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ROADS IN LANCASHIRE
Historic Overview and Maps
Click here for individual road information.
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LANCASHIRE
(pre-1974, excluding Barrow)
Lancashire's
motorway network is the most developed of anywhere in the United
Kingdom, with virtually all the major towns connected to the network.
The primary route network has also been subject to numerous
improvements.
The A580 Liverpool - East Lancashire Road (colloquially referred to as
the East Lancs Road) opened in 1934 and was the first inter-urban
all-purpose road constructed since the turnpike era in the county.
However, it did not perform to expectations owing to its single
carriageway nature and numerous at-grade crossings. New bypasses were
given new design standards, but the outbreak of the Second World War in
1939 halted all construction. After the end of the war, plans for roads
resurfaced and in 1949 the most influential document on Lancastrian
road history was released; the 1949 Road Plan for Lancashire. This
proposed various routes, which were as follows:
A map is avaliable here (Lancashire Historic Highways, opens in a new window).
Route 1: The North-South Motorway
Route 2: Route 1 (Carnforth) - Barrow and Lake District
Route 3: Liverpool - East Lancashire - (West) Yorkshire
Route 4: Manchester Outer Ring Road (Western Sector)
Route 5: Liverpool - Preston - Yorkshire
Route 6: Manchester - Route 1 (Preston)
Route 7: Liverpool - Widnes - Cheshire
Route 8: Route 5 (Whalley) - Burnley - Yorkshire
Route 9: Manchester - Bury - Accrington - Route 5 (Whalley)
Route 10: Manchester - Cheshire
Route 11: Manchester - (South) Yorkshire
Route 12: (West) Yorkshire - Lake District
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There is considerable interest to the 1949 Road Plan, as most of the
alignments are what eventually got constructed. However, there are some
clear differences between the 1949 plan and what is present today.
These are listed below in order of route number;
ROUTE 1:
There are virtually no differences from 1949 Road Plan and today, Route
1 forms what is now the M6. However, the original design specifications
were radically different to what is present today.
ROUTE 2:
Very little of this route was constructed, and what was opened was
arguably a part of Route 1 anyway. The notorious A601(M) at Carnforth
was intended to be the starting point of Route 2. However, by 1970 the
A591/A590 corridor (part of Route 12) had been developed for Lake
District traffic, and Route 2 was never completed.
ROUTE 3:
Route 3 is interesting. Originally envisaged as the main route to
Yorkshire from Liverpool, it would've encompassed a dual-carriageway
upgrade of the existing A580, before joining the Manchester Outer Ring
Road at Swinton and forming what is now the M62 to Yorkshire. In the
late 1960s it was decided that Route 3 needed to be a motorway
throughout and the M62 was extended from Manchester to Liverpool. This
explains why the M62 used to lose priority to the M63 before the
creation of the M60. It is worth noting that post-1949 the South
Lancashire Motorway was planned as M52 and would've incorporated the
now M602.
ROUTE 4:
Now the M60. Originally opened as M62 Stretford-Eccles Bypass, and
later became the M63. The northern half of Route 4 joined Route 3 at
Swinton, and the southern half linked to Route 10.
ROUTE 5:
This route was the original east-west link for Liverpool-Yorkshire
traffic and is better known as the A59. Not a great deal was
constructed to the original specification, although the opening of the
Longton Bypass in 1959 heralded the start of Route 5's improvement. The
next big improvement was the Clitheroe-Whalley Bypass, which opened in
1970. Other than these two large improvements, relatively little of
Route 5 was constructed, and as a result the current A59 varies in
quality throughout. The emergence of the M65 into plans from 1974
onwards put Route 5 on hold. Unfortunately, the M65 also does not reach
Yorkshire.
ROUTE 6:
Now the M61, although only the Manchester-Horwich section was originally planned to be a motorway.
ROUTE 7:
Constructed; now known as the A561/A562 and the Runcorn-Widnes Bridge before entering Cheshire.
ROUTE 8:
Very little of Route 8 was constructed, it is the A671 corridor to
Burnley, then the A646 corridor to Halifax. Only very small scale
improvements exist, primarily the connection to Route 5 at Whalley
which opened in 1970 as part of the Clitheroe-Whalley Bypass scheme.
ROUTE 9:
Now known as the M66 and A56. However, the connection to Route 5 never
materialised. The A56 stops at the M65, with a connection to the A671
opening later. The opening of the M65 rendered the need for the rest of
Route 9 redundant.
ROUTE 10:
There is little of Route 10 existant today,
indeed, all that exists of it is the infamous Carrington Spur (A6144
(originally A6144(M)). The plan was for this route to go to Cheshire
and form a direct link avoiding the need for the M60 (then M63)-M56
dogleg that exists today.
ROUTE 11:
This exists
in one small section, namely the M67. The rest was never constructed,
thus leaving the woefully inadequate A628/A616 Woodhead Pass as the
link to Sheffield from Manchester.
ROUTE 12:
Only some of this was constructed. Today this is part of the A65, but
very little improvements within Lancashire were carried out. The
section from Kirkby Lonsdale to the M6 is arguably the worst part of
the route. Once the A65 crosses the M6 it becomes the A590/A591 which
was purpose-built and forms the only constructed part of Route 12.
Several major routes in Lancashire exist that were not part of the 1949
plan. These include the M55, M57, M58, the South Lancs section of the
M62, and M65. These motorways were designed after the 1960s and were
arguably brought about by Lancashire's changing economic status which
necessitated the new transport corridors. The M58 only exists because
of Skelmersdale New Town, and the M65 was constructed as both a
proposed link to Yorkshire but as an economic booster for the Mill
Towns belt through the Calder Valley.
The M55 was built to relieve the pressure on the A583 and to take
holiday traffic away from the town centre of Preston, as was the M62,
although that was to relieve the A580 corridor.
Despite the numerous missing links, Lancashire does have the most
motorways and one of the best road networks anywhere in the UK. This is
owing to the 1949 plan which set out vital corridors and got them built
as soon as possible before the tide turned against mass motorway
building and made opening sections of motorway extremely difficult.
Without these corridors, Lancashire would be a very, very economically
weak place. |
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