Road names

[Sarah2412]

Hi,

Can anyone tell me who decides how motorways get their number and if there's a particular order to it.

For instance, why is the M1 so called, was it the first motorway?

Thanks.

[vehelpfulguy]

I am no expert, but many motorways have similar numbers to the old "A" roads they run nearby.

For example, the main "A" road that goes North from London is the A1. When they built the motorway that ran almost alongside it then that became the M1.

The main "A" road that runs West out of London to Oxford is the A40. When they built the motorway that ran to West to Oxford that became the M40.

I assume many other motorways got their number that way.

[vehelpfulguy]

In fact the first motorway was the Preston bypass, but the M1 was the first extensive stretch of motorway.

You can read all about motorways here:

http://www.cbrd.co.uk/motorway/

That is a real "anoraks" web site.

Here is the home page of that web site (Chris's British Road Directory):

http://www.cbrd.co.uk/

[Buenchico]

This is best explained if, initially, we ignore motorways altogether.

The Ministry of Transport (as it was then called) numbered six key roads radiating out from London, reading clockwise, as A1, A2, A3, A4, A5 and A6. (A similar system was used in Scotland, with the A7, A8 and A9 radiating out clockwise from Edinburgh).

All A roads on the clockwise side of the A1were numbered with '1' as the first digit. The most important roads were given two digit numbers and followed the clockwise numbering system. e.g. the A10, A11, A12, and A13 are all to the clockwise side of the A1 and appear in a clockwise order. Then further subdivision occurred, with more minor roads on the clockwise side of the A10 being labelled as A100, A101, A102 etc. Lastly a final subdivision was used, with roads on the clockwise side of the A100 being labelled A1001, A1002, A1003, etc. B roads (and, indeed C roads, which appear on local authority plans) are numbered to fit in with the same system.

Obviously, the plan is imperfect because not all roads radiate out from London but it provides a basic numbering structure which is still used to this day.

When motorways were introduced, they were numbered to (roughly) fit in with the existing system. So the M1 is reasonably close to the A1, the M2 is fairly close to the A2, etc.

Chris

[Josie83]

M1 wasn't the 1st motorway. I know that much, as mentioned previously, it way the Preston bypass.

Try Wikipedia