England’s first motorway celebrates 60th birthday with ITS upgrade

Sixty years today, 2,300 drivers drove along an eight-mile section of road in England – the first motorway in the country. Opened in 1958, the Preston bypass – now part of the M6 - only had two lanes in each direction, with no safety barrier in the central reservation. There was also no technology – not even simple electronic signs. Highways England is pledging to celebrate the birthday by completing four upgrades on the M6 by spring 2022. The £900m project will add extra lanes and better technolog
December 5, 2018 Read time: 2 mins
Sixty years today, 2,300 drivers drove along an eight-mile section of road in England – the first motorway in the country.


Opened in 1958, the Preston bypass – now part of the M6 - only had two lanes in each direction, with no safety barrier in the central reservation.

There was also no technology – not even simple electronic signs.

8101 Highways England is pledging to celebrate the birthday by completing four upgrades on the M6 by spring 2022. The £900m project will add extra lanes and better technology to 60 miles of the motorway between Coventry and Wigan, the organisation says.

The first upgrade, a 20-mile stretch between Crewe and Knutsford in Cheshire, is due to be finished by spring 2019, and will have 258 electronic signs, 104 traffic sensors and 70 CCTV cameras.

The upgrades will involve converting the hard shoulder to a permanent extra lane to increase capacity by a third.

“Our motorways have changed massively over the past six decades and smart motorways could be just a glimpse of the technology transformation still to come,” says Andrew Jinks, smart motorway director at Highways England. “In 60 years’ time, driverless vehicles could be as commonplace as a car radio.”

The amount of traffic using England’s motorways has increased by almost two-thirds in the past 25 years alone, including more than double the number of vans, Highways England says.

Air Quality & Weather Systems

Related Content

  • April 8, 2014
    UK defaults to hard shoulder running to expand motorway capacity
    Hard shoulder running has become the UK’s default response to increasing motorway capacity as Colin Sowman reports. Facing a predicted 46% increase in traffic levels by 2040 and the current economic recovery leading to more people travelling to, from and for work leaves the UK government under short- and long-term pressure to increase the capacity on the main motorway network. Particular sections of motorways are already experiencing repeated, sometimes tidal, congestion and both tight Treasury limits and t
    Read More
  • February 25, 2016
    Technology targets Red-X transgressors
    Currently deployed technology is being used to detect motorists ignoring the ‘red-X’ signs that indicate the lane is closed, as Colin Sowman hears. With an increasing network of ‘Smart Motorways’ - all-lane running or the opening of hard shoulders during times of congestion - Highways England (HE) has identified a growing problem with ‘red-X’ compliance. The ‘red-X’ sign signifies a closed lane or lanes and used to provide a safer area for stranded motorists, emergency workers or road maintenance crews and
    Read More
  • March 3, 2020
    How safe are smart motorways?
    A valiant attempt to ease the UK’s congested strategic road system? Or an idea that should never have seen the light of day? Alan Dron reports on the controversy over smart motorways...
    Read More
  • July 4, 2017
    Drivers are avoiding hard shoulders converted to running lanes
    Two fifths (38 per cent) of UK drivers say they will not drive in lane one of a smart motorway where the hard shoulder has been permanently converted into a running lane, according to a survey of more than 18,000 drivers conducted by the AA.
    Read More

Highlighted Content