There used to be signs on all slip roads telling us what vehicles were allowed and what vehicles were not. I remember mechanised lawn mowers, but what were the others?

Weren't motor bikes below a certain cc capacity?

I remember they sent men over to the US to see how there throughways were built but insted of sending the hands on engineers and workers they send a bunch of white collar executives over, (nice holiday for them).

Needless to say the first attempt to the m1 was a disaster.

If your interested in motorway history have a look at this.

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

Thanks for the link, Martss. Very interesting and enlightening. I’d forgotten all about pedestrians and horse-drawn vehicles!

Weren't motor bikes below a certain cc capacity?

Wasn't it motor cycles under 50 cc.

I remember they sent men over to the US to see how there throughways were built but insted of sending the hands on engineers and workers they send a bunch of white collar executives over, (nice holiday for them).

Needless to say the first attempt to the m1 was a disaster.


Hi,

The first section of the M1, from near Watford ( it wasn't extended south to the North Cirular Road until later) up to Leicester opended in 1960. Yes they did go and look at the Interstate Highways, Turnpikes, etc. in America which were built to take heavy truck traffic.

Once they came back and worked out the cost of building the M1 to roughly the same standard, somebody in the government choked, most likely the Treasury Department. Therefore, the road was designed, not for what was required but rather for how much the Treasury was prepared to pay. All kinds of rational was used to explain this. Things like: British trucks are lighter than American and therefore the axle loads won't be so severe, and so on. Nobody seemed to have asked if larger/heavier trucks were likely in the very near future. TIR trucks, with heavier loadings were already coming over in droves and a lot more came after Britian joined the EEC/EU. UK trucks were also getting much heavier at the time.

As we all know, that part of the M1 lasted 3-4 years before it started to break up and by 1965, work was well underway to rebuild the whole length to a higher stadard. This was one of the earlier examples of a project being designed by accountants rather than engineers. Unfortunately, bean-counters seem to do most of the design work these days.

If its any consolation, the governments over here can be just as stupid and in some cases, worse.

Regards

If you go to North Wales on the A55, there are large green signs at the start of the restricted sections (as you approach Llandudno Junction and the Conwy Tunnel) which have the detailed wording of which vehicles are not permitted (and also in Welsh), which is the same as for motorways.

If you go to North Wales on the A55, there are large green signs at the start of the restricted sections (as you approach Llandudno Junction and the Conwy Tunnel) which have the detailed wording of which vehicles are not permitted (and also in Welsh), which is the same as for motorways.

Not much use to foreign drivers then? Okay if they can read English, but who on earth — apart from the Welsh — could possibly understand, or want to understand, Welsh!

Why can’t we have the same in Yorkshire, I wonder? Signs like “Heyyup mate, thar’t just cummin up tert’turn-off fer Sheffild. Get thissen intert neerside lane an thar’t reight. It’ll tek thi darn ter Medderhall and tha just follers t’signs from theer intert city senter.”

It’s just as good as Welsh, if not better. If the Taffys want to confuse us, why can’t we confuse them!

Not much use to foreign drivers then? Okay if they can read English, but who on earth — apart from the Welsh — could possibly understand, or want to understand, Welsh!

Why can’t we have the same in Yorkshire, I wonder? Signs like “Heyyup mate, thar’t just cummin up tert’turn-off fer Sheffild. Get thissen intert neerside lane an thar’t reight. It’ll tek thi darn ter Medderhall and tha just follers t’signs from theer intert city senter.”

It’s just as good as Welsh, if not better. If the Taffys want to confuse us, why can’t we confuse them!

Sounds fun. However the boring answer is that Welsh is a language, whereas Yorkshire is a dialect. In any case, signs are in Welsh and English! :)

Sounds fun. However the boring answer is that Welsh is a language, whereas Yorkshire is a dialect. In any case, signs are in Welsh and English! :)

I know. I picked up the Welsh for Fire Station while I was down there. My dialect was, as you rightly say, just a bit of fun. In any case, the Highways Agency would need to install larger signs to get all my diatribe in!

I remember people parking their cars on the hard shoulder getting out and giving the new Motorway a good looking over and some getting out the picknic table....The Police had a hard time telling these drivers that you don't do that sort of thing on Motorways