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50 years of M6
MOTORWAY travel is now taken for granted but it began in this country only 50 years ago – and this area led the way.
An exhibition marking the 50th anniversary of the first stretch of British motorway – the Preston bypass – opens at Lancaster City Museum tomorrow, Saturday.
M6:50 highlights the impact which the motorway building programme has had both locally and nationally, tracing how motorway life has evolved.
The exhibition will show just how much motorways have changed in 50 years.
For example, when it first opened there was no speed limit on the Preston bypass and some drivers saw this as an opportunity to put their car to the test!
And because of the anticipated fast vehicle speeds and the need to make advance signing clear, the road signs were, at the time, the biggest in Europe.
The building of this first stretch of motorway was a major undertaking.
It required 75,000 lorries to deliver the materials to the construction site – without the help of a handy motorway.
Preston bypass was a guinea pig for all future motorway contracts. Lessons learned there were used in future contracts throughout the country.
Eight and a quarter miles long, the bypass ran from Bamber Bridge to Broughton.
Now the M6 is 236 miles long and runs from Rugby to Guards Mill at the Scottish border.
Construction of the 11.5 mile Lancaster bypass began on July 5, 1957.
It was expected to be completed by November 1959 but, as with the Preston bypass, bad weather delayed excavation and the contractor was granted an extra five months to complete the work.
Lancaster bypass went around the city centre on its eastern side starting from the A6 at Hampson Green in the south. It ended just over the Elpha Bridge across the River Keer rejoining the A6 at Keer Level in the north.
It was never intended to include a junction on Lancaster bypass but there was some concern that the emergency services based in Lancaster would have serious difficulty gaining access to the bypass so a junction was built at the A683 Lancaster/Kirby Lonsdale Road (now junction 34).
Because this junction wasn't initially intended for public use the design standards were lower than those of a normal junction.
However, after local requests were made for this facility to be opened for general use, the public were allowed on. The result was a unique sub-standard junction on a British motorway.
The main obstacle along the line of Lancaster bypass was the River Lune, so a 400 feet long bridge was required. Its design was approved by the Royal Fine Arts Commission.
Lancaster bypass was officially opened on April 11, 1960 by Charles Hill, the chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.Just over two years later, work began on the 13.5 mile stretch of motorway that would join Preston and Lancaster bypasses together, this is now the M6 junction 32 to junction 33.
It was the longest length of motorway between junctions in Britain at that time.
This section of the M6 and the futuristic Forton service area, which attracted many visitors opened on January 29, 1965.
Much more information on how the M6 was designed and built is included in the M6:50 exhibition along with other features including archive film, exhibits and motorway models. There's also opportunities to listen to the memories of those who helped build the motorway. During the course of the exhibition, which runs until August 29, there will be a number of special events.
Super Saturdays on May 2 and June 5 will have a travel and transport theme and on July 27 there will be a talk on how motorways are built.
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Weather for Lancaster
Saturday 04 February 2012
Today
Light snow
Temperature: 1 C to 3 C
Wind Speed: 22 mph
Wind direction: South east
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Cloudy
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