page_title: M1 motorway
section_title: First section, 1959
hierarchical_section_title: M1 motorway / History / First section, 1959
caption_attribution_description: English: M1 Motorway under construction. Northward from bridge of B579 near Chalton, during early stages of construction - all very exciting at the time, although this was a Sunday. Note Sundon Brickworks over to right; cf. my TL0325&#160;: M1 Motorway under construction.
context_page_description: The M1 motorway connects London to Leeds, where it joins the A1 near Aberford, to connect to Newcastle. It was the first inter-urban motorway to be completed in the UK; the first motorway in the country was the Preston By-pass, which later became part of the M6.
  The motorway is 193 miles long and was constructed in four phases. Most of the motorway was opened between 1959 and 1968. The southern end was extended in 1977 and the northern end was extended in 1999. It forms part of the unsigned European route E13.
context_section_description: The first section of the motorway, between Junction 5 (Watford) and Junction 18 (Crick/Rugby), opened on 1 November 1959, together with the motorway's two spurs, the M10 (from Junction 7 to south of St Albans originally connecting to the A1) and the M45 (from Junction 17 to the A45 and Coventry). Parts of the Hertfordshire section were built using steam rollers.
  The M1 was officially inaugurated from Slip End (close to Luton), celebrated by a large concrete slab on the bridge next to the village, with inscription "London-Yorkshire Motorway – This slab was sealed by the Rt Hon Harold Watkinson M.P. – Minister of Transport – Inauguration Day – 24th March 1958". It was relocated, during widening works in 2007–08, to the eastern side of junction 10.
  This section of the M1 broadly follows the route of the A5 north-west. It started at the Watford Bypass (A41), which runs south-east to meet the A1 at Apex corner, and ended on the A5 at Crick. The M10 spur motorway connected the M1 to the North Orbital Road (A405/A414, a precursor of the M25) where it also met the A5 (now renumbered here as the A5183) and, 2 miles (3.2 km) to the east via the A414, the A6, which subsequently became part of the M25.
  Although the whole of the first section opened in 1959, it was built in two parts, with the northern part (Junctions 10 to 18) being built by John Laing and the southern part (the St Albans Bypass) being built by Tarmac Construction.
caption: Looking north from B579 bridge at Chalton. Former cement works at Sundon to the right (May 1958)
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