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90-633: [REDACTED] M1 near Elstree [REDACTED] M25 near Abbots Langley [REDACTED] [REDACTED] M40  / A34 near Bicester [REDACTED] [REDACTED] M42  / A4141 near Solihull [REDACTED] M5 in West Bromwich [REDACTED] M54 near Tong The A41 is a trunk road between London and Birkenhead , England. Now in parts replaced by motorways , it passes through or near Watford , Kings Langley , Hemel Hempstead , Aylesbury , Bicester , Solihull , Birmingham , West Bromwich , Wolverhampton , Newport , Whitchurch , Chester and Ellesmere Port . With

180-504: A "pinch point" disadvantaging local residents and businesses. National Highways converted the existing 23-mile (37 km) section of the M1 between Milton Keynes and Northampton (J13-J16) into an all-lane-running (ALR) smart motorway consisting of four lanes running in both directions without a hard shoulder, with the project's cost being £373   million. Construction began in January 2018, with

270-764: A 2.3 miles (3.7 km) spur of the A41 separates at the southern approach to the Queensway Tunnel , which passes under the River Mersey and enters Liverpool to meet the start of the A59 . The road then passes a junction with the A554 near Hamilton Square railway station , terminating at the bus station at Woodside . The end of the road has views over the Mersey to Liverpool and transport links to Mersey Ferry services. The original (1923) route

360-452: A grade-separated junction may be referred to as a grade separation or as an interchange – in contrast with an intersection , at-grade , a diamond crossing or a level crossing , which are not grade-separated. Roads with grade separation generally allow traffic to move freely, with fewer interruptions, and at higher overall speeds; this is why speed limits are typically higher for grade-separated roads. In addition, reducing

450-416: A highway) that they cross. However, grade-separated pedestrian crossings with steps introduce accessibility problems. Some crossings have lifts , but these can be time-consuming to use. Grade-separated roads that permit for higher speed limits can actually reduce safety due to 'weaving' (see below) as well as a perceived sense of safety. The term is most widely applied to describe a road junction in which

540-627: A little steeper. There are no hard shoulders but frequent lay-bys . It climbs through the Chiltern Hills then descends into the valley of the River Bulbourne crossing water meadows just outside Hemel Hempstead at Boxmoor . There are grade-separated junctions with the A414, A4251 (the earlier route of the A41) and A416. The route returns to open country north of here, passing west of Berkhamsted . It passes

630-699: A new link road between the M1 and the M69 . During this work the Leicester Forest East services would be closed, and possibly relocated. Consultation took place in 2007. As of May 2022 , work on this scheme has still not begun. Following the report of a public inquiry in March 2013, the Secretary of State for Transport announced on 18 July 2013 that work to update the Catthorpe Interchange at junction 19, between

720-414: A partial grade separation will accomplish more improvement than for a road), and because at-grade railway connections often take up significant space on their own. However, they require significant engineering effort, and are very expensive and time-consuming to construct. Grade-separated pedestrian and cycling routes often require modest space since they do not typically intersect with the facility (such as

810-602: A proposed Luton Northern Bypass to form a northern bypass for the wider conurbation. The A5-M1 Link aims to alleviate traffic congestion in Houghton Regis and Dunstable, reduce journey times for long-distance traffic travelling through Dunstable and improve the regional economy. The Highways Agency detrunked the A5 through Dunstable when the A5-M1 Link opened to the public in May 2017. As part of

900-667: A time when pubs closed at 11 p.m. The first section of the motorway, between junction 5 ( Watford ) and junction 18 ( Crick / Rugby ), opened on 2 November 1959, together with the motorway's two spurs, the M10 (from junction 7 to south of St Albans originally connecting to the A1) and the M45 (from junction 17 to the A45 and Coventry ). Parts of the Hertfordshire section were built using steam rollers . The M1

990-480: A vital transport link to another major area. In 2006, plans were published for the widening of 91 miles (146 km) from Leicester through to Leeds (junctions 21–42) to four lanes each way. Escalating costs across the whole of the Highways Agency programme, including the M1 project, on which costs had risen to £5.1 billion, as well as increasing opposition to major road expansion, as well as criticisms by

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1080-580: Is a bottleneck . It meets the A4157 at a junction as Tring Road , and the next roundabout is near Aylesbury Grammar School and a Tesco . It meets the A418 ring-road and becomes Exchange Street , then meets the A413 from Wendover at a roundabout and becomes Friarage Road , passing close to a Morrisons and the railway station . The A418 turns to the left and A41 continues straight ahead to become Gatehouse Road , then at

1170-716: Is a grade separated roundabout with the A4031. The grade separated roundabout opened over 20 years after the Expressway, relieving what had been a major bottleneck. At the next roundabout, the A41 follows a new route with the original route (Old Meeting Street) being designated as the A4196 . The new route opened in 1995 and is called the Black Country New Road, and crosses the West Midlands Metro tram line near Guns Village. There

1260-700: Is a junction with the B4484 (for the A454) near The Crescent tram stop . At Priestfield, it meets the B4162, and passes the City of Wolverhampton College Wellington Road Campus (Bilston) near Priestfield tram stop . From here, the West Midlands Metro runs down the centre of the road. There is a signalised junction with the A4126 (trams and buses use the nearside lane towards Wolverhampton) and

1350-639: Is a junction with the B5314. At the junction of the B4379, the road enters Telford and Wrekin . The 5-mile (8.0 km) £6m Newport bypass opened in early 1985. The former route went through Chetwynd Aston. The A41 meets the A518 for Telford at a roundabout, followed by another roundabout with the A518 for travelling east, and then a roundabout with the A519 and the B5062. The road rejoins

1440-667: Is a roundabout with the B4149 at Swan Village. From the roundabout with the A461 (for Dudley ) at Great Bridge, it overlaps the A461 (to Walsall ), crosses the Tame Valley Canal , meets the A4037 at a roundabout and goes under the West Midlands Metro near Wednesbury Parkway tram stop . The A461 heads off to junction 9 of the M6 and Walsall . The A41 follows the old route from the next roundabout and enters

1530-419: Is fully grade-separated, i.e. traffic on one road does not have to stop at yield lines or signals on one road, but may have to do so when switching to the other: On roadways with grade-separated interchanges, weaving is a result of placing an exit ramp a short distance after an entry ramp, causing conflicts between traffic attempting to leave the roadway at the next junction and traffic attempting to enter from

1620-708: Is known as a flying junction and one which is not a level junction . In 1897, the London and South Western Railway (LSWR) made use of a flying junction at Worting Junction south of Basingstoke to allow traffic on the Salisbury and Southampton routes to converge without conflicting movements; this became known as "Battledown Flyover". Also in Britain, the Southern Railway later made extensive use of flying junctions on other parts of its busy former LSWR main line. Today in Britain,

1710-469: Is now partially used as the entrance way to a retail park and was once carried by bridge, but no longer reaches the northbound carriageway, because it is cut off by the motorway continuing south. The final section of the M1 was opened to junction 1 at Staples Corner in 1977. There the motorway meets the North Circular Road (A406) at a grade separated junction and roundabout. Unrealised plans from

1800-653: Is the former wartime fighter base RAF Ternhill , now an army base known as Clive Barracks . The road crosses the River Tern , meets the A53 at a roundabout at Ternhill . After Bletchley Manor, there is 3 miles (4.8 km) of dual carriageway. The road passes through Prees Higher Heath near a former airfield (RAF Tilstock), and meets the A49 at a roundabout near Tilstock. The 3-mile (4.8 km) £13.7m Whitchurch Bypass opened in July 1992, where

1890-587: The A6 , which subsequently became part of the M25. A £1.5 million contract was given in May 1958 for the most southerly section, from Aldenham to Beechtrees (the M10 junction), for two lanes of reinforced concrete , to open in November 1959. There was immense flooding on this section in July 1958. Although the whole of the first section opened in 1959, it was built in two parts, with

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1980-699: The BUPA Parkway Hospital. At Lode Heath, there is crossroads with the B425 (for Solihull Hospital) where the road is the Seven Star Road . The A41 resumes the old route at another junction with the B425, becoming Warwick Road , which is the name of the route all the way into Birmingham. At Worlds End there is the Shell Solihull garage on the left. Next is Ulverley Green and it passes the BP Mereside garage on

2070-644: The Crooked Billet (now the "Akeman Inn") and Plough and Anchor (now an Italian restaurant) pubs. It enters Oxfordshire and the district of Cherwell , and at Blackthorn it crosses the River Ray and meets a low bridge which was originally a 14-foot (4.3 m) limit but due to bridge strikes, the road was lowered and the bridge now has a 15-foot (4.6 m) limit. Plans for an Aylesbury bypass exist and are well supported locally but no government decision has been made. The £5.7m 2-mile (3.2 km) first stage of

2160-716: The Finchley Road , the A41 is dual-carriageway through Swiss Cottage and Hendon Way and intersects with the North Circular Road near Brent Cross shopping centre. The road passes through Hendon and after the junction with the A5150 , (close to the Metropolitan Police 's police college and the RAF Museum ). The A41 overlaps the A1 at Five Ways Corner with the section known as Watford Way . It passes through Mill Hill , separating with

2250-514: The Great Central Railway , built between 1896 and 1899, was the first fully grade-separated railway of this type in the UK. This also applies to light rail and even to street cars . Attempts have been made to increase the capacity of railways by making tracks cross in a grade-separated manner, as opposed to the traditional use of flat crossings to change tracks. A grade-separated rail interchange

2340-529: The M18 splits from the M1 at junction 32 to head to Doncaster . Originally, the M1 was planned to end at Doncaster but it was decided to make what was going to be the " Leeds and Sheffield Spur" into the primary route, with the 11-mile (18 km) section to the A1(M) south of Doncaster given the separate motorway number M18. From junction 32, the motorway passes Sheffield, Rotherham , Barnsley and Wakefield , reaching

2430-599: The M25 at junction 20. The old route through Kings Langley is now classified A4251. It used to follow the route of the Roman road , Akeman Street , between Berkhamsted and Bicester. The London to Aylesbury section was a similar route to the Sparrows Herne Turnpike Road . North of the M25, the road is a near motorway standard "A" road with all junctions grade-separated via underpasses or flyovers, but curves and gradients

2520-776: The River Colne , to the east of Watford, crossing the A412 near Garston at "the Dome roundabout". After passing under the junction with the A405 , the A41 turns towards the west. At a roundabout, with the A411 to Watford to the south, and the M25 spur straight ahead to join the M25 westbound at junction 19, the A41 continues north through Hunton Bridge crossing the River Gade and the Grand Union Canal to meet

2610-691: The 1960s would have seen the motorway continue through the junction on an elevated roadway to end at West Hampstead , where it would have met the North Cross Route , the northern section of the London Motorway Box , a proposed ring of urban motorway around the central area. The layout of the Staples Corner junction was originally built in accordance with those plans, although most of the London Ringways Plan had been cancelled by 1973. Around

2700-475: The 2020 decade, alongside all other dynamic hard shoulder running schemes. This was because a Government review into smart motorways found dynamic hard shoulder running was too confusing for drivers, leading to plans to convert all dynamic hard shoulders into permanent running lanes. Work to widen the 15-mile (24 km) section from Nottingham to Mansfield (J25-J28) to four lanes each way began in October 2007 and

2790-501: The A1 again at junction 2 via a tightly curved flyover section. These flyovers connecting from the A1 were originally both for northbound traffic: the left one as the on-ramp to the M1, the right one going over the A1/A41 junction beneath to rejoin the A1 northbound. Junction 2 is about 2.5 miles (4 km) south of the original junction 3. Before the completion of junction 2, southbound traffic left

A41 road - Misplaced Pages Continue

2880-578: The A1 at Apex Corner roundabout After crossing the M1, near Elstree , it links the M1 at Junction 4, and then meets the A5 at a roundabout (where the A5 becomes the A5183 ). The A41 continues alongside the M1 into Hertfordshire . This section is known as Elton Way , as far as the roundabout with the B462. Running parallel to the M1, it intersects with junction 5 (Berrygrove Interchange). The road continues north, passing over

2970-422: The A4/M5 junction west of Bristol . Weaving can often cause side-on collisions on very fast roads with top speeds of up to 200 kilometres per hour, as well as the problem of blind spots. Where junctions have unusual designs weaving can be a problem other than on the main road. An example of this can be found at Junction 7 of the M6, where traffic joining the roundabout from the M6 Eastbound off-slip must weave with

3060-418: The A41 replaced part of the A51. The southern extension dates from after the Second World War using Watford Way which opened in about 1930 as the A5088. In the remaining years after 1935, it was renumbered A500. M1 motorway The M1 motorway connects London to Leeds , where it joins the A1(M) near Aberford , to connect to Newcastle . It was the first inter-urban motorway to be completed in

3150-406: The A4177 is an extension of an existing route. The road manifests from the junction which opened in November 1976 with the A4141 and M42 near Berry Hall Farm , and crosses the River Blythe and bypasses Solihull . The former route through Solihull is now the B4025 and B425, which passes Solihull School . The A41 has a staggered junction with the B4102 (for Solihull and Catherine-de-Barnes ) near

3240-418: The A4540 and B4126. The two main routes overlap around central Birmingham and meet The Middleway (A4540) inner ring road. The former route of the A41 through inner Birmingham is now the B4100 heading past the National Express Birmingham coach station , and passes near St Chad's RC Cathedral . The A41 previously resumed at Constitution Hill near Snow Hill train station but following downgrading of much of

3330-407: The B4146 and B4217 at a roundabout near a Sainsburys . It meets the A4040 ring road at a staggered junction and crosses the Birmingham - Stratford Line near Tyseley station and the Tyseley Locomotive Works . At Sparkhill , it crosses the River Cole and meets the B4145 at a roundabout near Golden Hillock School. At Sparkbrook , it meets the A34 Stratford Road and there is a crossroads with

3420-447: The Bicester bypass opened in November 1990, with the 2-mile (3.2 km) £3.9m second stage (part of the A421 section to Wendlebury) opened in May 1993, and has many roundabouts. Since 1993, the road now heads south-west where it officially becomes part of the M40 at junction 9, meeting with the A34 (which also overlaps the M40 to Birmingham – to draw traffic off the previous routes). The former route went through Warwick . From here to

3510-426: The Dunstable Town Centre Masterplan, Central Bedfordshire Council built the 2.9 km (1.8 miles) Woodside Link to connect the new junction 11a to the industrial areas of Dunstable and Houghton Regis. Most of the road opened to traffic in autumn 2016 with the remaining section connecting to junction 11a. There is a proposal to widen the M1 to dual four-lane or dual five-lane between junctions 21 and 21a and construct

3600-401: The Eastbound off-slip must leave. Weaving can be alleviated by using collector/distributor roads or braided ramps to separate entering and exiting traffic. In railway construction, grade separation also means the avoidance of level crossings by making any roads or footpaths crossing the line either pass under or over the railway on bridges . This greatly improves safety and is crucial to

3690-424: The Kingston roundabout in Milton Keynes. Exhibitions were held in June 2005 which rejected proposals to re-route the road in favour of widening the current road. In 2005, the project was given an estimated total cost of £33   million. Funding of £23.5   million was confirmed by the government for these works, as part of the South East Midlands Local Enterprise Partnership "Local Growth Deal". As part of

A41 road - Misplaced Pages Continue

3780-641: The M1 between junctions 3 and 14, and between junctions 16 and 24. In August 2011, the Highways Agency announced that, despite being converted to Smart Motorway status, the lights will be switched off on stretches of the motorway between junctions 10 (Luton) and 15 (Northampton) without affecting road user safety. The motorway junctions and their approaches, and a section of the M1 on either side of junction 11 (north Luton), would have lighting columns replaced and remain lit. All lighting columns from junctions 10 to 14 were removed completely, apart from some on slip roads. An increasing official interest in secondary safety

3870-405: The M1 broadly follows the route of the A5 north-west. It started at the Watford Bypass ( A41 ), which runs south-east to meet the A1 at Apex corner, and ended on the A5 at Crick. The M10 spur motorway connected the M1 to the North Orbital Road ( A405 / A414 , a precursor of the M25 ) where it also met the A5 (now renumbered here as the A5183 ) and, 2 miles (3.2 km) to the east via the A414,

3960-433: The M1 motorway, M6 motorway and A14 road , close to Catthorpe , would go ahead. Work on the £191   million three-layer interchange started in January 2014. The scheme was fully opened to traffic in December 2016. In conjunction with the M1 widening schemes and dualling of the A421 between M1 junction 13 and the A1 near St Neots, proposals were made to widen the A421 between the M1 junction 13 in Bedfordshire and

4050-411: The M1, and these are detailed below. Recent concerns about accidents and deaths on the former hard shoulder have led to a halt and review into extending all lane running which reported in July 2021. The A5-M1 Link (Dunstable Northern Bypass) is a two-lane dual carriageway running east from the A5 north of Dunstable joining the M1 at a new junction 11a south of Chalton. Here, it is intended to join with

4140-528: The M1, the M10 was downgraded to an A road , and designated as part of the A414 to allow for this. The work also included widening or replacement of 11 underbridges on one or both carriageways, and replacing seven overbridges at a total cost of £294 million. A variable mandatory speed limit system was installed, making this the first smart motorway scheme on the M1. Work to introduce dynamic hard shoulder running on approximately 15 miles (24 km) of motorway between Luton and Milton Keynes (J10-J13)

4230-526: The M42, the original route is now mainly designated as the B4100 (multiplexing at points with the current A361 and A422 through Banbury, plus the A452 and A425 approaching and through Warwick) followed by the A4177 and A4141, the latter two both excellent wide roads. At junction 5 of the M42, the A41 follows its old course. Further north, the road bypasses Solihull and goes through the city centres of Birmingham and Wolverhampton . This renumbering took place in 1991. The A4141 and B4100 are new designations, while

4320-434: The National Film Archive. Before Tring, near Wigginton , it crosses the Icknield Way Path and Chiltern Way . An arched footbridge spans the road just near the summit before it passes just east of Tring (for the Ridgeway footpath) and descends the Chiltern scarp into the Vale of Aylesbury . The Tring bypass was built in 1973 as the first section of the Watford-Aylesbury A41(M) motorway. On 6 July 1987, this section

4410-413: The Transport Select Committee and the National Audit Office , led to wide-ranging re-assessments of the Agency's project costs. Widening was scaled back to the junctions 6A to 10 scheme that was already in progress, and from Nottingham and Mansfield (junctions 25–28), and hard shoulder running was to be used for other sections. Many later developments, including smart motorway schemes, have been made to

4500-406: The UK; the first motorway in the country was the Preston Bypass , which later became part of the M6 . The motorway is 193 miles (311 km) long and was constructed in four phases. Most of the motorway was opened between 1959 and 1968. The southern end was extended in 1977 and the northern end was extended in 1999. There had been plans before the Second World War for a motorway network in

4590-414: The United Kingdom. Lord Montagu of Beaulieu formed a company to build a 'motorway-like road' from London to Birmingham in 1923, but 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 in the 1950s, the country's first motorways were given the government go-ahead. The first section of motorway

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4680-418: The borough of Sandwell . It meets the M5 at junction 1, where it also meets the A4252. In 2004, there were plans to re-route the road between Birmingham & West Bromwich along the current A457 via Smethwick & up to the M5 at Junction 1 along the current A4252. These plans were scrapped soon after. It bypasses West Bromwich on a dual-carriageway called the Expressway , which opened in 1973. There

4770-449: The borough of Walsall . At the junction with the A4444 (the final phase of the Black Country New Road) it crosses the Walsall Canal . There are junctions with the A4098 (where the road enters the borough of Wolverhampton) and B4163. The road goes straight through the middle of Bilston , where it meets the dual-carriageway A463 Black Country Route at a busy roundabout. Close by is the Bilston Central tram stop , near Morrisons . There

4860-515: The capacity of a road compared to an identical road with at-grade junctions. For instance, it is extremely uncommon to find an at-grade junction on a British motorway ; it is all but impossible on a U.S. Interstate Highway , though a few do exist. If traffic can traverse the junction from any direction without being forced to come to a halt, then the junction is described as fully grade separated or free-flowing . These junctions connect two freeways: These junctions connect two roads, but only one

4950-725: The complexity of traffic movements reduces the risk of accidents . Grade-separated road junctions are typically space-intensive, complicated, and costly, due to the need for large physical structures such as tunnels, ramps, and bridges. Their height can be obtrusive, and this, combined with the large traffic volumes that grade-separated roads attract, tend to make them unpopular to nearby landowners and residents. For these reasons, proposals for new grade-separated roads can receive significant public opposition. Rail-over-rail grade separations take up less space than road grade separations: because shoulders are not needed, there are generally fewer branches and side road connections to accommodate (because

5040-455: The construction of a series of new junctions, bridges and viaducts to the east of Leeds. When the new section of M1 was completed and opened on 4 February 1999, the Leeds South Eastern Motorway section of the M1 was re-designated as the M621, and the junctions were given new numbers: M621 junctions 4 to 7. The M1 was extended south towards London from its original starting point at junction 5, in three stages. The first stage, opened in 1966, took

5130-571: The direct flow of traffic on one or more of the roads is not disrupted. Instead of a direct connection, traffic must use on and off ramps ( United States , Australia , New Zealand ) or slip roads ( United Kingdom , Ireland ) to access the other roads at the junction. The road which carries on through the junction can also be referred to as grade separated . Typically, large freeways , highways , motorways , or dual carriageways are chosen to be grade separated, through their entire length or for part of it. Grade separation drastically increases

5220-444: The dual carriageway section was extended to the 3-mile (4.8 km) £25m Aston Clinton Bypass, which was originally intended to be built at the same time as the two sections further south. It enters Buckinghamshire and the district of Aylesbury Vale . It crosses the Grand Union Canal , and there is a junction with the B489 , and finishes at a roundabout, becoming Aston Clinton Road . The road goes straight through Aylesbury, which

5310-401: The faster speed requires grade separation. Therefore, many high speed lines are elevated, especially in Taiwan and Japan , where population density alongside high speed lines is higher than in France, Italy or Germany. In the United States, a flying junction on the Nickel Plate Road through Cleveland , Ohio , United States was completed in 1913. The most frequent use was later found on

5400-440: The former Pennsylvania Railroad main lines. The lines are included as part of the Northeast Corridor and Keystone Corridor now owned by Amtrak . The most complex of these junctions, near Philadelphia Zoo , handles railway traffic for Amtrak, SEPTA , New Jersey Transit , Norfolk Southern , CSX Transportation , and Conrail . In what is known as "area 1520" , which includes the former Soviet Union and other regions using

5490-549: The former Inner Ring Road, resumes in Hockley where it meets the northern section of the A4540. (The section from the A4540 to city centre is another part of the B4100). There is a staggered junction with the A4040 as the road passes through Handsworth (at this point known as Soho Road) which is a particular bottleneck with narrow lanes, on-street parking, bad drivers and several close-set junctions, often very badly congested. Just before The Hawthorns football stadium, home of West Bromwich Albion F.C. , it leaves Birmingham and enters

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5580-434: The golf course at Wrottesley Hall . Next is a junction with the A464 (for Shifnal ), and the road enters Shropshire . It crosses the Wolverhampton to Shrewsbury Line on the Albrighton bypass. The road passes close by the RAF Museum at Cosford . After junction 3 of the M54 motorway , the road passes through Tong . The road meets the A5 at a roundabout, which is on the border with Staffordshire . At Weston Heath, there

5670-462: The government's pinch point reduction programme, work commenced in 2014 on the A421 in Milton Keynes to improve the Kingston roundabout, and dual the section from it to (near) the Bedfordshire border, with the construction of two new roundabouts on the route. The road corridor includes a separate cycleway . The upgrade work for this final phase of the plan, the section running from junction 13 to Eagle Farm roundabout, started in September 2018 and

5760-415: The motorway south-east, parallel to the A41 , to meet the A5 at junction 4 south of Elstree . The second phase continued east to Scratchwood ( London Gateway Services , which occupies the location of the missing junction 3, from where an unbuilt spur would have connected to the A1 at Stirling Corner to the north-east). The M1 then runs south alongside the Midland Main Line towards Hendon , where it meets

5850-405: The motorway via a slip road which passed around the back of the now disused Homebase and under the A41/A1 Mill Hill Bypass, and looped round to join it at Fiveways Interchange. This slip road is still visible to southbound traffic approximately 650 yards (590 m) before junction 2, and was maintained until the early 2000s, even though not accessible to traffic. The northbound slip road from the A1

5940-440: The next roundabout, it leaves to left as Bicester Road near the Applegreen Aylesbury Service Station . After four roundabouts, it crosses the River Thame . It then meets a roundabout with access for the new Berryfields development as well as Aylesbury Vale Parkway before passing under a railway line , then through Waddesdon , then passes close to Westcott near the former airfield of RAF Westcott . At Kingswood , it passes

6030-448: The northern part (junctions 10 to 18) being built by John Laing and the southern part (the St Albans Bypass) being built by Tarmac Construction . The continuation of the motorway from junction 18 towards Yorkshire was carried out as a series of extensions between 1965 and 1968. Diverging from the A5, the motorway takes a more northerly route through the East Midlands , via Leicester , Loughborough , Nottingham to Sheffield , where

6120-422: The old route and passes Chetwynd Park . The £1.5m Hinstock Bypass opened in late 1983. The day before the bypass opened for traffic, a Hinstock local named David Williams flew his Saab 91D Safir airplane under the Pixley Lane bridge in an unsanctioned stunt. The road then passes through Standford, Standford Bridge and over the River Meese. It passes High Heath, Shakeford, Crickmery which is near Wistanswick. Nearby

6210-407: The opening of the M40 extension in 1990 from junction 8, much of the route was downgraded. The sections between Bicester and the M42 near Solihull in the Midlands have been re-classified B4100, A4177 and A4141 . The route begins at Marble Arch from its junction on the A40 road in London with Portman Street/Gloucester Place (northbound) and Baker Street /Orchard Street (southbound). Named

6300-402: The original end of the motorway at (the original) Junction 44 to the east of Leeds. There were plans to route the M1 from just south of junction 42, where it interchanges with the M62 , round the west of Leeds to the A1 at Dishforth . The chosen route passes to the east of Leeds. With the M62 and M621 , the M1 forms a ring of motorways around the south of Leeds. In 1972, an extension of the M1

6390-439: The previous junction. This situation is most prevalent either where the junction designer has placed the on-slip to the road before the off-slip at a junction (for example, the cloverleaf interchange ), or in urban areas with many close-spaced junctions. The ring road of Coventry , England , is a notorious example, as are parts of the southern M25, the London orbital motorway , the M6/M5 junction north-west of Birmingham , and

6480-562: The right and passes under the Chiltern Main Line (for Leamington ) near Olton station , Olton Library and Olton Reservoir . At the junction with the B4514, there is a Tesco petrol station and the road enters the city of Birmingham . The B4514 leads onto Olton Boulevard and can be used to bypass Acocks Green, although there is one section to be completed near Sparkhill. It passes Archbishop Ilsley Catholic School at Acocks Green , then meets

6570-499: The road meets the A49 . The final stretch of the road leaves Shropshire and heads north through Cheshire on a modern alignment bypassing the villages of Tushingham cum Grindley and No Mans Heath before reaching a nineteenth century bypass of the stagecoach road through Broxton . The road crosses the A534 at Broxton Roundabout before passing Beeston , Bolesworth and Peckforton Castles. The road bypasses Chester, before running through

6660-818: The road passes under the Wolverhampton loop of the West Coast Main Line at Monmore Green , and crosses the Birmingham Canal . It overlaps the A4150 Wolverhampton Ring Road, then passes West Park Hospital and crosses the Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal . It passes through Tettenhall , past Tettenhall College. After leaving the borough of Wolverhampton, it crosses the River Penk , then runs into Staffordshire passing Perton , Codsall and

6750-540: The safe operation of high-speed lines. The construction of new level crossings is generally not permitted, especially for high speed railway lines and level crossings are increasingly less common due to the increase of both road and rail traffic. Efforts to remove level crossings are done in the UK by Network Rail and in Melbourne as part of the Level Crossing Removal Project . The London Extension of

6840-721: The same gauge, the most complicated grade-separation railpoint is found at Liubotyn in Ukraine . Footbridges and subways (called underpasses in North America as well as in the United Kingdom when referring to roads) may be employed to allow pedestrians and cyclists to cross busy or fast streets. They are often used over and under motorways since at grade pedestrian crossings are generally not permitted. Same can be said for railways. Though introduced to Central Park in New York City in

6930-445: The same time, the section between the then-M10 and junction 5 was widened from the original two lanes to three. On its completion, the M1 acted as a fast link road between London and Birmingham via the M6. It also provided a link to London Luton Airport for those regions, and its proximity to the site of the new town of Milton Keynes (designated in 1967) meant that it was soon providing

7020-637: The scheme opening in stages until 9 March 2023, when the project was fully complete. The speed limit between M1 junctions 33 to 34, near Rotherham, has been reduced to 60 mph, to reduce levels of nitrogen dioxide . The plans were to be implemented before October 2020, and as of August 2023 the speed limit reduction is still in place. Download coordinates as: [REDACTED] [REDACTED] M25 to M40  / M4  / M3  – Heathrow Airport [REDACTED] Geographic data related to M1 motorway at OpenStreetMap Download coordinates as: Grade separation In North America,

7110-600: The suburbs of Ellesmere Port (where the road was downgraded for safety reasons in the early 1990s). It heads to junction 5 of the M53 motorway and the Merseyside county boundary at Hooton . From this junction it is named New Chester Road, passing through Eastham and Bromborough . At Port Sunlight the A41 diverts onto a dual-carriageway section bypassing New Ferry and Rock Ferry before rejoining New Chester Road at Tranmere Oil Terminal . After passing Green Lane railway station ,

7200-400: The tightly grouped nest of flying junctions to the north of Clapham Junction railway station —although technically a combination of many junctions—handle more than 4,000 trains per day (about one train every 15 seconds). Virtually all major railway lines no longer cross (forming an 'X' shape ) at flat level (although many diverge - i.e. 'Y' shape). On almost all high-speed railway lines,

7290-537: The traffic already on the roundabout wishing to use the M6 Westbound on-slip. This is as a result of the slip roads on the west side of the junction connecting to the roundabout on the inside of the eastern arc rather than the outside of the western arc as is normal. The two slip-roads are connected by a single lane on the inside of the roundabout, which traffic wishing to use the Westbound on-slip must join, and traffic from

7380-601: Was Stanmore north-west of London to Oakengates , west of Wolverhampton , in Shropshire , meeting the A5 at both ends. The A41 was extended by numbering as follows: The northern extension dates from 1935; in Shropshire, it swapped with a combination of the A464/A529; from Kingswood Common to Nantwich , Cheshire and the original A529 ran from Hinstock to Chester . North of Chester,

7470-631: Was completed in December 2012, at a total cost of £327 million. This made the hard shoulder available to be opened as a traffic lane where additional capacity was necessary. Modifications were made to junctions 11 and 12, to allow for four lanes running through each junction, and the A421 from junction 13 to the Bedford southern bypass was also upgraded to two lanes each way during this period. The scheme will likely be converted to all lane running at some point in

7560-463: Was completed in December 2020. Work began on the 10-mile (16 km) section between the M25 and Luton (J6A-J10) in 2006 and opened in 2009, which included the construction of new parallel collector-distributor lanes between junctions 7 and 8. The M10 spur was built as a motorway because it inevitably led to the M1, but as non-motorway traffic could now travel between the A414 at Hemel Hempstead and Park Street Roundabout without having to access

7650-428: Was completed in May 2010, at a cost of £340 million. A 50 mph limit, enforced by average speed cameras , was imposed for the period of construction, but it proved to be so effective that a permanent variable mandatory speed limit system was installed. In 2023, following a previous debate on the issue, local MPs Mark Fletcher and Lee Anderson called on the government to upgrade junction 28, describing it as

7740-554: Was downgraded to A41. The Tring bypass ends with the junction with the B4635, B4009 (the former route through Aston Clinton) and B488 . The A41 from junction 20 of the M25 to the Tring bypass was built in the early 1990s and opened in two sections: the 7 miles (11 km) £23.9   million Berkhamsted bypass opened September 1993 and the 5 miles (8.0 km) £32.7   million Kings Langley bypass opened August 1993. On 3 October 2003,

7830-516: Was evident in an announcement in March 1973 that work would begin shortly on erecting "tensioned safety barriers" along the central reservation of a 34-mile (55 km) section of the M1 between Kegworth (J24) and Barlborough (J30). Between 1996 and 1999, the M1 section north of the M62 underwent a major reconstruction and extension to take the M1 on a new route to the A1(M) at Aberford . The new road involved

7920-457: Was officially inaugurated from Slip End (close to Luton), celebrated by a large concrete slab on the bridge next to the village, with inscription "London-Yorkshire Motorway – This slab was sealed by the Harold Watkinson M.P. – Minister of Transport – Inauguration Day – 24th March 1958". It was relocated, during widening works in 2007–08, to the eastern side of junction 10. This section of

8010-578: Was opened into central Leeds as the Leeds South Eastern Motorway, where it met the Leeds South Western Motorway (M621) coming north-east from the M62 at junction 3. In July 1972, the then UK Minister for Transport Industries, John Peyton , announced that 86 miles (138 km) of UK motorway particularly prone to fog would benefit from lighting in a project that "should be" completed by 1973. Sections to be illuminated included

8100-695: Was the Preston Bypass in Lancashire , now part of the M6 motorway , which opened in 1958. The M1 was Britain's first full-length motorway and opened in 1959. The early M1 had no speed limits , crash barriers , or lighting, and had soft shoulders rather than hard. As there was then little traffic, London musicians such as the Rolling Stones were known to speed up to take advantage of the Watford Gap Motorway Services Area , open 24 hours at

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