With the rise of the motor car and road haulage Belfast faced a traffic problem on its roads and the solution was the planning of a ring road to circle the city. Jimmy Greene reports on the issue with one of the planners and reveals that four and a half miles of road was to be built, including two new bridges over the River Lagan at an eye-watering cost of £30m. That’s £536m adjusted for inflation in 2025. This 1964 would not even be scheduled to deliver its full benefits until completion in 1976.
City surveyor, Mr J E Anderson takes Jimmy for a trip along the model layout of the proposed new roads. Parts of the plan, such as an underground section through part of the city centre and adjacent plans such as a new road to Comber along the old railway line never happened. Even the eventual ring road delivered to Belfast looks very different to this, but it’s interesting to see what the initial vision was in 1964.