First Motorway to be Started in March
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ASTART is to be made next March on the first full-length motorway ever to be built in this country—a direct link between London and Yorkshire. Within the next few weeks, the Ministry of Transport will invite tenders for the construction of the first 53 miles of the project, from a point just south of Luton to Dunchurch, near Rugby.
Contractors will be asked to submit alternative tenders for completion by either October, 1959, or October, 1960. At the same time, Hertfordshire County Council will invite tenders for building the St. Albans by-pass, which will link the southern end of the motorway with improved approaches to London. This 16-mile road is to be constructed to motorway standards.
The motorway for traffic between London and Birmingham will be the first new national highway on this scale to be built on virgin soil in the present century. It will fly over or under existing roads and at a few places, where important highways are crossed, slip roads will connect the motorway to the existing roads.
Transport drivers using the motorway will find service areas at intervals of about 12 miles. Within these areas will be lorry-parking spaces, petrol stations, cafés, telephones and toilet accommodation.
Vehicles will not be allowed to wait anywhere else, although if drivers have to stop in an emergency, they Will be able to run their vehicles on to the verges of the road.
Work on the St. Albans by-pass is expected to start. and finish about the same time as work on the first section of the motorway. There will be seven junctions on the by-pass, four of which will be fly-overs.