A pointless video about a pointless underpass, just my cup of tea. Thanks Jon.

Glad you got the drone working again!

I grew up in the town and lived there from the mid 70s until 2008. The roundabout to nowhere was supposed to lead to a route called Road 9 in the original 1948 plan for the town. This would have gone straight across the fairground / grassland where you now have a turning to a car park. This would then continue across Six Hills Way and go straight through Fairlands Valley which to meet up with Fairlands Way. The locals didn't like the idea so it was cancelled in the early 60s and zoned for recreation instead. In 1972 they built the two large artificial lakes on the area between Six Hills Way and Fairlands Way instead, creating Fairlands Valley Park, and the green field with the parking area which was Fairlands Valley Fair Ground (or the learner driver car park, where absolutely everyone did their first bit of clutch control until the early 2000s when the police decided it wasn't a good idea). None of this would have been a dual carriageway, but a standard two lane road (at least initially, most of the Stevenage main roads were originally built as two lane with a very wide verge to allow for dualing, some of which were dualled later, some of which still just have a huge verge). The roundabout to nowhere remained as a full roundabout, albeit with give way signs because no one ever used it unless they'd gone the wrong way at the previous roundabout, until the late 90s. I seem to remember an accident there followed by resurfacing shut it for good. The underpass was used in the 80s and 90s for parking on Saturdays when Stevenage Boro FC had a match that attracted a crowd (which was at best sometimes). The other exit from the Monkswood Way roundabout in the video is the original exit position planned for Monkswood Way which was planned to run around 75 meters east of it's current location, the only remains of which are a very strange kink in the road on one of the housing estates where very early aerial photos show a stub of dual that wasn't ever extended (they actually built houses across the ends of it and turned the stub into a very strange wiggly roundabout.)

I lived in Stevenage for 45 years 😱. My understanding was that a road was going to be built across Fairlands park from the “not a roundabout” but it was decided to keep it as a park leading to the Fairlands lakes. I agree the disused section underneath would have been a cycleway. As you noted it’s the same design as many others built at the same time in the late 50’s and that route would lead directly to the main industrial area where lots of residents worked. A lot of residents cycled and walked to work, not a lot of car ownership then, apparently when Stevenage was designed it was thought there would be 1 car for every 3 houses 😆

Must be a big, small disagreement of 1939 - 1945, for it to pop up every video

Glad to see you survived your visit to St Evenage, not many outsiders do these days.

If you want the answer, read 'Hidden Stevenage', by Eric Claxton or 'First New Town' by Jack Blachin. Long story short; the road up fairlands valley was planned to come off that roundabout, but was decided against as the traffic figures showed it wasn't needed and the park is much nicer.

Hailing from Brighton, that unused underpass in Stevo has bothered me for decades so am extremely grateful to you for finally putting me at my ease. Phew.

Hi Jon, That was a roundabout now it's about, take care mate

I like this video so I’ve pressed the button specifically for that👉🏻

We do love a “not a roundabout”! 😂

I lived there in the 60's 70's, 80's that roundabout was alway just used as a roundabout, but it did cause some chaos so obviously it was closed off. And the road way under the bridges was indeed a cycle path, but used by punks for glue sniffing so wasnt used by cyclists, Now I remember it was used for the football stadium, the car park was north of the road. So on match days it was used. At the time Stevenage had no traffic lights, and everything was roundabouts at junctions.

Nice to see your drone fixed 😅

This is the best video I've ever seen about anything

I lived there and I couldn't see its need. The dual carriageway got ditched in favour of Fairlands Country Park which is actually a pleasant feature in a concrete wilderness.

I am from Stevenage and currently live in Stevenage too and I have always been curious each time I drive past this small abandoned section of road, thank you for doing a video here and I hope you enjoyed your visit to Stevenage.

I love the new roadtrip series, but find this sort of thing more interesting. Thanks John, keep up the good work

Ok lets fill in the blanks. That bit of road that goes underneath the round-a-bout WAS the original road before the dual carriage way went in. There is an old video of stevenage here on youtube named 'STEVENAGE 1962 - The Town Centre' that shows a bus coming from the next round-a-bout (to the right of this round-a-bout) coming towards where this roundabaout would be. you can clearly see this is a non dual carriage way road. check out the time at 1:14 in that video. I suspect the origianl road was just going to be turned into a cycle track. at 1:50 in this video you reference an unbuilt dual carriage way. This is named Road 11. It was unbuilt after a huge backlash from people regarding the wooded area getting damaged by the road building. so ...... this weird non round-a-bout was made and the Road 11 was to go from this up through the grassed area instead up to 'fairlands way'. There was another huge backlash to this and we end up with what we have today. Ironically if Road 11 WAS built, Peartree way (to the right) wouldnt have turned into the rat run we have today. I have never seen it being used as a round-a-bout but I have seen it used numerous times by the rozzers for pulling people over and doing spot checks.. at 3:42 the cover to your left John is an access hatch for the culvert that runs from right to left in this video. It's mostly dry but does run down the side of the football ground and joins the steveneage brook just after the football ground. why do I mention this, well it governs the height of the road way there. it cant go any deeper.

Love all the videos. The little spur was part of a proposed road known as Road 9 that would have run through Fairlands Vally. First proposed in 1946 but was eventually deleted after loads of objections in subsequent master plans

I’ve often wondered about that underpass/roundabout when driving past, not enough to look into it but now this video has popped up and partially explained. Thanks

I moved from the area years ago but never forgot the strange, unused underpass. Now you've cleared up a mystery and I'm extremely happy. Thank you John!

Another wicked sweet awesome video. I live in Stevenage from '77 to '21 and can't remember that ever been open as a junction.

Can you imagine a car only underpass? There’s a low bridge near me that bears the scars of all the overheight vehicles that took a chance.

Saw you filming this the other day but you were busy do didn't say hi. Great videos mate 👍

I drove past this yesterday and gave some consideration to WTF happened, thanks for confirming, cheers.

Always I have wondered about why they blocked that roundabout off. Thanks!

great work as always thank you😁

Another fun video. Thanks!

Cheers Jon, I pass through here once in a while and have often wondered about it coming to tbe same conclusion as you because of the height of the underpass and other subterranean routes in the area.

03:07 That Give way triangle is deffo not standard on UK roundabouts and suggests that the local Highways dept were already having second thoughts before it was cut off, not necessarily, in its prime.

Fantastic video, thanks Jon, I'd always wondered about that underpass as I'd passed it a couple of times. For some reason I always strangely felt comfortable/at home in Stevenage despite never having actually lived there or knowing anyone from there. I did however used to spend a lot of time in Stevenage due to my old job as a trade-plate driver and only ever spent one very uncomfortable night there... I was taking a small van to VMS van suppliers but didn't need to drop until the morning, I'd forgotten to book a hotel and didn't have enough money to book myself a hotel. I ended up parked in the van in Albert St by Letchmore Road. As I was freezing in the van, I could see a house in Victoria Close where from what I could see looked like a living room which looked warm and cozy. In comparison to the small cramped van I was in was like a fridge, my bottle of water went very cold and I couldn't sleep at all, it was so uncomfortable, cramped and cold. I think it turned me into a home-bod where I like to mainly be these days.

I drove ‘around’ this two weeks ago and wondered what the story behind it was. Now I know. Thank you!

Hey man , love it. How about a few other shows in the auto shenans stable ' new for old ' where roads are being replaced or upgraded ... and ' they made what here ? ' history of car making and the smaller companies that used to supply them.. ish

Blimey that was short Jon. Oh, wait, Stevenage. Crikey that took a while.

I travelled along the A602 occasionally during the late 1980s and 1990s. I vaguely remember it being an operational roundabout. Often wondered for a few seconds about its purpose whenever I drove by / around. Cheers!

John - you finally did my request at last !!!!!!!!!! ( Yes, the roundabout was built for a road running straight up the valley, but then cancelled . Oh, and the underpass was for cars only ) .

Thanks John - interesting. As the Bard of Ayrshire wrote 'The best laid schemes o’ Mice an’ Men Gang aft agley' and he could have added, if he knew about it, especially in road planning and building.

You should do a series on the new towns. Growing up in Redditch (unfortunately) my dad fed me bits of info on what that towns plan should have looked like and it does sound like a missed opportunity mostly down to some dodgy politics and under investment.

I love the speedy credits at the end! 😁

Interesting how Stevenage has changed, the original plan having housing to the East of the Railway line and industrial to the West up to and stopping at the natural barrier of the A1(M). There’s now plenty of housing in that Industrial area and houses now starting to be built to the West of the A1.

You should do a video series dedicated just to the story of the new towns, I’ve been interested in it since I first heard you mention it a couple years back but there’s not really any good videos on the subject

Always fantastic! 🛣️

Popped to Stevenage for my first time on Tuesday to grab an exhaust from someone. I then went mushroom foraging in the forest opposite the retail park seen in this video and thought to myself what that underpass was for and was very impressed by the cycle path infrastructure in that town. And low and behold on the same week you've come and answered my question! Loving your videos recently. Not sure if you can call it a "Road" but a definitely interesting video would be on the great waking / foulness island "broomway" it's a very interesting historic road for horse and cart, make sure to visit during low tide or you'll just be looking at the ocean!

Great video on abandoned roads,,, keep up with the good content on the uk network,,,,,

Awesome Video

I've been meaning to ask you to make a video about this abandoned underpass and roundabout for a while but now I don't need to, so thank you

Awesome video

Lost and ghost roads... wickedsweetawesome!

The roundabout had changed priorities in the early 90s to try to improve flow at rush hour, but round about 1997 when I passed my test it became closed permanently. I remember driving it and it being open for a very short time, then being permanently closed. Traffic does flow much better at rush hour now.

Used to work at The Pear Tree in Stevenage many years ago, I remember seeing school kids and cyclists using that a abandoned bit. Glad you solved the mystery , in a roundabout kind of way!

My childhood bedroom furniture was purchased from Stevenage MFI 👍

I often wonder about this bit of cycleway when I pass through Stevenage, glad I;m not the only one.

Damn, that was a blast back when you mentioned MFI.

Either the drone wasn't dead or you bought a new one. Or, this was recorded prior to the drone's demise. Whatever, glad to see you droning on! Sorry, couldn't resist it.

I used to do agency driving for MFI..they had DAF 95's. Main depot was in Northampton (since closed, demolished and rebuilt as 4 warehouse units). Once on a Boxing Day (so not much traffic about) did Northampton to Carlisle store and back in a day and legally!!

Haven’t been to a Stevenage in years until I drove past that on Sunday and thought it used to be the road. Now I know!!! Interesting to see the original layout of the A1(M) junction in the map at 0’44” too

I worked in a school just down from there, recognised it immediately.

I used to pass this odd underpass all the time, and now i know wtf it was for, cheers.

That underpass was indeed part of the cycle network. I cycled under it many times in the 1980s. It's really deteriorated since then.

1:59 I used to live on Meadow Way in Bedwell and I can see my old house from here. But to be fair, it's a satellite image of the town. Everyone that lived or lives in Stevenage can see their house from here.

My home town, driven past this 1000s of times and often wondered why it was abandoned. A planned cycle lane makes the most sense as it exactly matches the design of all the others in the town.

Got your drone working again , Jon! YAY

Lived in that part of Stevenage December 1990 to March 1991. (In 1993 moved to Bracknell, which has a very similar layout to Stevenage New Town.)

3 seconds in, already feel more cheerful

as a child, i remember an underpass at fairlands valley park, stevenage. the underpass is still there, but the sides have been filled in. so now, it just looks like a regular road

I'm glad someone ended up doing a video on this stupid waste of roundabout! As someone who occasionally drives hgv's down that road, it's a right pain in the arse to have to slow down for this pointless bit of swerve round nothing. Clearly someone had some idea for a use, but England just isn't a cycle favourite place!

Great video Jon born and breed in stevenage next time your here drop me a line pop in for a coffee /cake !!!

Can’t believe you went to Stevenage and didn’t do a video on Six Hills Way? Yes, I remember that not-about being a roundabout and I remember the MFI well. Bought my bedroom furniture there

I remember the cycle routes being used, mainly during rush hours, in Stevenage.

Bracknell new town (1949) has cycle underpasses at roundabouts the same as the one you showed. Unfortunately, at night those Bracknell ones have become crime spots to be avoided.

I've wondered about that, ever since I saw it the first time I parked at Fairlands Valley for the football. It's had to be fenced off now to stop kids and adults who should know better from trying to run across the dual carriageway from the football stadium to the car park, instead of using the underpass. I'm surprised no-one's tried to build something on it :)

This reminds me of the A68 and A69 (nice) junction. Clearly built ready to be the usual roundabout over a dual carriageway style junction, but never finished.

Thanks

Great video as always. Ueseless fact about Stevenage. It was the setting for Episode One, Season Two "The Fellow Traveller" of "The Saint" TV series, with Roger Moore driving that classic Volvo P1800. Compare the views from 1962 and today and you can see the proliferation of unnecessary and ugly street furniture. Signs of the times I suppose.

Surprised at the lack of street art at that spot. MFI, Texas Home Store, Top That.

Hello up there

All these ghost roads, built and forgotten bits of infrastructure, i love it. Its like talking about concorde in a way, it seems like a fictional dream, than reality

Hi Jon, have a look at Skelmsdale half of that place is unfinished

Drove past their so many times wonder what was the original design was for, so thanks for that. I think the roundabout might have been to do with the park opposite where footballs fans park, seen as a quick in and out but like you said caused too many problems so closed off

Hi Jon how the devil are you have you had a good week

Well that is a strange one!

The " unused "roundabout has never been used as far as I'm aware.

I think it'd make a nice canal. Or at least a linear duck pond

There’s a give way still on the tarmac. Looks like it was to allow for a change in direction a it was probably both give way to the main carriageway.

That cycle path kinda feel like a very odd storm water detention pond - makes me wonder how the area looks in heavy rains. :P

Well, we all know what Lewis Hamilton thought about Stevenage Nice to see you are in my neck of the woods, Jon

Excellent, go past this every week, now I know. Stevenage is locally known as St Evenage.

Definitely looks similar to the cycleways and underpasses in Milton Keynes.

In the mid 1980's they closed off cut-throughs like this. There were several along Fairlands way, the road leading up to the Grace way roundabout intersection. I guess they were to ease traffic at the roundabouts but minor accidents were a common occurrence and highways decided to block them off and i believe this was part of that closure scheme.

I like to think the name Stevenage was nearly pipped by Howardage, Cliveage or Kevinage

Cycle paths in Stevenage were great except at night, they were dimly lit and I cycled into a black-painted bollard one night, bending the forks straight, the frame significantly and me a bit as well 😢

Why does it look like there is a lay by in the cycle path that never was . I lived in Stevenage for 28 years and visit very often and have always wondered why it was just left like it is

Driven passed it loads didn't know why it was there! And I still don't know!

Funny seeing a bit of disused road I've driven past without a single thought, literally thousands of time, given a pretty in-depth analysis to its purpose haha

Very similar cycleway design in nearby Milton Keynes.

I lived in Stevenage for just a few months in the late '90s. I assumed that these roads were the original roads through Stevenage and they just built the new dual carriageways around them.

Odd that the roundabout has what appears to be the remains of a give way sign on it, give ways are normally on roads joining roundabouts rather than on the roundabout itself.

Well good.

Want more car park reviews (I know the video didn't do great). Missed you at Rustival. You need some Portillo duds for some of these :-)

im from a short 80 miles from here and have always wondered this -burger40