Here are a selection of photographs from that day, which marked the culmination of a £45,000 project (or, from a certain point of view, decades of work on the town’s traffic system – see our article from 2018, John Adams Way at 40).
5. Official opening of the pedestrianised Strait Bargate
Helping mark the occasion on the day was the Mayor of Boston Coun Cyril Fovargue. Photo: JPIMedia
6. Official opening of the pedestrianised Strait Bargate
Covering the event that week, The Standard wrote: “The scheme, (Coun Fovargue) said, was an excellent one and had been excellently done. The people of Boston wanted it, even though a few still object to it. The standard of work was praised, too, by Coun William Wyrill, chairman of the county council’s transportation committee. The scheme, he said, was a courageous one.” Photo: JPIMedia
7. Official opening of the pedestrianised Strait Bargate
The idea of a traffic-free Strait Bargate was the subject of an opinion piece in The Standard in 1977 as it considered the merits of the inner relief road project. Photo: JPIMedia
8. Official opening of the pedestrianised Strait Bargate
“There will, however be advantages in the scheme,” it wrote. “There will for instance be no more shoulder nudges for pedestrians in the narrow Strait Bargate, which will be by-passed by the new road, and no more hats will be dislodged by lorry mirrors protruding over the pavements ... " Photo: JPIMedia