The M1 motorway is the name of three separate motorways in England, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
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The M1 is a major north-south motorway in England connecting London to Yorkshire, where it joins the A1(M) near Wetherby.
The motorway was one of the first to be built in the United Kingdom. It is around 200 miles (300 km) long and was constructed in stages between the 1950s and 1970s, with a further extension in the late 1990s.
The M1 was first designed and constructed as a London to Birmingham route broadly following the route of the A5, starting south of St Albans and ending at Coventry. Subsequently the road was diverted at the southern end to Watford and then in two stages to London. The stub to St Albans becoming the M10. At the northern end, with changing traffic patterns, the road was extended northwards to Leeds and the stub remaining here became the M45. The first motorway service area in the UK was built at Watford Gap.
It now broadly follows an arc to the west of the route taken by the older A1; though less direct, this route takes it closer to the major population centres of the East Midlands. It passes close to Milton Keynes, Northampton, Leicester, Derby, Nottingham, Mansfield, Sheffield and Leeds. It also connects with the M6 and M45 motorways near Rugby, the M18 near Rotherham, the M25 near Potter's Bar, the M69 at Leicester, and the M62 and M621 near Leeds.
Junction 3 on the M1 was originally intended as a turn-off for Scratchwood, but is now only used for the Scratchwood service station.
There is also an M1 motorway in Northern Ireland. It runs from Belfast to Dungannon, bypassing Lisburn, Lurgan, Craigavon and Portadown on the way. The main road for Dublin diverges at Junction 7, just south of Lisburn.
The M1 is straight and flat from on the 6 mile stretch between Junctions 9 and 10, amd tje 4 mile stretch between Junctions 12 and 13, and there has been speculation that these were to be used as supplementary runways by the United States Air Force in the event of a major conflict with the Soviet Union.
The M1 motorway in the Republic of Ireland is part of the route from Dublin to Belfast. As of 2004, it runs from south of the M50 ring road in Dublin, to just south of Dundalk town. The motorway was built in several stages as short bypasses connected together, upgrading the N1 route. There is a toll on the motorway south of Drogheda to fund the construction of the motorway. Work is to begin in 2004 on a bypass of Dundalk, extending the motorway to just south of the Border. Outline planning is underway to implement a cross-border stretch of motorway to Newry in County Down. The Northern Ireland authorities have no plans to upgrade the remainder of the route (designated "A1" in the North) from Newry to the M1 (Northern Ireland). Currently, to drive from Dublin to Belfast, one journeys along the M1, N1, A1 and M1 (Northern Ireland).