30 October 1959 : Fears the soon to be opened M1 will scar the countryside are unjustified, says a correspondent

The London-Birmingham motorway – the M1 – which opens on Monday will offer qualified motorists a non-stop journey of 72 miles. Press cars yesterday covered more than 50 miles of the new road in less than an hour.

The opening of the M1 motorway - archive, 2 November 1959 Read more

Yesterday’s convoy of press cars was organised by the Ministry of Transport in conjunction with the contractors and led by two of the special motorway police patrol cars. It was not so much an exercise in fast driving as an opportunity to inspect and to ask questions about the greatest road project so far undertaken in Britain.

We formed up at the Park Street end of the St Albans by-pass where it joins the A5, ran on to the motorway proper at Beech Tree Junction, and stayed on it for 50 miles before branching left on to the Dunchurch by-pass.

Finishing touches

Here and there workmen were putting finishing touches to road signs or to small patches of the road, their lorries forming an obstruction and causing a slackening of speed; and occasionally a contractor’s vehicle came towards us on our own carriageway, but the run was mostly unobstructed.

Click to view.

The black ribbon of the road goes through cuttings and over streams, over and under other roads, across railways and canals. At one point the road runs parallel with Watling Street, the Grand Union Canal, and the main London Midland Region railway line to the North. One saw translated into reality the visions that have inspired road-builders everywhere from the time of the Romans.

The statistics of motorway’s usefulness can only be estimated at this stage, and the estimates are impressive. The Ministry believes that next year an average of 14,000 vehicles a day will use the road, much of the traffic coming from the London-Holyhead road, the Weedon-Birmingham road, and (though to a lesser extent) from the London-Birmingham road.

It is also estimated that casualties will be reduced by about five hundred, and that 2.7 million hours of driving will be saved. A recent study by the Road Research Laboratory and Birmingham University calculates that the benefits from its use will repay the original cost in six to eight years.

Free telephones

Commenting on the safety aspects of motorways, a police patrol officer emphasised the need for lane discipline, and the habitual use of driving mirrors. Given this, he thought safety would be greatly assisted. The principal anxiety is the danger from the stopped vehicle. Only an emergency halt is permitted, and the motorist must pull on to the hard shoulder at the side if possible. There are telephone boxes at about every mile on the verge of each carriageway. Since telephones are on both sides, there will be no need for motorists to cross the road. The telephones are free and linked to the nearest police station where help can be organised in the event of breakdown or accident.

From the archive, 3 November 1959: Buses break a speed barrier Read more

Telephones for normal use will be at the two service areas on the motorway, although to begin with only certain minimum essential services will be available there. These include fuelling points, lavatories, and parking space. Later there will be catering facilities and provision for emergency repairs.

Fears that the motorway would scar a beautiful countryside have proved, I think, unjustified. A great stretch of little-known country has been opened up, and in parts improved by the road’s long graceful curves, and its slender bridges.