M1(NI) Happy 50th Birthday!

JupiterKid

I'm a bit surprised that no-one has put this thread up up yet - but the very first stretch of motorway to open on the island of Ireland, the M1 between Belfast and Lisburn, opened to traffic on 10 July 1962, just over 50 years ago.

It was a major milestone in Irish roads.:) My Dad travelled on it on his motorbike the day after it opened as a 20 year old. It would be another 21 years before the Republic saw its first motorway and indeed Northern Ireland had motorway before Scotland and Wales.

Happy 50th M1!:cool:






All images taken from SABRE/Wesley JohnstonNI Roads Service.

Alun

That's a Hillman Minx if I'm not mistaken (or possibly some other Rootes Group variant from Singer or Sunbeam.)

road_high

Wasn't a whole lot built in the line of motorways really since was there? There's a few (including this one) leading out from Belfast, that's about it.

Irish and Proud

mfitzy wrote: »

Wasn't a whole lot built in the line of motorways really since was there? There's a few (including this one) leading out from Belfast, that's about it.

AFAIK, the then highly impressive NI motorway programme was stalled when the troubles started - IMO, it was also a convenient excuse for the British Government to slash road funding there, in light of the prospect of Britain's road programme being overtaken by the NI motorway system (but that's just my opinion and is entirely another story) - Wesley Johnston's road site has plenty on Northern Ireland's ambitions - have a look at this page on Belfast's m'way ambitions of the 1960's - Belfast would easily be up there with Glasgow if the plans came to fruitition!

Regards!

darkman2

Irish and Proud wrote: »

Belfast would easily be up there with Glasgow if the plans came to fruitition!

Regards!

lol! Glasgow is a kip and that is partly due to the motorways gutting the city centre. Glasgow is poorer for having a pointless motorway run through it.

pontia

i had a **** earlier

JupiterKid

pontia wrote: »

i had a **** earlier

And? Good for you! A bit off topic aren't we?:rolleyes:

As a small child who often ventured up North with my family to visit relatives in the early 1980s (I was born in Belfast and my family are from the North) I was enthralled and astounded at the roads system in the North and how so much better it was than the goat tracks we had here at the time in the Republic.

Yes, it was a shame that the NI motorway programme was aborted once Westminster took over from Stormont in the 1970s thanks to the Troubles because it was a very, very ambitious programme but at least the M1 was finished to its intended planned length in 1968.

I always found it strange how the M1 swung west to Dungannon instead of going south to Newry but of course the powers that were in Stormont at the time had no intention of cross border road improvements or indeed any big schemes in Nationalist areas.

The M2 motorway had a D5 section just north of Belfast open as early as 1973. The roads in NI were light years ahead of the rest of Ireland at the time.

Irish and Proud

darkman2 wrote: »

lol! Glasgow is a kip and that is partly due to the motorways gutting the city centre. Glasgow is poorer for having a pointless motorway run through it.

Now, I don't have time to dig up any info ATM, but Glasgow has been a city that fascinated me since I was 11 (1984) when I was taken there. It has to be appreciated that from the point of view of a child, the M8 in Glasgow was something out of the future when compared to what we had in Ireland then - not even a trace of the M50 - the M1 from Santry to the Airport was only being built while the Naas Bypass wasn't even a year in operation. I'd love to drive the M8 in Scotland sometime - it doesn't look like disappearing anytime soon.

About the M8 itself - I disagree that it was pointless. After the WW2, Glasgow like other great cities of the industrial revolution was in decline and AFAIK Glasgow looked set to die unless something was done. The city was slum ridden and was no longer attracting enough people or business. I actually saw some photos of Glasgow before the M8 and to say the least, it was depressing IMO with endless streets of concrete and practically no sign of nature - the M8 changed all that. Although parts of the M8 are invasive with large concrete flyovers, other parts actually brought in lovely greenery with it - especially around Charring Cross. Now don't get me wrong, the M8 is ridden with planning blunders such as the inner city section, but to do nothing would have been the biggest blunder of all IMO.

Some argue that the M8 gave Glasgow the life support that it needed (much improved access), even if the economic benefits were slow to kick in. It is also argued that the M8 allowed for the removal of much traffic from city centre streets as well as the pedestrianization of Sauchiehall Street and Buchanan Street. The authorities even removed a short section of the old London Road at St. Enoch once the alternative was provided (M8 etc). In effect, a place for cars was made so that cars could be put in their place - well that's my take on it.

Regards!

JupiterKid

The Westlink in Belfast - well, the "depressed" trench section anyway - is a bit like a mini M8 Glasgow. Westlink actually led the general improvements in the area of Belfast that it cut through, which were filled with redbrick terrace slums.

Back to the M1, can anyone envisage the Northern Ireland M1 joining up with the Republic of Ireland M1 at any stage in the future, now that the road between Dublin and Belfast is fully dualled and mostly grade separated D2?

Some plans for the NI M1 are to provide a fully freeflow junction at Sprucefield and to widen the section between J7 Sprucefield and J3 Blacks Road to D3M over the next few years. The M1 has held up pretty well for a 50 year old!:)

Richard

JupiterKid wrote: »

I always found it strange how the M1 swung west to Dungannon instead of going south to Newry but of course the powers that were in Stormont at the time had no intention of cross border road improvements or indeed any big schemes in Nationalist areas.

I think there is some truth to that, although there were plans for motorways to Newry and Derry that never came to fruition.

http://www.wesleyjohnston.com/roads/historymotorwayplans.html

Sponge Bob

JupiterKid wrote: »

Some plans for the NI M1 are to provide a fully freeflow junction at Sprucefield and to widen the section between J7 Sprucefield and J3 Blacks Road to D3M over the next few years. The M1 has held up pretty well for a 50 year old!:)

That would be around 8 miles long and no more than sections of the N/W/SW/S Motorway approaches to Dublin that section is at or above 50k vehicles a day and is therefore congested for a 2 Lane Motorway.