Artist’s impression of Royal Exchange Station, Courtesy of Manchester Archives
Manchester was a stone's throw away from a brave new world of helipads, boulevards, tunnels and moving pavements, according to unrealised plans unearthed by researchers at The University of Manchester and Manchester School of Architecture. A remarkable collection of architects' drawings, maps and other exhibits - many of which have never before been seen by the public - will go on show at a special exhibition. Curated by Martin Dodge and Richard Brook, it is It called Infra_MANC and will take place 27 February to March 23. The urban motorway, known as the Mancunian Way and completed in 1967, was originally part of 1945 plans for four ring roads and an array of radial 'boulevards'. The plans would have wiped out large parts of the Victorian city and transformed it into an unrecognisable landscape of highways in the sky. Plans for a helipad on top of Victoria train station, intended as a hub for inter-city helicopter flights, were published in 1956. Though the Victoria station idea was quickly dropped, other helipad sites, including Castlefield, Piccadilly Gardens and next to Strangeways Prison, were considered.
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