Brentford Rewind: History of the Chiswick flyover
The Chiswick flyover was not originally classed as a motorway and opened in 1959.
The flyover was built to reduce congestion and the impact on local traffic of vehicles travelling around London on the North and South Circular Roads and between London and the west on the Great West Road.
Although it was not originally built as a motorway, it was later incorporated into the M4 motorway.
The original Chiswick flyover carries the first half a mile of the M4 from its start at junction number 1.
The flyover was extended to be more than two miles long in the early 1960s to form part of the M4 junction 1 to junction 5 section that was opened in 1965.
The first one-and-a-half miles of the flyover tracks the course of the A4 which is directly underneath it.
It then turns approximately west north-west across Boston Manor Park before the M4 returns to ground level, before it widens from two to three lanes in each direction as it heads west through the grounds of Osterley Park
The opening ceremony for the flyover, which was performed by Hollywood actress Jayne Mansfield, took place on 30 September 1959.
The second section opened on 25 November 1964.
In October 2009, actress Imogen Stubbs unveiled a plaque in a ceremony in Chiswick to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the opening of the flyover.
In 1964 the flyover became part of the M4 motorway and by 1969 was said to be the most dangerous road in Britain.
By 2009, 97,000 vehicles a day were using the M4 over flyover.
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