ABSTRACT
The ring road offers multiple, simultaneous and possibly conflicting fears. There are fears associated with speed, disorientation, claustrophobia, agoraphobia, GPS navigation, of missing one's turning, of not seeing it or seeing it too late. The possible similarities between the transport available through the sublime and that experienced on the ring road can be approached through a consideration of their spatial and cultural dimensions. Although the ring road is not a motorway, it does not provide for frontage access, pedestrians or stopping. This awkwardness about the ring road's definition is shared by a variety of interested parties, from those involved in their planning through to those minded to analyse how they are used after construction, and again revolves around the issue of judgement. Related difficulty of definition is raised by the UK Department of Transport's criteria for highway link geometry, according to which the ring road would be classified as 'rural' rather than 'urban'.
