M1 motorway

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 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.HistoryThere 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.