(Noun). A fast, multi-lane road or highway similar to a Freeway (US) or Interstate (US).
Motorways have two carriageways. That is to say that there are at least two lanes in each direction separated by a Central Reservation (UK)/Median (US). with a Hard Shoulder (UK)/Shoulder (US) to the outer edges. Most motorways have three lanes in each direction. Lorries (UK)/Trucks (US) are only permitted to use the inside two lanes so the outer lane is for overtaking cars and vans only. However, many motorways are being increased to four lanes and a few reach 5 lanes wide in each direction.
The first British motorway, the M1, opened in 1958 so construction of our motorway network began at much the same time as Eisenhower’s interstates. The M1 goes North from London to Leeds. The M2 travels East from London towards the channel ports in Kent. The M3 goes South-West towards Southampton and the M4 heads West to Bristol. So, the M1, M2, M3 and M4 are spokes of a wheel with London at its hub, numbered clockwise.
The M5 and the M6 connect the far South-West of England up the West side of the country all the way to the Scottish border. The M61 and M62 in the North of England are branches off the M6. But there the logic starts to break down.
Former A Roads (UK) which have been converted to motorway standard do not take the M prefix but have a bracketed M suffix – so the upgraded parts of the A1 are known as the A1(M).
The M25 is London’s orbital motorway – or the world’s second biggest Ring Road (UK)/Beltway (US) (the biggest goes around Berlin). Known by some as the Devil’s greatest achievement, it is basically a 117 mile-long, circular car park which fails spectacularly to cope with three times the traffic it was originally designed for.
See also Smart Motorway (UK).
Similar meaning: Interstate (US), Freeway (US), Expressway (US)
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