Editing M11 motorway (section)

===Construction===
The motorway was opened in stages. The stretch between junctions 7 and 8 opened in 1975, and that between junctions 4 and 7 in 1977.{{#tag:ref|Constructed to the south of the not-yet built M25 interchange by [[Kier Group|W. & C. French Engineering]], and to its north by Dowsett Engineering Construction Ltd of [[Harrogate]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.iht.org/motorway/m11loncam.htm |title=The Motorway Archive |access-date=7 September 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081226141031/http://www.iht.org/motorway/m11loncam.htm |archive-date=26 December 2008 }}</ref>|group= n}} The stretch from junctions 8 to 9 opened in 1979; that between junctions 9 and 14 in 1980; and the full length becoming fully operational in February 1980.{{cn|date=September 2024}}

Budgets were tight during the 1970s when the road was built, so the [[Pavement (material)|road surface]] was of unsurfaced [[concrete]] between junction 14 and a point approximately {{convert|2|mi|km}} to the south of junction 7. South of this stretch, where the road runs on soft ground close to the [[River Roding]], concrete was considered unsuitable owing to the looseness of the [[subsoil]] and the consequent risk of random cracking, so the surface here was of [[Asphalt concrete|tarmac]] from the start.