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M1 motorway (Great Britain)

M1 shield

M1
Route information
Part of Tabliczka E13.svg E13
Length: 193.5 mi (311.4 km)
Existed: 1959–60 – present
History: Completed in 1999
Major junctions
South end: London A406 (A406)
51°34′32″N 0°14′06″W / 51.5755°N 0.2351°W / 51.5755; -0.2351 (M1 Motorway (southern end))
  Junction 6a.svg UK-Motorway-M25.svg
J6a → M25 motorway
Junction 17.svg UK-Motorway-M45.svg
J17 → M45 motorway
Junction 19.svg UK-Motorway-M6.svg
J19 → M6 motorway
Junction 21.svg UK-Motorway-M69.svg
J21 → M69 motorway
Junction 32.svg UK-Motorway-M18.svg
J32 → M18 motorway
Junction 42.svg UK-Motorway-M62.svg
J42 → M62 motorway
Junction 43.svg UK-Motorway-M621.svg
J43 → M621 motorway
Junction 48.svg UK-Motorway-A1 (M).svg
J48 → A1(M) motorway
North end: Hook Moor (A1(M))
53°49′22″N 1°20′20″W / 53.8229°N 1.3388°W / 53.8229; -1.3388 (M1 motorway (northern end))
Location
Primary
destinations
:
London
Edgware
Aylesbury
Watford
St Albans
Luton
Milton Keynes
Northampton
Rugby
Leicester
Loughborough
Birmingham
Coventry
Nottingham
Derby
Mansfield
Chesterfield
Sheffield
Rotherham
Manchester
Barnsley
Wakefield
Bradford
Leeds
Wetherby
York
Road network
A5-M1 Link (Dunstable Northern Bypass)
Proposed Dunstable and Luton Northern Bypass.png
The route of the Dunstable Northern Bypass proposal and route options for the connecting Luton Northern Bypass.
Location Central Bedfordshire
Proposer Highways Agency
Status Under Construction (ETA summer 2017)
Type Road
Cost estimate £171 million to £217 million
Start date 2014–2015
Completion date 2016–2017
Geometry KML

M1 shield

The M1 is a south-north motorway in England connecting London to Leeds, where it joins the A1(M) near Aberford. It was the first inter-urban motorway to be completed in the UK; the first road to be built to motorway standard in the country was the Preston By-pass, which later became part of the M6.

The motorway is 193 miles (311 km) long and was constructed in four phases. Most of the motorway was opened between 1959 and 1968 but the southern end was extended in 1977 and the northern end was extended in 1999. It forms part of the unsigned European route E13.

There had been plans since before the Second World War for a motorway network in the United Kingdom. Lord Montagu formed a company to build a 'motorway like road' from London to Birmingham in 1923; however it was a further 26 years before the Special Roads Act 1949 was passed which allowed for the construction of roads limited to specific vehicle classifications, and the 1950s when the country's first motorways were given the government go-ahead.

The first section of motorway was the Preston Bypass in Lancashire, which opened in 1958 (now part of the M6 motorway). The M1 was Britain's first full-length motorway and opened in 1959. The early M1 had no speed limits, no central reservation or crash barriers, and no lighting.


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Wikipedia

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