World's First Mini-roundabout (2) being built by Frank Blackmore

These pictures show some details about the building of the mini-roundabout

We have been lucky to borrow the relevant photographs again and make some higher definition scans which have shown some detail of how the mini-roundabout was built.

According to the Times Obituary of Frank Blackmore he was well known for taking his team with him to test out ideas. The picture in the obituary shows an older man with glasses and wavy hair. Two of our pictures show a man much older than the other three team members wearing glasses and having wavy hair. This is most probably Frank Blackmore.

People on Twitter have referred to the Health and Safety issues. But traffic was lighter in those days, and besides Frank Blackmore was Wellington Pilot who rose to the rank of Wing Commander, so a little bit of traffic was not likely to worry him!

Other pictures show that at the junctions into the mini-roundabout there were raised blocks. Also the pre-existing traffic lights are still present and according to other photos were there until 1974 presumably to allow an easy change back to them if this experiment did not work

This part of a photo shows the four members of the Road Research Laboratory team laying down an arrow. The older member sitting on the centre we presume to be Frank Blackmore.
CPDC
This part of a photo shows the older member of the team laying out a line. We presume this to be Frank Blackmore.
CPDC
This shows a couple of blocks at the junction and the disabled traffic lights. For twitter followers who struggled with the previous pictures to find out what cars are in the picture the one in the car park does look like an Austin A35. One of our correspondents (steve licence@SteveLicence) remembers that 'The sign next to the "Cortina" read, "Priority to right throughout function !?!!" Yes, it said "Function" and had 4 punctuation marks.'
CPDC
The traffic lights are clearly shown as being disabled and a block is shown. For car fans the car is a Vanden Plas.
CPDC

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