Construction
The route of the Westway was chosen to follow the easiest path from Western Avenue to Paddington by following the route of existing railway lines but passing an eight lane elevated motorway through densely populated Victorian North Kensington involved the clearance of a large number of buildings adjacent to the railway, particularly in the area west of Westbourne Park, where many roads were unceremoniously truncated or demolished to make way for the concrete structures.
At its opening the road was the largest continuous concrete structure in Britain and was constructed with many advanced features such as heating grids on slopes to control the formation of ice. It was planned and constructed in an era before environmental impacts were routinely considered, and it caused much controversy at the time for the effects it and the vehicles it carried had upon the local community and the environment. After completion a vast corridor of wasteland remained below the motorway. The North Kensington Amenity Trust (now Westway Development Trust), was founded in 1971 to reclaim and develop this land for local community use and since 2000 local charity Urban Eye has initiated a programme of cleaning, painting and lighting to brighten up and improve the safety of the areas under the Flyover structure.
Read more about this topic: Westway (London)
Famous quotes containing the word construction:
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To find the mind’s construction in the face.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“There is, I think, no point in the philosophy of progressive education which is sounder than its emphasis upon the importance of the participation of the learner in the formation of the purposes which direct his activities in the learning process, just as there is no defect in traditional education greater than its failure to secure the active cooperation of the pupil in construction of the purposes involved in his studying.”
—John Dewey (1859–1952)
“There’s no art
To find the mind’s construction in the face:
He was a gentleman on whom I built
An absolute trust.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)