Southern Section
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The most controversial and daring section of Ringway 2, and its gory death, is explored in more detail in a separate feature, The Decline and Fall of Ringway 2. This page provides a closer examination of its route and the detail of its creation. Unlike other sections of Ringway 2, the Southern Section deviated substantially from the South Circular Road, plunging much further south in order to serve a wider area of the suburbs. In actual fact the South Circular's central section ended up being roughly halfway between Ringways 1 and 2, and in some places was closer to the South Cross Route than its supposed upgrade in Ringway 2.
Continues from R2 Eastern Section
A2/M2 (Falconwood Interchange)
A20/M20 (Mottingham Interchange)
Mottingham
Forster Memorial Park (cut and cover)
A21
Beckenham
SCRPDR (or Parkway E)
Thornton Heath
A23
M23
A24
Link to A3 and Ringway 1 at Clapham Junction
Continues to R2 Western Link
The route
The southern section of the route would have connected Eltham with Wandsworth, replacing the South Circular but running several miles to the south of its predecessor.
Commencing on the A2/M2 at Falconwood Interchange, with the Ringway 2 Eastern Section entering from the north, Ringway 2's Southern Section would have begun by turning south-west through Avery Hill and crossing Mottingham Golf Course. The route would meet the A20/M20 at a free-flowing junction close to Eltham Palace, squeezed in between the existing A20 Sidcup Road and the Dartford Loop railway line.
Mottingham Interchange, as published in GLDP inquiry papers
A short double-bend would bring Ringway 2 up to Grove Park. Junctions were to be provided on both sides of the railway line here, between which the railway bridge would have carried five lanes in each direction. The motorway would run under Forster Memorial Park in a cut-and-cover tunnel before meeting the A21 at a three-level junction, where the A21 would be carried through a single-carriageway underpass to avoid the roundabout. It would continue westward just south of Southend Road.
It was to turn sharply south at Lower Sydenham station, continuing south through open land near Sydenham to a diamond junction making a connection to Elmers End Road. Turning west through the open land at Elmer's End, a free-flowing junction was proposed (including a short section where the two motorways would run double-decked) connecting with the proposed SCRPDR route. Turning south-west again, the motorway would continue on this line through South Norwood, with a local interchange in the vicinity of White Horse Lane.
The motorway would have followed the line of the B266 here to narrowly avoid the centre of Thornton Heath itself. At Thornton Heath station, it would turn north and run alongside the railway line towards Norbury. The next junction was here, a roundabout interchange with the A23, before continuing east to Streatham Vale, where a three-level free flowing junction was to form the northern terminus of the M23, constructed in open land at the large railway junction (shown to the right). The motorway would then join the south side of the railway line and continue west.
The final local interchange on the route was to be a diamond junction connecting to the A24. The route would then turn north, leaving the railway to follow the line of the Wandle valley, parallel to the A218. Much of this was (and remains) a light industrial area that could be cleared for the motorway with little effort. It would cross the A205 South Circular Road near the present-day junction with the A3, though without any interchange. It would then turn west on to the line of the Waterloo to Richmond railway line, becoming the Western Link of Ringway 2. A three-way interchange would be built here to link Ringway 2 with the spur motorway to Clapham Junction.
The GLC stated when the plans were published that there would be scope for roofing over long lengths of the Southern Section where it ran below ground level to reduce its impact, though this was not planned when the road was first constructed.
History
The GLC saw this part of Ringway 2 as an extremely important link in the Ringway plan, providing high-quality motorway access to a huge sweep of south London that was (and remains) isolated and difficult to reach by road. It went far enough south to serve Croydon, but was close enough to the central area to provide a terminus for the M23, preventing greater destruction if the motorway were to extend further north to Brixton.
The very public revolt in which the GLC was forced to abandon this part of Ringway 2 (and ultimately, all its other south London road plans) is documented in the separate feature "The Decline and Fall of Ringway 2". But the epilogue from this tale is worth exploring. Ringway 2's Southern Section was fought by middle-class people worried about house prices: members of the suburban Surrey commuter belt who didn't want a motorway blighting their quiet neighbourhood, and who feared the decline that would set in, despite assurances from the GLC that it would bring increased affluence and a surge in property prices.
Today, many of the areas it would have blighted - Tooting, Streatham, Thornton Heath - are much changed. During the late 1980s and throughout the 1990s they declined rapidly, and are now notorious for high crime rates. Few families remain, few people own their homes, and most of the middle-class people who fought Ringway 2 have since moved further out of London, avoiding and aiding the decline.
One theory that has been advanced more than once to explain this de-gentrification is that the middle classes - the people who once made places like Streatham affluent - grew increasingly reliant on private transport in the 1970s, 80s and 90s. Without sufficient road capacity to support their lifestyle they began to move further out of London, where the M25 and lower population density made motoring more bearable. It may just be that the decline and deprivation that affect these areas of south London can be (at least partly) attributed to the lack of adequate transport connections.
So it's possible that, in campaigning for roads like Ringway 2 to be cancelled, the protestors achieved a Pyrrhic victory and contributed to the destruction of the affluent neighbourhoods they were trying to save. This is, of course, pure speculation - and it's also possible to hypothesise that, had Ringway 2 been constructed, it would have driven out the affluent families, who would not want to live close to a motorway, and accelerated the decline of the neighbourhoods immediately adjacent to it.
