Motorway (United Kingdom)

This list of motorways in the United Kingdom is a complete list of motorways in the United Kingdom. Note that the numbering scheme used for Great Britain does not include roads in Northern Ireland, which are allocated numbers on an ad hoc basis.

Great Britain

M-designated motorways

Upgraded A-road designations

Former motorways

Roads which used to be motorways but have been downgraded:

Motorways that have been renumbered

Motorways under construction or planned

The Adwick-le-Street to M62 stretch of the A1 is under consideration for upgrade to motorway standard, meaning the A1 between Blyth, south of Doncaster, to Birtley near Gateshead, would all be part of the same A1(M) stretch of motorway.

In addition, the proposal to put a tunnel under the River Thames to the east of Dartford Crossing and the revived Birmingham Western Orbital plans are both described as motorways.

Unbuilt motorways

There have been many plans for motorways in the UK that have not been built. Below is a list of plans that were not built (not exhaustive):
* M1 Sterling Corner Link, linking Sterling Corner to the M1.
* M12 in 3 forms (although a small part was built and is not used - a stub sliproad):
** From the London end of the M11 to Brentwood;
** From the London end of the M11 to Maplin Sands Airport (also not built);
** From the M25 (in the vicinity of the M11) to Chelmsford.
* M13, from East London to Maplin Sands airport passing ''south'' of Southend.
* M17 Castle Donington bypass, a short spur off the M1;
* M19, M1 to A1 in Yorkshire. Functionally equivalent to the M62 between junction 29 and 32A, but located further to the north, and without the eastern extension to Hull.
* M31, a bypass of the busiest section of the M25, cutting the corner for traffic from the west. Partially built as the A329(M) and A3290.
* M58 Mid-Lancashire Motorway, from west of Wigan to west of Bolton and the M61; cancelled in 1969. In the mid-1970s the M58 was reinstated, but as a two-lane dual carriageway and was cancelled again in 1986. In 1989, it was re-instated a second time, but was rerouted to end at the A58 instead of the M61 in 1993 and cancelled yet again in 1996. Wigan MBC picked up the M58 in the late 1990s, but only the western end was dual carriageway and the rest was downgraded to single carriageway. In 2007 the M58 was cancelled for good.
* M59, M58 junction 2 to south of Preston.
* M60, a bypass of Altrincham and Sale, running from the M56 to Manchester. One section built as the A6144(M), and the section between M6 and M56 was built as an all-purpose dual carriageway bypass of the A556.
* M64, between the M6 south of Stoke-on-Trent and the M1 near Derby. The central section was built as an upgrade of the A50.
* M601, which would have entered Manchester from the M62 (now the M60) in the Irwell Valley at Clifton near Pendlebury.
* M650, Airedale Motorway from near Silsden to Shipley.
* A6(M) (or M66 extension), which would have formed an eastern bypass for Stockport. As of March 2006, this is still under the planning stage as part of the SEMMMS (south east Manchester multi modal study) project (though not as motorway).
* A556(M), which would have cut the corner between the M6 and M56 near Warrington. Completed in 2017 as an all-purpose dual carriageway bypass of the A556.
* Chippenham Spur, off the M4
* Strensham – Solihull motorway, a link between the M50 and M42. In the earliest stages of planning, a route that would have linked it with the M69 was considered.
* Most of the M67 – from Hattersley to the M1 via the Hope Valley in the Peak District national park and Sheffield. Various routes have been proposed but have yet to come to fruition due to controversy and/or expense. In 2014, the then Sheffield Hallam MP and Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg signalled his support for improvements to the Woodhead Pass.
*Western Orbital Motorway - M6 north of M54/M6 junction to M5 near Bromsgrove. Planned to relieve congestion in the West Midlands, this would have diverted traffic heading north west to south west away from the heavily congested M6 south of Walsall. A spur was planned to link to the A449 north of Wombourne. This proposal has been around since construction of the M42 started. The idea hasn't been completely abandoned but is more likely to be built as an all-purpose road rather than a motorway.

Many cities had urban motorway plans, most of which were not built. London, Newcastle, Liverpool, Manchester/ SELNEC and Glasgow all had extensive plans.

It was proposed that the A14 upgrade between Huntingdon and Cambridge would be classified as a motorway once complete, however prior to opening it was announced that the road would open as a "best in class A road" instead.

Northern Ireland

M-designated motorways

Upgraded A-road designations

Unbuilt motorways

The following motorways were planned, but never built.
* M11, from the M1 going through Lisburn and then crossing the M1 again and ending at Newry
* M23, from the M2 to Derry

There were also urban motorway plans for Belfast

See also

*List of numbered roads in the British Isles
*Motorways in the Republic of Ireland
*List of controlled-access highway systems
* Evolution of motorway construction in European nations

Notes

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Motorways