Seventy years ago this month, work started on Preston Bypass - which would become the first motorway in the country, the M6.
Engineered by Lancashire County Council, the experimental 8.25-mile road was designed to relieve congestion on the A6 through Preston. On June 12, 1956, Hugh Molson, the MP from the Ministry of Transport, triggered temporary traffic lights and commanded a bulldozer to clear the first section of hedge beside the A59 at Samlesbury.
The construction faced severe delays due to relentless rainfall in the winter of 1956–1957, turning the work sites into mudbaths and pushing the opening back to December 1958.
The Ministry of Transport initially only agreed to fund two lanes in each direction rather than three. But Lancashire's County Surveyor, Sir James Drake, had designed the bridges and layout for a three-lane profile to accommodate future widening, cementing the blueprint for future UK motorways.
Today, 70 years later, at 232 miles long, the M6 is the longest motorway in the United Kingdom. It serves as a major north-south backbone through England
1. Preston bypass
Foundation work on the new Preston bypass around1957. The twin chimneys of Courtaulds red scar works can be seen in the background. It was decided that the carriageway construction should consist of a sub-base of burnt red shale, varying in thickness from 12 to 36 inches depending on ground conditions, followed by a nine inch thick layer of wet mix and a surface of two inch thick tarmacadam base course with a inch thick temporary wearing course of fine cold asphalt. The form of construction of the hard shoulders was to be little more than that of a hardened verge Photo: Preston Digital Archive
2. Preston bypass
Commencement of construction Preston Bypass. At the Inauguration ceremony Mr. Fred Hackett drove his bulldozer and ceremoniously demolished a hedge to indicate the start of the construction. The first section of the motorway, and the first motorway in the country, the Preston by-pass, was built by Tarmac Construction and opened by the then Prime Minister Harold Macmillan on 5 December 1958. Picture courtesy of Preston Digital Archive Photo: Preston Digital Archive
3. Preston bypass
Aerial view of the excavations taking place on the north escarpment. The factory in the background is the Courtauld's Red Scar works. The first section of the motorway, and the first motorway in the country, the Preston by-pass, was built by Tarmac Construction and opened by the then Prime Minister Harold Macmillan on 5 December 1958. Picture courtesy of Preston Digital Archive Photo: Archive
4. Preston bypass
Early stage excavation on the new Preston Bypass. View looking south from the base of Red Scar towards the Samlesbury interchange. Photo courtesy of David Eaves Photo: David Eaves