Editing M1 motorway (section)

==History==
There had been plans before the [[Second World War]] for a motorway network in the United Kingdom. [[John Douglas-Scott-Montagu, 2nd Baron Montagu of Beaulieu|Lord Montagu of Beaulieu]] formed a company to build a 'motorway-like road' from London to Birmingham in 1923,<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ndZVcax375EC&pg=PA65|title=The motorway achievement volume 1|page=57|year=2004|isbn=978-0-7277-3196-8|author1=Bridle, Ron|author2=Baldwin, Peter|author3=Baldwin, Robert|publisher=Thomas Telford }}</ref> 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 was the Preston Bypass in [[Lancashire]], now part of the [[M6 motorway]], which opened in 1958.<ref name="Highways Agency"/> The M1 was Britain's first full-length motorway and opened in 1959.{{cn|date=September 2024}} The early M1 had no [[speed limits]], [[crash barrier]]s, or lighting, and had [[soft shoulder]]s 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 services|Watford Gap Motorway Services Area]], open 24 hours at a time when pubs closed at 11 p.m.<ref>{{cite news |last=Topham |first=Gwyn |date=3 November 2023 |title=Watford Gap: M1 services that hosted Stones and Beatles faces demolition |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/nov/03/watford-gap-motorway-services-stones-beatles-jimi-hendrix-ev |access-date=3 November 2023 |issn=0261-3077}}</ref>

===First section, 1959===
[[File:Toddington - M1 Motorway under construction 1725951 0d6f8279.jpg|thumb|left|Looking north from B579 bridge at [[Chalton, Bedfordshire|Chalton]]. Former cement works at [[Sundon]] to the right (May 1958)]]
The first section of the motorway, between junction 5 ([[Watford]]) and junction 18 ([[Crick, Northamptonshire|Crick]]/[[Rugby, Warwickshire|Rugby]]), opened on 2 November 1959, together with the motorway's two spurs, the [[M10 motorway (Great Britain)|M10]] (from junction 7 to south of [[St Albans]] originally connecting to the A1) and the [[M45 motorway|M45]] (from junction 17 to the [[A45 road|A45]] and [[Coventry]]). Parts of the [[Hertfordshire]] section were built using [[steam roller]]s.<ref>{{cite web
 |title       = Tri-tandem roller 45655 of 1930
 |url         = http://www.therobeytrust.co.uk/Stocklist%20tri-tandem%20roller.htm
 |publisher   = The Robey Trust
 |url-status     = dead
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20110722134904/http://www.therobeytrust.co.uk/Stocklist%20tri-tandem%20roller.htm
 |archive-date = 22 July 2011
}}</ref>

The M1 was officially inaugurated from [[Slip End]] (close to Luton), celebrated by a large concrete slab on the bridge next to the village,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.slipend.co.uk/Info/Local%20History/images/The%20Slab.jpg|title=The Slab|access-date=20 January 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120207112302/http://www.slipend.co.uk/Info/Local%20History/images/The%20Slab.jpg|archive-date=7 February 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref> with inscription "London-Yorkshire Motorway – This slab was sealed by the [[Harold Watkinson, 1st Viscount Watkinson|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.

[[File:Chalton - M1 Motorway under construction.txt 1725911 0aaeb0d3.jpg|thumb|left|Looking north from a similar position south of Toddington services (July 1959)]]
This section of the M1 broadly follows the route of the [[A5 road (Great Britain)|A5]] north-west. It started at the Watford Bypass ([[A41 road|A41]]), which runs south-east to meet the [[A1 road (Great Britain)|A1]] at Apex corner, and ended on the A5 at Crick. The M10 spur motorway connected the M1 to the North Orbital Road ([[A405 road|A405]]/[[A414 road|A414]], a precursor of the [[M25 motorway|M25]]) where it also met the A5 (now renumbered here as the [[A5183 road|A5183]]) and, {{convert|2|mi|km}} to the east via the A414, the [[A6 road (England)|A6]], which subsequently became part of the M25.

A £1.5&nbsp;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.<ref>''Luton News and Bedfordshire Chronicle'' Thursday 22 May 1958, page 3</ref> There was immense flooding on this section in July 1958.<ref>''Luton News and Bedfordshire Chronicle'' Thursday 3 July 1958, page 1</ref>

Although the whole of the first section opened in 1959, it was built in two parts, with the northern part (junctions 10 to 18) being built by [[John Laing plc|John Laing]]<ref name="archive"/> and the southern part (the St Albans Bypass) being built by [[Tarmac Limited|Tarmac Construction]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.iht.org/motorway/m1eastamat.htm |work=Motorway archive |title=list of material held by Northamptonshire CC |access-date=20 January 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080126112253/http://www.iht.org/motorway/m1eastamat.htm |archive-date=26 January 2008 }}</ref>

The headquarters of the Laing project was on Wolverton Road in Newport Pagnell.<ref>''Wolverton Express'' Friday 20 November 1959, page 1</ref> The motorway was opened by Ernest Marples at the [[Pepperstock]] Junction (junction 10), previously a motorway spur, now the A1081.<ref>''Coventry Evening Telegraph'' Monday 2 November 1959, page 1</ref> The two motorway projects, the St Albans Bypass and the Pepperstock-Crick section met at Luton.

On the opening of the M1, the first person to reach the Birmingham end of the new section of motorway was anaesthesist Eric Plumpton (Dr Frederic Salkeld Plumpton, 1933-2016) in his [[Triumph TR2]], travelling 23 miles from [[Upper Heyford, Northamptonshire]] in 14 minutes (98.5 mph average speed) at about 10.10am.<ref>[https://rcoa.ac.uk/obituary-dr-frederic-salkeld-plumpton Eric Plumpton, first driver to reach the M1 north end]</ref><ref>''Coventry Evening Telegraph'' Monday 2 November 1959, page 1</ref> The northern end of the M1 and M45 opened at 9.56am.<ref>''Rugby Advertiser'' Tuesday 3 November 1959, page 3</ref>

===Rugby to Leeds, 1965 to 1968===
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 the [[M18 motorway (Great Britain)|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 {{convert|11|mi|adj=on}} section to the [[A1(M) motorway|A1(M)]] south of Doncaster given the separate motorway number M18.

From junction 32, the motorway passes Sheffield, [[Rotherham]], [[Barnsley]] and [[Wakefield]], reaching 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 motorway|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 motorway|M621]], the M1 forms a ring of motorways around the south of Leeds.

===Leeds South Eastern Urban Motorway, 1972===
[[File:M1 and M621.jpg|thumb|left|The M1 and [[M621 motorway|M621]] interchange on the northbound carriageways at [[Leeds]]]]
In 1972, an extension of the M1 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.

===Lighting===
In July 1972, the then UK Minister for Transport Industries, [[John Peyton, Baron Peyton of Yeovil|John Peyton]], announced that {{convert|86|mi|0}} of UK motorway particularly prone to fog would benefit from lighting in a project that "should be" completed by 1973.<ref name=Autocar197207>{{cite journal |title = News: Motorway lighting| journal = [[Autocar (magazine)|Autocar]] | volume =  137 nbr 3978| page = 19| date = 13 July 1972}}</ref> Sections to be illuminated included the M1 between junctions 3 and 14, and between junctions 16 and 24.<ref name=Autocar197207/>  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.<ref name="HA press release, lighting M1 J10-13">{{cite web|url=http://nds.coi.gov.uk/content/detail.aspx?NewsAreaId=2&ReleaseID=420762&SubjectId=2 |title=HA press release M1 J10-13 lighting |publisher=Nds.coi.gov.uk |access-date=31 December 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120119014428/http://nds.coi.gov.uk/content/detail.aspx?NewsAreaId=2&ReleaseID=420762&SubjectId=2 |archive-date=19 January 2012 }}</ref>

===Safety barriers===
An increasing official interest in secondary safety was evident in an announcement in March 1973 that work would begin shortly on erecting "tensioned safety barriers" along the central reservation of a {{convert|34|mi|km|adj=on}} section of the M1 between [[Kegworth]] (J24) and [[Barlborough]] (J30).<ref name=Motor197303>{{cite journal |title = Motorweek: More M1 barriers| journal =[[The Motor|Motor]]| volume = nbr 3677| page = 40| date = 31 March 1973}}</ref>

===Leeds to Hook Moor, 1999===
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 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,<ref>{{cite web|url = http://assets.highways.gov.uk/our-road-network/pope/major-schemes/A1-Bramham-Wetherby/A1%20Bramham%20to%20Wetherby%20POPE%20OYA%20-%20website%20version.pdf|title = A1(M) Bramham to Wetherby – One Year After Study|access-date = 4 November 2015|publisher = Highways Agency|page = 8|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304100915/http://assets.highways.gov.uk/our-road-network/pope/major-schemes/A1-Bramham-Wetherby/A1%20Bramham%20to%20Wetherby%20POPE%20OYA%20-%20website%20version.pdf|archivedate=4 March 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref> 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.

===London extensions, 1966, 1967 and 1977===
{{unreferenced section|date=October 2017}}
[[File:M1 construction.png|upright=0.9|thumb|right|Map showing construction dates of sections of the M1]]
[[File:M1 Motorway, Junction 4 - geograph.org.uk - 85978.jpg|right|thumb|M1 at junction 4. The old overhead lane control gantries are still visible, which were replaced with newer, verge-mounted MS4 [[Variable-message sign|variable message signs]] in 2008.]]
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 the motorway south-east, parallel to the [[A41 road|A41]], to meet the A5 at junction 4 south of [[Elstree]]. The second phase continued east to [[Scratchwood]] ([[London Gateway Service Area|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 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 {{convert|2.5|mi|km|0}} south of the original junction 3. Before the completion of junction 2, southbound traffic left 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 {{convert|650|yd|m}} before junction 2, and was maintained until the early 2000s, even though not accessible to traffic. The northbound slip road from the A1 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 [[A406 road|North Circular Road]] (A406) at a [[grade separation|grade separated]] junction and roundabout. Unrealised plans from 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 Ringways#Ringway 1|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 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 a vital transport link to another major area.

===Recent developments===
In 2006, plans were published for the widening of {{convert|91|mi|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&nbsp;billion, as well as increasing opposition to major road expansion,<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/nottinghamshire/6098408.stm|title=Protesters unfurl anti-M1 banners|work=BBC News | date=30 October 2006 | access-date=12 May 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://theecologist.org/2007/jul/31/campaigners-outraged-escalating-costs-road-widening|title=Campaigners outraged at escalating costs of road widening|website=The Ecologist|date=31 July 2007 }}</ref> as well as criticisms by the Transport Select Committee and the [[National Audit Office (United Kingdom)|National Audit Office]], led to wide-ranging re-assessments of the Agency's project costs.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,2073611,00.html|title=M1 widening to cost £21m per mile|work=[[The Observer]]|date=6 May 2007|access-date=28 January 2008 | location=London | first=Juliette | last=Jowit}}</ref> 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 [[Smart motorway|hard shoulder running]] was to be used for other sections.

Many later developments, including smart motorway schemes, have been made to 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.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/smart-motorway-evidence-stocktake-and-action-plan | title=Smart motorway evidence stocktake and action plan }}</ref>{{Failed verification|date=April 2024}}