2007-01-22 00:07:14 · 13 answers · asked by WILLIAM C 1 in Travel ➔ United Kingdom ➔ Other - United Kingdom
The first Motorway was the M6 Preston bypass.
To the person above, the reason the M1 is called M1 is because it follows the route of the A1, just as the M6 follows the A6.
They're not numbered sequentially, otherwise the M6 would be M1 and the M1 would be M2!
2007-01-22 00:23:25 · answer #1 · answered by mainwoolly 6 · 1⤊ 2⤋
The M1 is Britain's first full-length motorway (it followed the Preston bypass, arguably the first motorway, though this was not to be built any further for a long time). It is also one of the most important, setting off the M6 (Britain's longest and busiest) and linking the north with the south. It does everything but make the tea. It first opened in December 1959 from St Albans to Rugby.
For a 50s and 60s motorway it holds together remarkably well. It was constructed for around 13,000 to 14,000 vehicles per day. This capacity was reached the day it opened! Today it carries 130,000 to 140,000 per day on a virtually unmodified road (though the section south of the M10 was once two lanes and was upgraded to three in the 1970s). Originally it had a soft grass verge instead of a hard shoulder and an open reservation with no barriers.
In 1999 about 8 miles was added to the top to make it swing east of Leeds and connect to the A1.
Factfile
Start London (A406)
Finish Hook Moor (A1(M))
Passes Northampton, Leicester, Nottingham, Derby, Sheffield, Wakefield, Leeds
Length 200 miles
Terminates M6, M18
Spurs M10, M45, M621
Meets M25, M62
2007-01-22 00:10:46 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 2⤋
Legally, a "motorway" is a "Special Road".
The first road to be constructed under the Special Roads Act was the Preston by-pass, which was later to be subsumed in the M6.
The first Special Road to be built other than as a by-pass was part of the M1 in Bedfordshire
2007-01-23 08:22:46 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
The M1
The motorway is 193 miles (310 km) long and was constructed in four phases; the majority of the motorway was opened in 1959 and between 1965 and 1968. The two ends of the motorway were extended later; the southern end in 1977 and the northern end in 1999.
2007-01-22 01:59:40 · answer #4 · answered by FUGAZI 5 · 2⤊ 2⤋
M1 ooop Norf! Also lnown as the Preston Bypass
http://www.cbrd.co.uk/motorway/m1/
2007-01-22 00:09:45 · answer #5 · answered by Sir Sidney Snot 6 · 1⤊ 2⤋
It was the M1 from Watford Gap To the outskirts of London. When is was opened there was no speed limit--quite fun!
2007-01-22 02:22:27 · answer #6 · answered by Gordon R 3 · 0⤊ 2⤋
the first motorway was the preston bypass, fivemiles of it
2007-01-22 00:15:41 · answer #7 · answered by peter p 5 · 3⤊ 1⤋
M1, that's why it is called the M1
I remember the opening,( it was my 15th birthday) we never thought there would be enough cars to make it worth while
http://www.bbc.co.uk/northamptonshire/asop/northampton/m1.shtml
2007-01-22 00:18:46 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 2⤋
ibeleive it was the M6 by passing Preston and i remember driving on it when newly opened many years ago probably around 1960
2007-01-22 02:14:49 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 2⤋
it was the M6 Preston bypass.I remember going on it when it first opened
2007-01-22 04:49:10 · answer #10 · answered by Christine P 3 · 2⤊ 1⤋