Preston By-pass
| Preston By-pass motorway | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Route information | |
| Length: | 8.25 mi (13.28 km) |
| History: | Opened in 1958 |
| Major junctions | |
| South end: | Bamber Bridge |
| North end: | Broughton |
| Road network | |
The Preston By-pass was Britain's first constructed motorway, designed and engineered by Lancashire County Council surveyor James Drake as part of a larger initiative to create a north-south motorway network that would later form part of the M6 motorway. The by-pass was opened on 5 December 1958 by the Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan at a cost of nearly £3m. The original 8¼-mile (13.28 km) motorway ran around the east side of Preston between Bamber Bridge (now the M6, Junction 29) and Broughton (now the M55, Junction 1) and crosses over the River Ribble at Salmesbury at the M6 Junction 31.
Planning started in 1937, despite there being no legal powers that permitted motorway construction until the introduction of the Special Roads Act 1949. Early work was hampered by heavy rainfall, resulting in postponement of various heavy engineering works such as the base foundation; the result of the weather meant the original two-year plan was delayed by a further five months. Weeks after opening, the road had to temporarily close due to water causing further problems, when the base layer was damaged as a result of a rapid freeze and thaw cycle.
The by-pass has undergone two separate lane-widening schemes during its existence, firstly in 1966 when it was widened to three lanes, then later in the 1990s to expand its capacity to four lanes in each direction. The latter upgrade was significant enough to require reconstruction of the entire route including all bridges and is now effectively a different motorway to the one that opened in 1958.
Before the motorway was constructed, the A6 road through Preston handled north-south traffic with tailbacks and congestion a common occurrence, more so during special occasions such as the Blackpool Illuminations. The route had been planned as far back as 1937–1938, with the basic alignment still deemed feasible by the time Lancashire County Council gave approval in the mid 1940s. Chief engineer Drake was part of a delegation from Lancashire that travelled to Germany in 1938 in order that a plan could be drawn up by the council. The agreed route formed part of the County Surveyors' Society's national proposals and was protected by Lancashire County Council from any future developments. During planning, the legal powers necessary for motorway construction did not exist, until the introduction of the Special Roads Act in 1949 that made it lawful to construct motorways. The by-pass was seen as an experiment for the future motorway construction, with many lessons and techniques were learned that would help towards successful future projects. When the proposals were made public, including a large-scale model to ease the explaining of the scheme, only a handful of formal objections were raised and were resolved by agreement without the need to initiate a public inquiry, cited in part because of close personal involvement of Lancashire County Council and the surveyor during consultation.
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