Thousands of motorists use the Leeds Inner Ring Road everyday to get across the city. Yet few will be aware of the untold story of how the project was hindered by delays, controversy and everything in between. It was devised in the 1950s, started in 1964 and yet only completed in the 2000s. These photos, plucked from the YEP archive, aim to bring that story to life. READ MORE: The A to Z of Leeds documentary trailer LOVE LEEDS? LOVE NOSTALGIA? Join Leeds Retro on facebook YEP RETRO NEWSLETTER: Sign up for our free monthly email digest of Leeds nostalgia
13. Leeds inner ring road
A section of the Inner Ring Road under construction at the west end of New York Road in November 1968. Heatons (Leeds) Ltd. costume makers visible in the background. The end of a truck is visible on the right. | Leeds Libraries, www.leodis.net Photo: Leeds Libraries, www.leodis.net
14. Leeds inner ring road
A view - from Buslingthorpe Lane - of St. Clement's Church at Sheepscar with debris from the Leeds Inner Ring Road workings in the foreground. Pictured in August 1969. | YPN Photo: YPN
15. Leeds inner ring road
Work on stage two - then the biggest civic engineering project to take place in the city - was soon underway, extending the route from the Claypit Lane area through to York Road, crossing the Eastgate-Regent Street by flyover. | YPN Photo: YPN
16. Leeds inner ring road
It opened ahead of schedule and the reason given for the early completion was "because the construction programming has been done by computer." Pictured in May 1970. | YPN Photo: YPN
17. Leeds inner ring road
Stage three running south from Westgate roundabout and including a flyover near the old YEP HQ on Wellington Street and a widened Wellington Bridge started in the early 1970s. | YPN Photo: YPN
18. Leeds inner ring road
The third stage of the Inner Ring Road opened on November 7, 1974. The first person onto the flyover was Terence Muddiman and traffic warden Charles Wheatley directed the first cars across. | YPN Photo: YPN