I remember as a child being told we were going down the newly opened M1 "which is completely straight". I sat up (unconstrained by seatbelt) behind my dad expecting to be able to see London in the far distance, 80 miles away. Turned out it was not my idea of straight.
People are still happy when new motorways open, but they're used to them and expect them to be around, so it's not quite as much of a carnival atmosphere anymore as with the first one.
> Watch until the end for the AA man’s brilliant anecdote…
Re: fog on early motorways - there's an interesting article on roads.org about the development of modern British road signs. A section of that article talks about the early signs that were used to warn of fog: https://www.roads.org.uk/articles/mixed-signals/yellow-peril...
Just brilliant. Thanks for sharing. I grew up going for long walks with my dad between villages along the disused railway and I remember crossing the bridge he mentions in the M1 piece many times. Used to love hearing stories from dad about the M1 as we stood there on it. Great memories. Thank you.
"The Pennine section of the M62 is also home to an enduring urban myth: the house in the middle of the motorway."
I used to pass this location often and it's surprising how many people have told me the story of an angry farmer, wielding a shotgun, refusing to budge.
I love this intro about the M60 (Stockport to Stockport):
This is a zen motorway, achieving the highest plane of spirituality, adopting the lotus position and humming serenely. Why? Because it is the UK's only circular motorway, with no start and no end. Tarmac in eternity. Not even the mighty M25 manages that.
A link to a Dutch motorway fansite is there, but that site is under construction for an update. Current information on Dutch motorways (snelwegen) can be found here:
My father was present, as a boy, at the opening of the Lancaster bypass, which was the first section of motorway constructed in in Britain, followed by the Preston bypass. He was always very careful to remind people how the M6 was the first motorway in Britain and not the M1.
"Sticklers will point out that the Preston Bypass was the first motorway, and they're right. It was part of the M6, but only eight miles long. Opened just a year later, and initially covering 60 miles, the M1 was the first long distance motorway in the UK."
Tangentially related (they would technically have been motorways, I believe) but don't miss the Ringways history section on that excellent website: https://www.roads.org.uk/ringways
Readit News
https://youtu.be/khZQ4xqQJCM
Watch until the end for the AA man’s brilliant anecdote…
There was also a brilliant documentary series a few years back about the building of the motorways - https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007xr62
The conditions in which the trans-Pennine M62 were built were quite something.
> At one point, I threw petrol[gasoline] across the motorway and lit it to try and warn them [of the accident ahead in the fog].
> But still, people still drove through it, and you could hear in the fog, bangs of more people crashing.
> [Comentator]. But nonetheless, a carnival atmosphere prevailed.
These were happier times... When even as people crash, burn, and die, people have a happy outlook on life. What happened?
every time I see a red X over a lane on a motorway gantry (meaning: lane closed) there's people driving in it at full speed
which is why "smart" motorways are so dangerous
Re: fog on early motorways - there's an interesting article on roads.org about the development of modern British road signs. A section of that article talks about the early signs that were used to warn of fog: https://www.roads.org.uk/articles/mixed-signals/yellow-peril...
It’s delivered in a very British dry sense of humour, and is definitely more interesting than it sounds!
[0] https://m.youtube.com/c/autoshenanigans
https://www.sabre-roads.org.uk/maps/ and
https://pathetic.org.uk/unbuilt/
- he’s great, new videos most Sundays, I think.
I used to pass this location often and it's surprising how many people have told me the story of an angry farmer, wielding a shotgun, refusing to budge.
https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=17/53.64140/-1.94718
This is a zen motorway, achieving the highest plane of spirituality, adopting the lotus position and humming serenely. Why? Because it is the UK's only circular motorway, with no start and no end. Tarmac in eternity. Not even the mighty M25 manages that.
https://www.roads.org.uk/motorway/m60
http://www.autobahnatlas-online.de/index_e.html
Do people know of other countries sites with similar info?
Edit: nevermind, i found it
https://www.roads.org.uk/links
http://ssc.siskom.waw.pl/ <- contstruction
http://ssc.siskom.waw.pl/mapa-nawierzchni/mapa-nawierzchnia.... <- quality of roads
https://www.wegenwiki.nl/Autosnelweg#Nederlandse_autosnelweg...
https://www.road.is
Also note the possible warnings under "Definitions". Those really are no joke and not what a boring European understands under "bad road conditions".
"Sticklers will point out that the Preston Bypass was the first motorway, and they're right. It was part of the M6, but only eight miles long. Opened just a year later, and initially covering 60 miles, the M1 was the first long distance motorway in the UK."