M1 motorway
The
M1 is a major
motorway in
England connecting
London to the city of
Leeds in northern England, but also linking several important towns and cities along the way, including
Milton Keynes,
Northampton,
Leicester,
Nottingham,
Mansfield and
Sheffield. It also links to the
M6 and
M45 motorways near Rugby, the
M25 near Potter's Bar, the
M69 at Leicester, the
M62 near Leeds.
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.
It has been extended to the east of Leeds to meet the A1(M) near Wetherby, providing a more direct link to the north and Scotland.
Route
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
M1 motorway in the
Republic of Ireland consists of several short sections built as bypasses of sections of the
N1 road, running from
Dublin toward
Belfast.