Editing M11 motorway (section)

===Planning===
Plans for an 'Eastern Avenue' in London had been proposed as early as 1915, and the Eastern Avenue Extension was causing local concern in Leyton and Hackney during the late 1950s and early 1960s.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=42767|title=Leyton – Introduction|work=British History|access-date=28 December 2009}}</ref> It was opposed by a number of groups, including the Hackney Society<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hackneysociety.org/page_id__67_path__0p1p.aspx|title=History|publisher=Hackney Society|access-date=28 December 2009}}</ref> and local residents as represented by their member of parliament in 1962.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/written-answers/1962/may/08/eastern-avenue-extension#S5CV0659P0_19620508_CWA_55|title=Eastern Avenue Extension|work=[[Hansard|Parliamentary Debates (Hansard)]]|date=8 May 1962|access-date=28 December 2009}}</ref>

By 1966, the [[Department for Transport|Ministry of Transport]] was planning a longer road and for it to be partly motorway. The first version had a mid-south section, to follow a [[River Lea]] route, starting at [[Angel, London|Angel]] southwest of [[Dalston]], heading northeast then north, taking land by the river in [[Walthamstow]], [[Chingford]] and [[Waltham Cross]], and meeting the built road alignment of today north of [[Harlow]]. The road from South Woodford to [[Islington]] would have been designated as the M12. The route was in planning stages with several options, with differences between the plans preferred by the Greater London Council and the Ministry of Transport{{cn|date=September 2024}} – a different version called for this 'Eastern Avenue' to run more east–west alongside the [[Regent's Canal]] and the north side of [[Victoria Park, East London|Victoria Park]], [[Hackney Wick]], where it would have connected to the [[North Cross Route|North Cross]] and [[East Cross Route]]s at the northeast corner of an [[London Ringways#Ringway 1|inner ringway]] identified by the [[London Ringways]]{{#tag:ref|An expressway inner circular, referred to as the ''London Motorway Box''|group= n}} plan.{{cn|date=September 2024}}

There were three proposed routes from the inner to [[London Ringways#Ringway 2|outer ringway]] (North Circular) at the base of the current M11 and it is unclear which one was favoured.{{cn|date=September 2024}}

Under one scheme, south of [[South Woodford]] a connection would have been made with the western end of a proposed "[[M12 motorway (Great Britain)|M12]]" towards [[Colchester]]. These proposals also made the case for an [[M15 motorway (Great Britain)|M15 motorway]] for the Ringway 2, a major upgrade of the [[North Circular Road, London|North Circular Road]] to typical motorway standard. When the southern end of the current M11 ended here, space was provided between the two carriageways to enable an offshoot of 'the M12' to merge from the southwest: junctions 1, 2 and 3 were reserved for this additional inner London section. Part of the unbuilt route of a southern section of the M11 is seen from a sliproad from the North Circular to the M11 which travels over a bridge over bare land.

It was announced in March 1975 that from junction 8 (Bishops Stortford/Stansted exit) to the northern terminus, (thus including the Cambridge western bypass) would not be "constructed to M1 standard".<ref name=Motor197503/> This was another way of stating that, following a change in government policy, this section would comprise two rather than three lanes in each direction.<ref name=Motor197503>{{cite magazine |title = Motorweek: Three lanes to two|magazine=Motor| page =25| date = 22 March 1975}}</ref>