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Two Sides of a Flyover is a poetic response to archival material, oral histories and site visits around the Gateshead Flyover demolished in 2026.
Go to stand
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- CoverTwo Sides of a F
- Page 2VV كسية
- Adam DixonTwo Sides of a Flyover This selection of poetry was written as a response to the demolition of the Gateshead Flyover in 2026. I spent three years researching the history of transport systems on Tyneside during the twentieth century. These poems take inspiration from archival material, oral histories and my own personal experience of the flyover.
- The overwhelming experienceThis poem refashions ideas from Le Corbusier's City of To-Morrow and Ove Arup's design report for the Gateshead Flyover uncovered in the National Archives, Kew. A Crow once told me, To make a city work –
- Page 6Children must not play on this site
- PlaygroundThis poem was inspired by an oral history interview conducted as part of my research into the Flyover. Before the flyover, We had a big playing field.
- or hou im vidiansa qe bluoo solov duqabla bobbledriBreaking Away Part 1
- Battle of the Chandless FlatsThis poem was inspired by press reports following the demolition of new 1960s maisonettes to make way for the flyover in the 1970s. The Ministry made assurances, Nothing will go; the flats will stand.
- Page 10Pedestrians Hohibited
- Severed (the road to hell)This poem is based on an oral history interview I conducted when studying the Flyover and press reports from the 1990s. You didn't feel safe, The flyover severed the community.
- And as we say 'goodbye'This poem takes inspiration from the closure of the flyover in 2024 and its demolition in 2026. It felt poignant seeing the demise of the flyover as I came to the end of my research. And as we say 'goodbye', We say, 'hello'.
- SILVERORIGINA L&B
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Battle of the Chandless Flats
This poem was inspired by press reports following the demolition of new 1960s maisonettes to make way for the flyover in the 1970s.
The Ministry made assurances, Nothing will go; the flats will stand.
Yet down they come, Who's footing the bill?
A case of the classic planning blunder, On Chandless the noise of the motorway rings. Residents are forced to live in perpetual car-cophony – While the Ministry sits idle.
- A £210,000 load of rubbish;
- A price worth paying for progress?
- Heaps of concrete and bricks;
- Mountains of modernist planning gone wrong.
- Broken windows and broken dreams -
- Shatter the illusion of utopia.
A highway to prosperity - Or a road to despair?
People on the lower roads – Might appreciate the soffits. But they will also remember, A promise not kept.