Which motorway is the longest in britain

This is because when the road was constructed, the plan was to add junction 3 when the link road to the A1 had been built. But this link road was cancelled, meaning there was simply no need for another exit. These days the site is occupied by motorway services instead, so all is not wasted.

Views from a motorway have never been so good. The most northerly motorway in the United Kingdom is the M90 in Scotland, which runs from south of the Queensferry Crossing, across the Firth of Forth, past Dunfermline and Kinross, and all the way to the western suburbs of Perth. However, the title for longest orbital road has been snatched by the mile Berlin Ring in Germany. When the first motorway service station opened, 60 years ago, it was the height of cool.

A national obsession, but there's much more to them than you might think. Miles Warde presents the untold story of roads and the people who live on them. Can you build a motorway that does not wipe out wildlife? What about badger tunnels and bat flyovers? Radio 4 in Four. Main content. Ten speedy facts about motorways. Part of the M1, near Yorkshire.

You must enable JavaScript to play content. Carriageways made into ways and labelled. The southern and eastern part of the Birmingham orbital motorway extending north towards Ashby-de-la-Zouch and west to the M5. A few junctions have been completed towards the Eastern end between th M40 and M6.

Junctions have now been correctly tagged at the diverging nodes, including numbered exits on the A42 towards the M1. This used to be the M4 before the Second Severn Crossing was built. The section around Preston was the first stretch of motorway built. Missing some gps tracks for J6 to J8 with the newly opened 4 parallel carriageways. Junctions J6 to J13 need work. Junctions J21 to J27 need work.

Carriageways complete, just need some junctions now. East of Manchester needs Birch Services adding and work on all junctions from J18 east bound. What did this project achieve? Britain's first motorway, the Preston by-pass, opened in The next 10 years saw UK's network expand as hundreds of miles of motorway were built.

They included:. There have been more than openings of motorways or sections of motorways since The M90 is the most northern UK motorway. The M5 runs the furthest south, finishing at Exeter.

The network is still expanding. The motorway network has helped underpin the UK's economy for nearly 60 years. The network has several important functions. Motorways help manufacturing and increase productivity. Motorway junctions are good locations for business parks and distribution centres. Its position allows fast and reliable distribution of goods all over the UK. Bluewater shopping centre in Kent was built near the M20 and M25 bringing millions of visitors every year.

The retail centre has a catchment area of more than Motorways can help towns and villages expand. For example, Harlow in Hertfordshire has grown from a small 'new town' in the s to a population of more than 86, today. Harlow is linked to London by the M11, which opened in The capital is about an hour's drive away making commuting for work faster. Motorways can give people more choice about where they live, such as moving out of congested inner cities to less populated areas.

Warrington in Cheshire is in a rural area but it's close to the M62, M56 and M6. This makes several cities easy to reach by road — Manchester is about 50 minutes away by the M Delivering post and supplies would be far harder without a motorway network. It's the backbone of the Royal Mail and the road haulage industry.