Western Section
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At the early stages of research into the Ringways project, it seemed fairly obvious that what is now the M25 between Watford and Staines is simply a motorway built along the line intended for Ringway 4. It turns out that this isn't the case - in fact, in many places, the existing M25 is a completely new route bearing little relation to the proposals made in the early 1970s. Not all of it has been uncovered yet, but from the parts that are now known, the present-day M25 doesn't fit the pattern at all.
A41(M) (leading to R4 North Orbital Road)
A404 Rickmansworth & Chorleywood
Maple Cross Spur to A414
M40 & Denham Spur
M4
Possible connection to Heathrow Airport
A30 Staines & Egham
Bridge over Thames
Continues to R4 Southern Section
The Route
The western section of Ringway 4 begins on the A41(M) at Hunton Bridge roundabout, north-west of Watford. Here the A41(M) would have travelled overhead on a flyover. Ringway 4 would, at this point, have been a dual three-lane motorway, with the designation M25, but nonetheless would simply have stopped on the roundabout. What is now the M25 spur from junction 19 is the line of Ringway 4, as evidenced by its outsize dual three-lane construction.
Three lanes show that the Hunton Bridge Spur was meant to be the mainline of the M25
From this point southwards, the present-day M25 was built as Ringway 4 right around to junction 17 at Maple Cross, opening in 1976. Space was left at the Maple Cross Spur roundabout (now junction 17) for the motorway to continue south, and beyond this point it seems likely that the M25 is on the line of Ringway 4, but it was built after the Ringway plans had been cancelled.
The next piece of firm evidence is at Iver Heath, south-west of the present-day interchange between the M25 and M40. Ringway 4 would have run just under a mile to the west of what is now M25, interchanging with the M4 at Richings Park and rejoining the present line of the M25 close to junction 14.
Between Maple Cross and Iver Heath, circumstantial evidence actually suggests that the motorway line would have been taken much further east than it goes today, interchanging with the M40 at junction 1. It is known that this was to be the start of the Denham Spur leading to the Ringway 3 Western Section, and if Ringway 4 were to connect here too, it would probably be used by most orbital traffic in preference to the route around the north of Watford.
The diagram to the left, part of a traffic survey for Ringway 3, shows this arrangement. Ringway 4's Western Section enters at bottom left, terminating on the M40 at Denham roundabout. The road north from here to the top centre of the image is the Denham Spur. In this version of the plan, there appears to be no expectation that traffic would continue orbiting London using Ringway 4 between the M40 and M1; in fact, that section is not shown at all on this diagram.
South of Heathrow Airport, Ringway 4 would have run on the present M25 line to cross the Thames west of Staines, beyond which lies the Southern Section of the route.
History
Opened in 1976, and therefore one of the oldest parts of the M25, the motorway between Hunton Bridge (j19) and Maple Cross (j17) was designed to be the northernmost part of the M25's route, bringing it to a terminus on the A41(M). It was a dual three-lane motorway right through to the end.
However, when the Ringway plan was abandoned, it was announced that the M25 and M16 would become one circular motorway, and to bolt the existing Ringway 3 and 4 sections together, a new section of motorway was designed to bypass Watford to the north, turning two half-finished rings into one complete one. This is now the M25 between junctions 19 and 23, opened in 1986. It leaves a spur from junction 19 that is out of proportion with its purpose as a relic of what was originally planned.
Why the M25 was supposed to come to a very undignified end, screaming to a halt at the Hunton Bridge roundabout, is not known. Elsewhere in the Ringway plans, free-flowing junctions were designed in the most unlikely places, with over-provision of traffic capacity the order of the day. This part of the plan seems sorely lacking in comparison.
