M6 motorway

2008/9 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Geography of Great Britain; Road transport

M6 Motorway
Road of the United Kingdom
Length	226.7 miles (364.8 km)
Direction	South - North
Start	Catthorpe
Primary destinations	Rugby Coventry Nuneaton Birmingham Walsall Wolverhampton Stafford Stoke-on-Trent Warrington Manchester Liverpool Preston Lancaster Kendal Penrith
End	Carlisle
Construction dates	1958 - 1972
Motorways joined	M1 motorway 2 - M69 motorway 3A - M6 Toll 4/4A - M42 motorway 6 - A38(M) motorway 8 - M5 motorway 10A - M54 motorway 11A - M6 Toll 20 - M56 motorway 21A - M62 motorway 26 - M58 motorway 29 - M65 motorway 30 - M61 motorway 32 - M55 motorway 35 - A601(M) motorway
Euroroute(s)	E 05 E 24

This article concerns the M6 motorway in England. There are also M6 motorways in Russia (see Caspian Highway), Hungary (see M6 motorway (Hungary)) and the Republic of Ireland (see N6 road).

The M6 motorway is the longest motorway in the United Kingdom. It runs from a junction with the M1 near Rugby in central England, passes between Coventry and Nuneaton, through Birmingham and near the major cities of Wolverhampton, Stoke-on-Trent, Manchester, Liverpool and Preston, with a major junction onto the M56 and M62 at Warrington, and runs to the north of Carlisle, close to the Scottish border.

In addition to being the longest motorway in Britain, it runs through the heart of Cumbria and the Lake District

It is often claimed to be the busiest motorway in the country, although the M25 may also lay claim to this dubious distinction, depending on the measurement used. It is also sometimes referred to as the "Backbone of Britain" as it forms part of the central road corridor between Glasgow and London, connecting Scotland and the industrial North of England to the financial and governmental heart of the country in the South East.

From the M1 to the M6 Toll split near Birmingham, the M6 is part of the unsigned E-road E24. E5 joins the M6 Toll from the M42 and then uses the M6 to its north end at Carlisle, where it continues along the M74.

History and curiosities

The M6 in Cheshire, 1969

The first section of the motorway, and indeed 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 December 5, 1958. In subsequent years the motorway was extended piecemeal in both directions and is now 230 miles (370 km) long.

Junction 6 in Birmingham is widely known as Spaghetti Junction because of its complexity..

On the elevated ground between Shap and Tebay, the north and south-bound carriages split apart. Uniquely, at this point a local road (to Scout Green) runs between the two carriageways without a direct link to the motorway.

The section of the M6 which runs over Shap Fell in Cumbria is 1050 ft (320 m) above sea level, one of the highest points on any motorway in the UK (junction 22 of the M62 on Saddleworth Moor is higher). The motorway builders here chose to follow route of the Lancaster and Carlisle Railway engineered by Joseph Locke (now part of the West Coast Main Line).

The northbound entry slip road at Lancaster (J34) is unusually short, presenting problems for traffic joining the motorway. The M6 crosses the River Lune at this point and unless the bridge had been made wider, there was no space to build a longer slip road. This junction was upgraded from an earlier emergency-vehicles-only access point, which explains the substandard design.

The route was intended to replace the old A6, but a much closer approximation to the actual route of the M6 is provided by following the route: A45, A34, A50, A49, A6.

M6 Toll

The M6 Toll, Britain's first toll motorway, was partially opened (to local traffic only) on December 9, 2003 and fully opened a few days later. It bypasses the West Midlands conurbation to the east and north of Birmingham and Walsall, and was built to alleviate congestion through the West Midlands. Prior to the opening of the toll motorway, this section of the M6 carried 180,000 vehicles per day at its busiest point near to Wolverhampton (between the junctions with the M54 and M5 motorways), compared to a design capacity of only 72,000 vehicles. The daytime price for a car to travel the full length of the M6 Toll increased from £3 to £3.50 on 14 June 2005 and again to £4 on 1 January 2007. It was increased further to £4.50 on 1 January 2008.

An alternative way of by-passing the congested West Midlands area (northbound) is to continue north on the M1 then take the A50 or A52.

Current developments

M6 Carlisle to Guards Mill Extension

In March 2006, after a 15 years saga, the government finally gave the green light to upgrade 6 miles of (the so-called "Cumberland Gap") from its northern terminus at Guard's Mill near Carlisle to the Anglo-Scottish border at Gretna where it will link into the existing A74(M). Cconstruction work should be complete by December 2008. The new road which will be a mixture of new road and online upgrade of the existing A74, traverses the West Coast Main Line with an estimated costs of £174m. Once completed will provide an uninterrupted motorway between between Glasgow to London and also as far south as Exeter.

It is unclear if the numbering proposal (to change it from M74/A74(M) to M6 will go ahead) even though road signage on its southern stretches was equipped with removable "A74(M)" plates which reveal "M6" beneath it. The Scottish Government has not clarified its intentions.

Proposed developments

Increasing capacity between J11a and J19

The government wishes to improve reliability and capacity between Junctions 11 by Cannock) and Junction 19 near Knutsford. In 2004 it favoured a new motorway, 'The Expressway' following a roughly parallel course to the existing M6.In July 2006 the government announced its decision to abandon the Expressway proposal and favoured widening accompanied by demand management measures and have launched a study to consider options for providing additional capacity. The first phase of the widening could be completed by 2014, with the remaining sections following until full completion in 2017.

Hard Shoulder Running (Junction 4-5 and 8 to 10a)

In October 2007, following a successful trial on the M42 in the West Midlands, the UK government have announced that two stretches of the M6 will be upgraded to allow the hard shoulder to be used as a normal running lane during busy conditions. The two stretches, between junctions 4 and 5 and between junctions 10a and 8, are two of the busiest sections on the entire motorway. The system could also be extended onto other stretches of the M6 as the government is going to undertake a feasibility study to determine other likely locations where this technology can be implemented.

M6 Motorway in culture

The M6 motorway was featured in the lyrics of Wings' 1973 single " Helen Wheels": "M6 south down Liverpool, where they play the west coast sound". The song was subsequently included in the 1973 album release of Band on the Run.

Additionally, reference to the motorway appeared in the 1975 song " Moonlighting" by Leo Sayer via the lyric "Meanwhile the Carlisle turnoff of the M6 motorway, drinking cold black coffee, eating hot cup cakes".

A reference to the M6 motorway is also made in the song "Family" from the 1989 New Model Army album Thunder & Consolation: "M6 southbound road side cafe on a wild wet windy night."

Junctions

Legislation

The M6 near Carnforth, 2005

Each motorway in England requires that a legal document called a Statutory Instrument be published, detailing the route of the road, before it can be built. The dates given on these Statutory Instruments relate to when the document was published, and not when the road was built. Provided below is an incomplete list of the Statutory Instruments relating to the route of the M6.

• Statutory Instrument 1987 No. 252: County Council of West Midlands (M6 Motorway Junction 10) (Connecting Road) Scheme 1985 Confirmation Instrument 1987 S.I. 1987/252
• Statutory Instrument 1987 No. 2254: M6 Motorway (Catthorpe Interchange) Connecting Roads Scheme 1987 S.I. 1987/2254
• Statutory Instrument 1990 No. 2659: M6 Motorway: Widening between Junctions 20 and 21A ( Thelwall Viaduct) and Connecting Roads Scheme 1990 S.I. 1990/2659
• Statutory Instrument 1991 No. 1873: M6 Motorway (Widening and Improvements Between Junctions 30 and 32) and Connecting Roads Scheme 1991 S.I. 1991/1873
• Statutory Instrument 1993 No. 1370: Lancashire County Council (Proposed Connecting Roads to M6 Motorway at Haighton) Special Roads Scheme 1992 Confirmation Instrument 1993 S.I. 1993/1370
• Statutory Instrument 1997 No. 1292: M6 Birmingham to Carlisle Motorway (At Haighton) Connecting Roads Scheme 1997 S.I. 1997/1292
• Statutory Instrument 1997 No. 1293: M6 Birmingham To Carlisle Motorway (at Haighton) Special Roads Scheme 1997 Transfer Order 1997 S.I. 1997/1293
• Statutory Instrument 1998 No. 125: The M6 Motorway (Saredon and Packington Diversions) Scheme 1998 S.I. 1998/125