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Right my old man would like to know WHY is Heathfield Road so Wide?

 

He thinks it may have been some planners idea of possible future extension towards Bulwell, which is an interesting idea, anyone know any more?

 

Thanks, Mitch

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For anyone who doesn't know the area, this is Heathfield Road.    https://goo.gl/maps/PbnoDFBn4FG1kNx96

 

I don't know the answer but I agree it looks like it was designed to be something greater than the end result. When the area was built, houses and estates weren't crammed into a tight space the way they are now; it may just be that the planners could afford to be extravagant. Melbourne Road, Aspley, seems to be a similar example.

 

Another road which appears to be too big but was designed to be part of something greater, is Wilkinson Street. https://goo.gl/maps/q7HARPAQM5T6GhA66   

That apparently is part of something which was planned but never finished.

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As C-T, I think the planners had a lot of land to play with and possibly had a guideline in the Nottm Corporation Architects office maybe along the lines of , If a new estate road serves over xxx houses then it has to be a certain corridor / road width, for the pleasing effect and possible expansion.

 

Looking at the map below, the Bulwell end does sort of line up with Highbury Estate.

If it had maybe intended to go that route, although it looks a mess crossing 3 rail lines it's not quite as complicated as it seems as one rail line is below the road level, one is above the road level then where Brooklyn Road is now could have been bridged slightly North of that location.

 

The Hucknall Rd end points to Bagthorpe which they may have thought would be gone in the future and been another housing estate.

 

But who knows what was in the head of the Architects at that time.

 

fMdedOE.jpg

 

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Thanks for the replies. 

If you draw a straight line from the end of Heathfield Road it takes you nicely onto St Albans Road with a bit of demolition on the way...

 

3 minutes ago, Beekay said:

My Aunt and Uncle lived at No.1 Heathfield Road...Just saying.

My Great Aunt lived at 78 Heathfield Road from c1935 for 65 years...... Just saying.

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I wonder if Heathfield Rd was designed/intended as a by-pass to avoid the Hucknall Rd/Arnold Rd junction. This shows the area before the estate was built, and the stretch of road under the word 'Stafford' looks a bit narrow and rural. Maybe it was beginning to be a problem even back in the 30s/40s.

 

AiYKKLo.jpg

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It could have been C-T.

As it was then and is still now, the section of Hucknall Rd just after the junction heading towards Hucknall, is narrow and squashed between the railway and the row of houses and there wasn't much spare land in front of Basford Hospital.

So instead of widening the bridge on hucknall road and flattening the houses, they may have planned to go around the back and to the rear of the hospital.

 

The problem when the built the railway was most of the roads were single lane tracks or footpaths, so the railway only built narrow bridges.

Most were widened later, presumably paid for by the City Corporation not Railway.

It's a lot cheaper to build a new bridge with a new road over than it is to widen one and keep traffic flowing over it

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3 hours ago, Stuart.C said:

As C-T, I think the planners had a lot of land to play with and possibly had a guideline in the Nottm Corporation Architects office maybe along the lines of , If a new estate road serves over xxx houses then it has to be a certain corridor / road width, for the pleasing effect and possible expansion.

 

Looking at the map below, the Bulwell end does sort of line up with Highbury Estate.

If it had maybe intended to go that route, although it looks a mess crossing 3 rail lines it's not quite as complicated as it seems as one rail line is below the road level, one is above the road level then where Brooklyn Road is now could have been bridged slightly North of that location.

 

The Hucknall Rd end points to Bagthorpe which they may have thought would be gone in the future and been another housing estate.

 

But who knows what was in the head of the Architects at that time.

 

fMdedOE.jpg

 

I notice a prison bottom right corner , what prison would that of been ?

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Once went for an interview there as a maintenance electrician.  The warden said if you get a job in the system we can transfer you anywhere even Dartmoor, would you go?  I said, no thanks,  didn't get the job.  Glad I didn't.  ;)

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