M13
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The M13 is as short-lived and unlikely as the Proposed North London Radial. It appears as a set of possible alternative alignments for the M12, at the stage where the M12 was to form the motorway connection to the proposed third London airport at Maplin Sands in Essex. In the transport study for the airport scheme, the number M13 was proposed for route options where the motorway would more closely follow the A13 than the A12. There is some potential for the M13 to have existed as a road in its own right, though, which is why it gets a page of its own here.
R1 East Cross Route
Possible local connections to Plaistow & Beckton
R2 Eastern Section
Possible local connections to Dagenham & Rainham
R3 Eastern Section
Local connections to Tilbury & Basildon
Connections to Southend-on-Sea
Barrage along Thames Estuary
London Maplin Airport
The route
The M13 would have exited London along the A13 corridor, following the north bank of the Thames quite closely. It appears to branch off the route around Dagenham or Rainham, between Ringway 2 and Ringway 3.
The motorway proposal branched into two potential lines near Tilbury. Route E1 would have seen it running north of Basildon, joining one of a broad range of M12 alignments north of Rayleigh and Southend to reach Maplin. Most of these alignments were deleted very quickly, leaving a smaller number of M12 options for the final route.
However, the most unlikely M13 route survived to the second shortlist, and this was the one that didn't involve any existing M12 proposals. Known only as route F1, it bypassed Basildon to the south, then went out to sea, crossing Southend pier half a mile from shore and continuing along the beach all the way to Maplin Sands (shown right; click to enlarge). No mention is made of how exactly this might be accomplished. There is, however, anecdotal evidence locally that some sort of barrage was proposed in the 1960s or 1970s which would have formed a lagoon at Southend and which was supposed to have a road running along it. This sounds like the M13.
M13 shown on plans from the Maplin Airport transportation report. Click to enlarge
History
While the existence of the M13 proposal depended largely on it being a simple alternative line for the M12, there was a slim chance that it could be another road in its own right. The report investigating transport options for the proposed Maplin Airport was keen to make sure there was enough capacity to get people to and from the new facility, recommending a dual four-lane motorway (the M12) and a four-track rail line alongside it, which would carry the Advanced Passenger Train (APT), then in development by British Rail.
The report actually suggested that one dual four-lane motorway might not be enough and that, in fact, both the M12 and M13 should be considered. If this is representative of the scale of the Maplin project, it's no real wonder that it was cancelled for being absurdly expensive.
