02 Nov 09 11:20
M1 is 50 years old
The M1 celebrates its 50th anniversary today and a plaque to mark the occasion has been unveiled at the motorway's oldest service station.
Roads minister Chris Mole performed the ceremony at Watford Gap services in Northamptonshire half a century after the then transport minister Ernest Marples opened the first section of the M1.
The motorway was first opened between Watford and Rugby. It was a 62-mile three lane stretch which now makes up the section between junction five and junction 18.
The 193-mile road now runs from Brent Cross in north west London to Leeds in Yorkshire, although the original plan was to take the road right into the heart of London where it would end at Marble Arch.
A signpost marking the services in Daventry as the traditional boundary of the north-south divide has also been erected.
The M1 of 1959 had no crash barriers, lighting or speed limit, and was designed to carry between 13,000 and 20,000 vehicles a day but now it is used by more than 140,000 motorists every day.
