How The M11 Motorway Caused A TOWN To Be BUILT BACKWARDS - Harlow Essex

#motorway #infrastructure #harlow

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Harlow... It's a lovely place. What was once a small village was turned into a mighty new town under a post war government plan. Along with that, there were some new roads to be built, all as part of one massive scheme that predictably didn't go to plan and the result was that it gave us the M11 motorway that we're familiar with and it gave the town of Harlow a bit of a headache.

[tims]

3:43 perfect solution. Very informative video

[AlexWright-xxfc]

Having lived in Harlow from 1971 to 2023, I couldn't agree with the statement at the end more wholeheartedly!

[noelht]

3:42 Absolutely wise words. I’ve been saying it for the last 50 years

[jefffranklin]

As a former Harlowite (luckily moved to greener pastures in Hertfordshire), I agree with your last statement. I only ever go there now to visit friends and family. Wish that town was just deleted from existence

[alanplom]

😂 A short but sweet episode Jon.
“Demolish Harlow…. completely **** it off“ ! Brilliant idea!!!

[sumpyman]

Nice drone shots, but the best veiw of Harlow is on the M11 in your rear view mirror - it doesnt matter what direction you go.

[davidhoward]

As a teenager in the mid 70's and living in Epping, A visit to Harlow was a big treat, A massive Wooly's (Woolworths), M & S, Penneys, C & A's and I think, an early Macdonald's. But during the 80's when Wooly's closed, the whole place just went downhill
and it's never recovered. Your closing statement is about right... About 15 Megatons should do it!!

[TrevorJohnsMoment]

At last, a fellow Harlow citizen has become famous! There are so many things you could added. The new junction should have been sited further north and a bypass built to connect directly with the A414 to Hertford, with a short spur to service the industrial areas as well as seriving the vast housing estatesthat going to be built there. But no... then new junction takes traffic through Harlow to a bridge that mucks up the wetlands of the River Stort. Oh, amd road quirks like mine. One side of my road is named differently if you live on the other side of the road. My flats are numbered 206 t0 213 and the the houses next door are numbered 200 to 205 when the numbering continues from 214. Net result? Very confused delivery drivers... What fun I all is...

[youknownothing]

A harsh but fair solution at the end there Jon!

[peterharvey]

S a truck driver who’s delivered to Harlow, said closing statement is spot on

[alanlittle]

Harlow does alright for libraries. 5 of them. Harlow, Great Parndon, Tye Green, Old Harlow, Mark Hall. Built when libraries were a source civic pride and were given a lot more funding.

[MYCROFTonX]

Solution found.. the boy's genius!

[Torran-iojn]

Why can't we have Jon as the future Transport Minister for Roads? (indefinitely!!)

[howardmiao]

I made the mistake of accidentally visiting Harlow Town recently and you seem to have made a correct assessment of what needs doing to it

[catlee]

Ive lived in Harlow most of my life (except going to some small disagreements in the middle east) and i never knew about the routing of the M11 was such a shit show. I knew the traffic blows but didnt know the M11 was in the wrong place. Some lovely drone shots makes it look really nice, get closer and its a dump.

[viliusr]

I wonder if the feasibility study was randomly come up with, because some elbow patch in shadows of the government corridors was very upset about new motorway due to be built next to his estate.

[danwiddon]

Jon, brilliant as ever. You could make a series about town planner cockups, but few beat Harlow for scale.😂

[ItsAllIndieFred]

Still hate how The Square in Harlow got demolished because a new block of flats were being built. 😢

[lefthandedspanner]

the change came from central government rather than a local council, and was related to the London end of the route - it was physically easier to build alongside the river Roding than it was to follow the original route along the Lea valley
either way, it was a monumental failure in joined-up planning

[brad]

I live in Harlow and i couldn't of said that last sentence better....demolish it. I moved here from London when i was 7, went back to London in my early 20's then came back to Harlow 20 years ago. In the late 70's/80's, Harlow was a lovely place to grow up but it felt like a different town after moving back here especially with the overspill from London we've had for the last 15 years. There's a lot of talk about rejuvenating the town but all theyve done so far is make a total balls up of new traffic management with road works taking years and knocking down quite a bit of the town centre and replacing it with a lot of nothing.