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Revision as of 22:30, 27 May 2005

There are also M1 motorways in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland

The M1 is a major north-south motorway in England connecting London to Yorkshire, where it joins the A1(M) near Wetherby.

The motorway is 187 miles (301 km) long and was constructed in stages between the 1950s and 1970s, with a further extension in the late 1990s. It was the first full-length motorway to be built in the United Kingdom, and was opened in 1959.

The M1 was first conceived as a London to Birmingham route broadly following the route of the A5. It started south of St Albans on the London Orbital road which connected it to the main A1 just north of London. At the northern end it turned left near Daventry in order to connect to the A45 to Coventry and then on to Birmingham. The alternate branch at the southern end - to Watford "Berrygrove" - became the major route and was extended in two stages to London, eventually terminating between the junctions of the A406 "North Circular" with the A5 ("Staples Corner") and A41 ("Brent Cross Flyover"). The first stage to London terminated at "Fiveways Corner", just north of the present Junction 2 (the A1 junction) and the original slip road is retained as an emergency exit route.

The M1 was also planned to start further in to London than its present southern terminus. Evidence of this can be seen on the southbound carriageway at Junction 1, where there is a short unused section of road continuing on whilst all traffic is diverted off the slip road.

The section around St Albans was renamed the M10. At the northern end, with changing traffic patterns, instead of extending into Birmingham the route was extended northwards to Leeds and the stub towards Coventry was renamed as the M45. The first motorway service area in the UK was built at Watford Gap.

It now broadly follows an arc to the west of the route taken by the older A1; though less direct, this route takes it closer to the major population centres of the East Midlands. It passes close to Milton Keynes, Northampton, Leicester, Derby, Nottingham, Mansfield, Sheffield and Leeds. It also connects with the M6 and M45 motorways near Rugby, the M18 near Rotherham, the M25 near Potters Bar, the M69 at Leicester, and the M62 and M621 near Leeds.


Route

Junction 10a - spur for Luton south and for Luton Airport (airport not actually on M1)

Junction 3 on the M1 was originally intended as a turn-off for Scratchwood (now London Gateway), but is now only used for the Scratchwood service station.

See also

External links

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