Victoria Avenue

From Jerripedia

Victoria Avenue

The Lower Park in 1893, before Victoria Avenue was built. The railway line can be seen running along the coast in the left of the photograph. In common with many open areas at the time, the slopes of Westmount on the right of the picture were devoid of any trees. Planting trees in open public areas was very much a 20th century practice in Jersey

Victoria Avenue is the only stretch of dual carriageway in the Channel Islands. It runs from the junction with the Esplanade and Peirson Road as far as Bel Royal.

The road was first mooted in 1894. The necessary legal authorisation went to the States in 1895 and the road was completed in time for the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria, for whom it was named.

Work starts on turning the Avenue into a dual carriageway

The road was constructed on reclaimed sandy ground inside the St Helier to St Aubin track of the Jersey Western Railway, which had already been operating for 25 years. Victoria Avenue was initially built as a single carriageway road: it became a dual carriageway in the late 1950s. For many years the two ends of the road were marked by large traffic roundabouts, but these have now given way to traffic lights at the St Helier end and a junction at Bel Royal which forces all traffic except buses to continue along Route de la Haule.

Road races

Victoria Avenue was part of the circuit for the Jersey International Road Race, which was held in 1947, 1948, 1949, 1950 and 1952 before being abandoned because of safety concerns. The circuit ran from West Park to Bel Royal along Victoria Avenue, returning to St Helier along St Aubin's Road. The race attracted enormous international attention in the post-War years because the main British racing circuit at Brooklands had been abandoned and none of the other major circuits which would be developed later in the 20th century was yet operating.

The building of St Aubin's Bay Seawall Added 2016

Gallery

The newly completed road in 1897

1897, the new road is completed but it will still be some years before the motor car arrives in Jersey and will be able to speed along the road
1951
Victoria Avenue at First Tower
1910s near Boulevard Avenue
1960
Victoria Avenue at First Tower
Goldsmith's Garage, which operated on Victoria Avenue from 1932 to 1961, was the island's top outlet for petrol sales but had to close some time after the dual carriageway was created because motorists stopping to fill up created too much congestion
Goldsmith's
Goldsmith's
An Albert Smith photograph
Spectators and cars leaving the circuit on Victoria Avenue at the end of the 1948 road race
The avenue in 1950
Another picture from 1950
The eastern end of the promenade
1948
A bus stops to pick up passengers from the Bay View Hotel in the 1960s