As the schools break up in England this week, our motorways will be busier than ever.
Here’s three odd insights to the world of British motorways:
- Before the 70 mph limit on motorways was introduced, two drivers testing their AC Cobra for Le Mans in 1964 drove at a record speed of 185 mph on the M1.
- Pulped paper is an excellent road building material, so much so that the M6 toll motorway contains 2.5 million Mill & Boon novels.
- London Gateway services on the M1, formerly Scratchwood, is 11.7 miles from HMS Belfast’s mooring on the Thames near Tower Bridge. This happens, also, to be the range of the D-Day Ship’s guns which are trained on the service station.
Source: Notes on Motorways by Mark Mason, The Spectator, 13 July 2019.
blueprint brief – 19th July 2019