Information AboutM1 Motorway |
, South Yorkshire .]] , South Yorkshire .]] This article concerns the M1 motorway in England. For other M1 motorways, see M1 Motorway (disambiguation) . The M1 is a major north-south Bypass , which later became part of the M6 {Link without Title} . The motorway is 193 Mile s (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 . It forms part of the unsigned European Route E13 . HISTORY First Section, 1959 The first section of the motorway opened between junction 5 ( Watford ) and junction 18 ( Crick / Rugby ) on together with the motorway's two spurs, the M10 (from junction 7 to St Albans ) and the M45 (from junction 17 to the A45 and Coventry ). The M1 was officially inaugurated from Slip End , this is celebrated by a large concrete slab {Link without Title} on the bridge next to the village with inscription "London-Yorkshire Motorway, This slab was sealed by the Rt Hon Harold Watkinson M.P. Minister of transport inauguration day, 24th March 1958". This section of the M1 broadly follows the route of the A5 north-west. It started at the Watford Bypass ( A41 ), which runs south-east to meet the A1 at Apex corner, and ended on the A5 at Crick. The M10 spur motorway connected the M1 to the North Orbital Road ( A405 / A414 , a precursor of the M25 ) where it also meet the A5 (now renumbered here as the A5183 ) and, two miles to the east via the A414, to the A6 (also renumbered as the A1081 ). Although the whole of first section opened in 1959 it was built in two parts with the northern part (junctions 10 to 18) being built by John Laing and the southern part (the St Albans Bypass) being built by Tarmac Construction . Rugby to Leeds, 1965 to 1968 The continuation of the motorway from junction 18 towards Yorkshire was carried out as a series of extensions between 1965 and 1968 . Diverging from the A5, the motorway takes a more northerly route through the East Midlands , via Leicester , Loughborough , Nottingham to Sheffield where the M18 splits from the M1 at junction 32 to head to Doncaster . Originally, the M1 was planned to end at Doncaster; however, it was decided to make what was going to be the " Leeds and Sheffield Spur", the primary route with the 11 mile section to the A1(M) south of Doncaster given a separate motorway number. From junction 32, the motorway passes between Sheffield and Rotherham , towards Barnsley then heads towards Wakefield and reaches the original end of the motorway at junction 44 to the east of Leeds. There were plans to route the M1 from just south of junction 42 where it interchanges with the M62 , round the west of Leeds to the A1 at Dishforth ; however the existing route to the east of Leeds was selected. With the M62 and M621 , the M1 forms a ring of motorways around Leeds. Leeds South Eastern Urban Motorway, 1972 In 1972 an extension of the M1 was opened into central Leeds as the Leeds South Eastern Motorway where it met the Leeds South Western Motorway (M621) coming north-east from the M62 at junction 3. Leeds to Hook Moor, 1999 Between 1996 and 1999 the M1 section north of the M62 underwent a major reconstruction and extension to take the M1 on a new route to the A1(M) at Aberford . The new road involved the construction of a series of new junctions, bridges and viaducts to the east of Leeds. When the new section of M1 was completed and opened in 1999 , the Leeds South Eastern Motorway section of the M1 was redesignated as the M621 and the junctions were given new numbers (M621 junctions 4 to 7). London extensions, 1966, 1967 and 1977 The M1 was extended south from its original starting point at junction 5 towards London in three stages. The first stage, opened in 1966 , took the motorway south-east, parallel to the A41 to meet the A5 at junction 4 south of Elstree . The second phase continued east to Scratchwood (where the London Gateway Service Area occupies the location of the missing junction 3 from where an unbuilt spur would have connected to the A1 at Stirling Corner), then south to run alongside the Midland Main Line towards Hendon where it meets the A1 again at junction 2 via a tightly curved flyover section. These flyovers connecting from the A1 were originally both for northbound traffic; the left one as the onramp to the M1, the right one going over the A1/A41 junction beneath to rejoin the A1 northbound. The current junction 2 is about 650 yds (600 m) south of the original junction. Southbound traffic originally left the motorway via a slip road which passed under the A41/A1 Mill Hill Bypass and looped round to join it at Fiveways Interchange. This slip road is still in place and maintained, though not accessible to traffic. The northbound slip road from the A1 is now partially used as the entrance way to a business park but no longer reaches the northbound carriageway as it is cut off by the motorway continuing south. The final section of the M1 was opened to junction 1 at Staples Corner in 1977 . There the motorway meets the North Circular Road (A406) at a Grade Separated junction and roundabout. Plans made in the 1960s would have seen the motorway continue through the junction on an elevated roadway to end at West Hampstead where it would have met the North Cross Route , the northern section of the London Motorway Box , a proposed ring of urban motorway around the central area. The layout of the Staples Corner junction was originally built in accordance with these plans although most of the London Ringways Plan had been cancelled by 1973 . TRIVIA The first Motorway Service Station in the UK was built at Watford Gap and later immortalised in song by Roy Harper and, satirically, by Dillie Keane of Fascinating Aida . Some consider Watford Gap (a narrow traffic corridor containing the M1 and one of the main London to Birmingham railway lines side by side, plus a well-known motorway service station) to be the border between southern and northern England. The M1 featured in the first episode of '' Thunderbirds ''. The Hood was making his getaway down the M1 after photographing Thunderbird 2, only to be stopped by a well placed shot from Parker using the gun inside the grill of Lady Penelope's pink Rolls Royce. The highest point on the M1, if you are travelling north, is just after Junction 22. A section of the M1 near Milton Keynes was temporarily closed by a rolling police roadblock to allow for filming of the movie '' 28 Days Later ''. The motorway was closed for a few days near East Midlands Airport when on January 8, 1989 British Midland Flight 092 crashed on the motorway when landing on emergency in East Midlands Airport due to the engine failure. The M1 featured in the movie Withnail And I . In the 1960s, Withnail drives a clapped out Jaguar S-Type down the M1 while drunk, but is eventually pulled over and arrested by the police. JUNCTIONS LIST OF SIGHTS VISIBLE FROM THE M1 :
SEE ALSO EXTERNAL LINKS
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