First Milestone to Motorways
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Prime Minister Opens Preston By-pass Today : To be Linked with Motor Road from Birmingham
pRESTON by-pass, which Mr. Harold Macmillan, the Prime Minister, opens today, marks the beginning of motorways in Britain. This eight-mile link will become part of Lancashire's north-south highway and will . ultimately form a section of the Birmingham-Shap trunk road.
Another similar highway—the 11-mile, long Lancaster by-pass—is due to be completed in about 12 months' time, and, like Preston's, will cost about £4m. A 13-mile connecting road between Preston and Lancaster by-passes and a 97-mile motorway to link the Birmingham area with the Preston by-pass are also planned, although not yet authorized.
Ultimately, the Preston arc will be continued over the present A6 road and will provide a motorway to carry the heavy holiday traffic direct.to Blackpool. There is also a project in existence for a motorway leaving the Preston by-pass and striking up the Lune valley, emerging on the A6 road north of Shap village.
From this point it-will be easy to link up with the Penrith by-pass, which is to be built in the future. This, in turn, will give access to the excellent highway to Carlisle.
In building Preston by-pass, gradients have been reduced, as far as possible. This has involved making cuttings more than 60 ft. deep and building embankments up to 56 ft. high. The by-pass starts from the Ab road, just south of Bamber Bridge, and curves for over • eight miles east of Preston, rejoining A6 at Broughton, north of the town.
More than 20 bridges have been built over existing public roads, footpaths and rivers. The biggest bridge spans the Ribble and the A59 trunk road from Blackburn, and has one span of 180 ft. and two of 118 ft. 6 in. each. There is also a six-span 474-ft. viaduct over the Preston-Belmont road and the River Darwen.
The new highway is 112 ft. wide, with two-lane dual carriageways separated by a 32-ft. grass strip, which provides scope for extending the carriageways to three lanes each.
As The Commercial Motor has reported, special arrangements have been made for the use of the by-pass by abnormal indivisible loads. The Chief Constable of Lancashire will be allowed to authorize loads up to 12 ft. wide to use the road at any time.
No load more than, 12 ft. wide will be permitted during December, February or alternate months afterwards. During January, March and alternate months afterwards, loads will be authorized according to their widths and other considerations.
ln building the road within 21 years, Tarmac, Ltd., the main contractors, have called upon plant valued at about £3m. The project has provided a good deal of work for road transport, for more than 300,000 tons of filling material, 40 miles of fence and some 50 miles of drainage pipes have had to be brought to the site.
For many years Preston has been a black spot for the through traffic which has to cross the town on its way from the south and Midlands to Scotland, and from the south Lancashire direction to Blackpool, Morecambe and the Lake District.
The problem was apparent more than 20 years ago, when representatives of Lancashire urged upon Whitehall the need for a through road that would cross the country from the south to the north, but it was not until May, 1953, that the Ministry of Transport was able to begin to make a scheme under the Special Roads Act. 1949.