October 2009, actress

Imogen Stubbs Imogen Stubbs (born 20 February 1961) is an English actress and writer. Her first leading part was in '' Privileged'' (1982), followed by ''A Summer Story'' (1988). Her first play, ''We Happy Few'', was produced in 2004. In 2008 she joined '' ...

unveiled a plaque in a ceremony in Chiswick to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the opening of the flyover.

Design detail

The flyover was not originally built to motorway standards. The structure was half a mile long (0.8 kilometres) and wide with hard-shoulders of no more than wide. of concrete went into each of the columns supporting the road.

Folklore

Rumours arose that the bodies of the victims of the

Kray twins Ronald Kray (24 October 193317 March 1995) and Reginald Kray (24 October 19331 October 2000) were identical twin brothers, gangsters and convicted criminals. They were the foremost perpetrators of organised crime in the East End of London, Engl ...

, notorious London gangsters, were entombed in the concrete pillars of the flyover.

References

{{Coord, 51.49200, -0.28270, display=title Bridges in London Elevated overpasses in London Flyover M4 motorway Buildings and structures in Chiswick Transport in the London Borough of Hounslow