BTC/Bartholomew's road atlas of Great Britain, c1959 - Motorway supplement page 3
A fascinating pasted in 'supplement' to a road atlas produced by Bartholomew for the British Transport Commission in 1959/60. The UK was quite late in constructing 'special' roads or motorways and by the late 1950s with the growth of road traffic and the constrictions of the old trunk road system linking the country often through town and city centres with limited bypasses, the need was seen as acute. Work started on the M6 in Lancashire and the M1 across the midland counties along with some smaller schemes that would in time become the basis for the current motorway network.
As the supplement notes the UK's 'first' motorway had been opened on 5th December 1958 this being the Preston By-pass that took the number M6. Then, on 2 November 1959, the first section of the M1 (the London - Birmingham Motorway) was opened by Ernest Marples, the Minister for Transport. The supplement then reproduces the complete relevant pages 28/29 of the atlas to show the updated route of the M1. The last page shows the southern section of the M1 and M10 spur, the opened section of the M6 and the other under construction schemes that would become the first section of the M4, M20, M50 and the Lancaster section of the M6.
This page shows the smaller sections that include; the M1/M10 spur now reclassified as part of the A414; the Ross Spur, the M50, that linked the steel works of South Wales with the Midlands car industry and that would in time link to the later M5; the Maidstone bypass that formed the first section of the M20; the Maidenhead bypass that would become the first section of the M4; the Lancaster bypass, the M6, and the open Preston bypass, again part of the M6.
BTC/Bartholomew's road atlas of Great Britain, c1959 - Motorway supplement page 3
A fascinating pasted in 'supplement' to a road atlas produced by Bartholomew for the British Transport Commission in 1959/60. The UK was quite late in constructing 'special' roads or motorways and by the late 1950s with the growth of road traffic and the constrictions of the old trunk road system linking the country often through town and city centres with limited bypasses, the need was seen as acute. Work started on the M6 in Lancashire and the M1 across the midland counties along with some smaller schemes that would in time become the basis for the current motorway network.
As the supplement notes the UK's 'first' motorway had been opened on 5th December 1958 this being the Preston By-pass that took the number M6. Then, on 2 November 1959, the first section of the M1 (the London - Birmingham Motorway) was opened by Ernest Marples, the Minister for Transport. The supplement then reproduces the complete relevant pages 28/29 of the atlas to show the updated route of the M1. The last page shows the southern section of the M1 and M10 spur, the opened section of the M6 and the other under construction schemes that would become the first section of the M4, M20, M50 and the Lancaster section of the M6.
This page shows the smaller sections that include; the M1/M10 spur now reclassified as part of the A414; the Ross Spur, the M50, that linked the steel works of South Wales with the Midlands car industry and that would in time link to the later M5; the Maidstone bypass that formed the first section of the M20; the Maidenhead bypass that would become the first section of the M4; the Lancaster bypass, the M6, and the open Preston bypass, again part of the M6.