Preston By-pass

The Preston By-pass was Britain's first motorway. It was conceived, promoted, built and initially operated by its engineer, James Drake. The by-pass was opened on 5 December 1958 by the Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan. It later became part of the M6 motorway.^[1]

The 8¼-mile motorway runs around the east side of Preston between Bamber Bridge (M6, junction 29), which is just south of Preston, and Broughton (M55, Junction 1), which is to the north of Preston. The road was originally built with two lanes in each direction, but with space in the central reservation (median) for an extra lane to be added each way at a later date. Initially, the shoulders were hardened with gravel but not paved, a fact still reflected in the British term hard shoulder. A hedge was planted along the length of the central reservation to help eliminate dazzle from the headlights of oncoming traffic at night. An extra lane was added in each direction in 1966 without any need to modify any of the existing bridges.

See also

• List of motorways in the United Kingdom

References

External links

• "Preston By-pass" (PDF). 
• "Marking 50 years of UK motorways". 

Motorways in the United Kingdom
Great Britain	M1 M2 M3 M4 M5 M6 M6 Toll M8 M9 M11 M18 M20 M23 M25 M26 M27 M32 M40 M42 M45 M48 M49 M50 M53 M54 M55 M56 M57 M58 M60 M61 M62 M65 M66 M67 M69 M73 M74 M77 M80 M90 M180 M181 M271 M275 M602 M606 M621 M876 M898 A1(M) A3(M) A38(M) A48(M) A57(M) A58(M) A64(M) A66(M) A74(M) A167(M) A194(M) A308(M) A329(M) A404(M) A601(M) A627(M) A823(M)
Northern Ireland	M1 M2 M3 M5 M12 M22 A8(M)
Former	M10 M41 M63 A18(M) A40(M) A41(M) A102(M) A6144(M)
Unbuilt	M12 M15 M16 M31 M64
Proposed	M4 relief road
Related articles	Highways England Smart motorway
Category Commons