The history of British motorways and lessons for the future

Abstract

Britain's first motorways opened just over 50 years ago, heralding a new form of efficient high-speed surface transport. They have since grown to a national network of 3500 km which now carries 37% of the UK's overland freight traffic. However, motorway development has all but ground to a halt over the past two decades and there are no plans to build any more. This paper reports on the history of the motorway-building programme in the UK and the lessons learnt by the civil engineering profession. It concludes that a new and more positive policy for national road transport is needed.