Junction (road)

A road junction is a location where multiple roads intersect, allowing vehicular traffic to change from one road to another.

History

Roads began as a means of linking locations of interest: towns, forts and geographic features such as river fords. Where roads met outside of an existing settlement, these junctions often led to a new settlement. Scotch Corner is an example of such a location.

In the United Kingdom and other countries, the practice of giving names to junctions emerged, to help travellers find their way. Junctions took the name of a prominent nearby business or a point of interest.

As road networks increased in density and traffic flows followed suit, managing the flow of traffic across the junction became of increasing importance, to minimize delays and improve safety. The first innovation was to add traffic control devices, such as stop signs and traffic lights that regulated traffic flow. Next came lane controls that limited what each lane of traffic was allowed to do while crossing. Turns across oncoming traffic might be prohibited, or allowed only when oncoming and crossing traffic was stopped.

Junction Road

Junction Road is a section of the A400 road in Upper Holloway, north London, running between Archway tube station (at the top of Holloway Road) and Tufnell Park tube station (where the A400 continues southwards as Fortess Road).

The street has a number of restaurants, bars and pubs. Junction Road is home to Archway Tower, a building whose appearance is divisive and there is debate as to whether it should be demolished.

Junction Road railway station stood on the corner of Junction Road and Station Road until its closure in 1943. It was on what is now London Overground's Gospel Oak to Barking line, between Gospel Oak station and Upper Holloway station.

The postal district is N19.

External links

References

Coordinates: 51°33′30″N 0°08′16″W / 51.55826°N 0.13785°W / 51.55826; -0.13785

Junction Road railway station

Junction Road railway station (originally Junction Road for Tufnell Park) was a railway station in London. The station was opened by the Tottenham & Hampstead Junction Railway on 1 January 1872. It was located at the corner of Junction Road and Station Road in N19, near the northern tip of Islington.

It comprised two wooden platforms, accessed by means of a footbridge and stairs, and also served the nearby Tufnell Park goods depot.

Trains from the station generally ran between St Pancras or Kentish Town to Barking or Southend, however over its history trains ran to a number of other locations including Cambridge, Chingford and Victoria.

It was initially very heavily used, mainly due to the nearby Metropolitan Cattle Market. At its peak, in 1902, over 140,000 passengers used the station. When the nearby Tufnell Park Underground station was opened on the Charing Cross, Euston and Hampstead Railway (now the Northern line), passenger levels dropped drastically (in a 1937 poem, John Betjeman described it as "a lonely station"). The station was closed on 3 May 1943 and demolished in the early 1950s; the only remaining evidence of the station is the name "Station Road".