1960s proposed road scheme for St Ebbe's
As car useage became more popular and available the streets of Oxford quickly reached impossible levels of congestion. In this city of rivers, historic buildings and protected parks there are many divisions which prevent the easy movement of traffic and people. As a consequence all traffic converged in the centre of the city making these public spaces noisy and dangerous.
Thomas Sharp made the proposal for a new inner ring road in 1945, controversially suggesting that this should run through Christchurch meadow. Many other schemes were proposed and a section of one is shown below. Ultimately, from the map shown, only the car parks and A420 (Speedwell Street) were built, although the proposal for the inner ring road, which would have sliced through the Cowley Road area, was still on the table until the late 1970s.
A detailed account of this history can be found on the Oxford Civic Society website.
The images below were created to show the intention for the new road scheme to enable speed and the smooth flow of traffic through the city. There is an elegance to this proposal which is very attractive as a map, yet conflicts with the needs of pedestrians.