Liverbird 1
Member
This might prove to be a controversial post as a lot of people are against any form of expansion of the UK motorway network; however, below is an interactive 'Future UK 2050 Motorway Network Map' I created a few years back; which is basically a comprehensive map showing what the UK motorway network could look like with the right investment, similar to that of our European counterparts.
UK MOTORWAY NETWORK MAP 2050
Simply zoom in and click on the motorways on the interactive map in the link below to reveal the motorway number and where it would go. Turn the 'Junction' and 'Service Station' layers on and off to suit what you want to see (It may be easier viewing this on your PC or laptop).
I am a big supporter of the primary focus being massive investment in railway infrastructure, both intercity & regional with new tube lines for the big cities; but if we want to boost our national economy to the level of Germany or Japan's we need to build new motorways as well to massively improve connectivity; and the M67 extension from Manchester to Sheffield would be at the very top of any new motorway priority list for the UK.
The vast majority of the current UK motorway network was built during a 20 year period, between 1958 and 1978; and although the priority should be shifting long distance HGV's off the roads and over to rail freight (in order to reduce our carbon footprint and achieve net zero), there will always be the need to build new motorways, due to an ever increasing population and more cars on the road. Even Denmark just announced last week they are building nine new motorways to cater for demand and as much as we would like to get everyone off the roads and onto trains, that's not going to happen unless the rail system is good enough to tempt people to do so and even then, you're not going to tempt everyone. So we can't escape the fact that we do have to build new roads as well to address capacity issues / current problems.
There are so many bottlenecks and missing links on the UK motorway network that need to be addressed in order for our national economy to continue to grow. Doing nothing or putting plasters over the problems with half-baked solutions like the A57 Mottram by-pass do not address the problems we face. A lot of these token upgrades, roundabouts and by-passes are actually counterproductive and stunt our country's economic growth because decisionmakers lack the vision to do what needs to be done. In some cases, major intervention is the only option; like extending the M67 from Manchester to Sheffield, which will actually solve the problem and add a much needed new Trans-Pennine route to the Strategic Road Network. The current proposed A57 Mottram Link upgrades announced by the Chancellor today is a prime example of putting a plaster over a situation and not looking at the big picture and addressing the wider issues head on.
The need for massive government investment in our national infrastructure has never been more apparent than it is today. Although it is absolutely vital that HS2 reaches Crewe and Northern Powerhouse Rail is built in full across the North from Liverpool – Manchester – Leeds – Hull & Newcastle; the time has also come for once in a generation expansion of the UK motorway network, in order to make it fit for the needs of the 21st century.
There hasn't been any motorway expansion on a large scale for 45 years; however, expansion of the current Strategic Road Network IS necessary. The expansion should take the form of both new motorways on new alignment and upgrades of existing trunk routes to create a comprehensive network that connects people, businesses and ports from A to B quickly and efficiently; creating faster journey times, removing bottlenecks & congestion while supporting high levels of growth.
This comprehensive plan for the UK's motorway network in the 21st century should run in tandem with a massive upgrade in capacity of the UK's rail freight network, starting with upgrading the railway node at Ely; allowing containers from UK ports to reach intermodal freight terminals around the country, closer to their final destinations, predominantly by rail; reducing the amount of long distance HGV journeys and massively cutting carbon emissions.
Transport infrastructure should be at the forefront of the government’s plan to rebuild Britain and the current allocation in the budget is nowhere near what is required. Funding for big infrastructure projects should be prioritised; through borrowing if necessary, so we can catapult our way forward into economic prosperity. Obviously, at the same time, we should also be expanding the wider passenger rail network into a more efficient system, not just HS2; and while we do appear to be taking steps to do this with the formation of Great British Railways, we should be going much further; like building new underground tube lines in our big cities, such as Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow & Newcastle, like I have proposed with Liverpool Underground, to allow people to move around locally quickly and efficiently too. Germany has extensive U-Bahn networks in Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, Frankfurt & Nuremburg so why can’t we in the UK?
You only have to look at a map of Germany to see why they are the world's 3rd largest economy with the infrastructure they have and why we in the UK are the world's 6th largest. Some people might look at this motorway map and scoff saying it is completely overkill and unnecessary; but have a look at Germany's Ruhr industrial heartland on a map (Cologne, Dusseldorf, Duisburg, Essen & Dortmund), which is the equivalent to our North England belt of Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds & Sheffield; the contrast in infrastructure between the two is there to see. We are massively behind our European counterparts in terms of connectivity in almost every way, not just Germany, but France, Belgium and the Netherlands too.
Not all the blue lines on this interactive map are new motorways, quite a few are; a lot of it is the existing network and many are upgrades to existing trunk routes that should be proper motorways, like the A14 to Felixstowe, which is a core route on the Strategic Road Network and should upgraded as an extension of the M6.
While I concede, not all of these proposals would come to fruition, a great many of these merit serious consideration by the Department for Transport, as many of these proposals would solve a lot of problems and bottlenecks on the network, increase capacity, reduce congestion and massively boost our national economy.
Some of these new road projects are of course higher priority to others and should be built first, so when reading the map try and visualise the ones in order of priority. Some sections would be built in stages, like the M57 & M64, with their Phase 2 coming later. Some of the lower priority ones might never even see the light of day; however I've added them as food for thought.
It might be overwhelming to look at this map when you first open it and very difficult to navigate on your phone so I would definitely suggest looking qt this on your PC or laptop; but if you turn off some of the layers and read it in conjunction with the priority list below, putting the low and very low priority ones to one side, it should start to make sense.
I’ve listed below the priorities on the UK network I believe should be addressed first:
TOP PRIORITIES:
HIGH PRIORITY:
VERY LOW PRIORITY - LIKELY IMPRACTICAL
UK MOTORWAY NETWORK MAP 2050
Simply zoom in and click on the motorways on the interactive map in the link below to reveal the motorway number and where it would go. Turn the 'Junction' and 'Service Station' layers on and off to suit what you want to see (It may be easier viewing this on your PC or laptop).
I am a big supporter of the primary focus being massive investment in railway infrastructure, both intercity & regional with new tube lines for the big cities; but if we want to boost our national economy to the level of Germany or Japan's we need to build new motorways as well to massively improve connectivity; and the M67 extension from Manchester to Sheffield would be at the very top of any new motorway priority list for the UK.
The vast majority of the current UK motorway network was built during a 20 year period, between 1958 and 1978; and although the priority should be shifting long distance HGV's off the roads and over to rail freight (in order to reduce our carbon footprint and achieve net zero), there will always be the need to build new motorways, due to an ever increasing population and more cars on the road. Even Denmark just announced last week they are building nine new motorways to cater for demand and as much as we would like to get everyone off the roads and onto trains, that's not going to happen unless the rail system is good enough to tempt people to do so and even then, you're not going to tempt everyone. So we can't escape the fact that we do have to build new roads as well to address capacity issues / current problems.
There are so many bottlenecks and missing links on the UK motorway network that need to be addressed in order for our national economy to continue to grow. Doing nothing or putting plasters over the problems with half-baked solutions like the A57 Mottram by-pass do not address the problems we face. A lot of these token upgrades, roundabouts and by-passes are actually counterproductive and stunt our country's economic growth because decisionmakers lack the vision to do what needs to be done. In some cases, major intervention is the only option; like extending the M67 from Manchester to Sheffield, which will actually solve the problem and add a much needed new Trans-Pennine route to the Strategic Road Network. The current proposed A57 Mottram Link upgrades announced by the Chancellor today is a prime example of putting a plaster over a situation and not looking at the big picture and addressing the wider issues head on.
The need for massive government investment in our national infrastructure has never been more apparent than it is today. Although it is absolutely vital that HS2 reaches Crewe and Northern Powerhouse Rail is built in full across the North from Liverpool – Manchester – Leeds – Hull & Newcastle; the time has also come for once in a generation expansion of the UK motorway network, in order to make it fit for the needs of the 21st century.
There hasn't been any motorway expansion on a large scale for 45 years; however, expansion of the current Strategic Road Network IS necessary. The expansion should take the form of both new motorways on new alignment and upgrades of existing trunk routes to create a comprehensive network that connects people, businesses and ports from A to B quickly and efficiently; creating faster journey times, removing bottlenecks & congestion while supporting high levels of growth.
This comprehensive plan for the UK's motorway network in the 21st century should run in tandem with a massive upgrade in capacity of the UK's rail freight network, starting with upgrading the railway node at Ely; allowing containers from UK ports to reach intermodal freight terminals around the country, closer to their final destinations, predominantly by rail; reducing the amount of long distance HGV journeys and massively cutting carbon emissions.
Transport infrastructure should be at the forefront of the government’s plan to rebuild Britain and the current allocation in the budget is nowhere near what is required. Funding for big infrastructure projects should be prioritised; through borrowing if necessary, so we can catapult our way forward into economic prosperity. Obviously, at the same time, we should also be expanding the wider passenger rail network into a more efficient system, not just HS2; and while we do appear to be taking steps to do this with the formation of Great British Railways, we should be going much further; like building new underground tube lines in our big cities, such as Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow & Newcastle, like I have proposed with Liverpool Underground, to allow people to move around locally quickly and efficiently too. Germany has extensive U-Bahn networks in Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, Frankfurt & Nuremburg so why can’t we in the UK?
You only have to look at a map of Germany to see why they are the world's 3rd largest economy with the infrastructure they have and why we in the UK are the world's 6th largest. Some people might look at this motorway map and scoff saying it is completely overkill and unnecessary; but have a look at Germany's Ruhr industrial heartland on a map (Cologne, Dusseldorf, Duisburg, Essen & Dortmund), which is the equivalent to our North England belt of Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds & Sheffield; the contrast in infrastructure between the two is there to see. We are massively behind our European counterparts in terms of connectivity in almost every way, not just Germany, but France, Belgium and the Netherlands too.
Not all the blue lines on this interactive map are new motorways, quite a few are; a lot of it is the existing network and many are upgrades to existing trunk routes that should be proper motorways, like the A14 to Felixstowe, which is a core route on the Strategic Road Network and should upgraded as an extension of the M6.
While I concede, not all of these proposals would come to fruition, a great many of these merit serious consideration by the Department for Transport, as many of these proposals would solve a lot of problems and bottlenecks on the network, increase capacity, reduce congestion and massively boost our national economy.
Some of these new road projects are of course higher priority to others and should be built first, so when reading the map try and visualise the ones in order of priority. Some sections would be built in stages, like the M57 & M64, with their Phase 2 coming later. Some of the lower priority ones might never even see the light of day; however I've added them as food for thought.
It might be overwhelming to look at this map when you first open it and very difficult to navigate on your phone so I would definitely suggest looking qt this on your PC or laptop; but if you turn off some of the layers and read it in conjunction with the priority list below, putting the low and very low priority ones to one side, it should start to make sense.
I’ve listed below the priorities on the UK network I believe should be addressed first:
TOP PRIORITIES:
- Scrap the proposed A57 Mottram Moor link road and extend the M67 east over the Pennines to meet the M1 north of Sheffield instead (new dual 3-lane motorway) (Strategic Road Network).
- New M531 motorway from M53 Junction 5 (Eastham) (unfinished junction) to A494 Shotwick Junction (new dual 2-lane motorway parallel to A550) merging with the existing dual 3-lane motorway standard A494 at Deeside.
- Extend the M56 west of its present terminus to merge with the existing dual 3-lane motorway standard A494 at Shotwick Junction and upgrade the existing dual 2-lane section of A494 south of the River Dee to dual 3-lane motorway through Queensferry to Northop (A55) (M56 West – Phase 1) (Strategic Road Network).
- Extend the M58 east of the M6 Orrell interchange to meet the M61 at Bolton (new dual 3-lane motorway, filling in a vital missing link on the network, relieving congestion in and around Wigan and also creating a new Trans-Pennine route from the Port of Liverpool). Continue the M58 east past the M61 into Bolton (dual 2-lane motorway).
- Extend the M27 east along the South Coast to the M20 and on to Ramsgate (new dual 3-lane motorway from Portsmouth to the M20, with A27 upgrades & new alignment) (dual 2-lane motorway from M20 to Ramsgate) (Strategic Road Network).
- Extend the M27 west of its existing terminus to Bournemouth (new dual 3-lane motorway with partial A31 upgrade).
- New M64 motorway connecting the M6 (south of Stoke-on-Trent) and the A1(M) (South Witham) (new dual 3-lane motorway) (A50 upgrades & new alignments) (M64 Phase 1) (Strategic Road Network).
- Extend the M57 north past Switch Island to a new roundabout at Ince Blundell (new dual 3-lane motorway) to meet the start of the A565 dual carriageway to Southport (M57 North – Phase 1).
- New M123 motorway (Lower Thames Crossing) to relieve the Dartford Crossing (new dual 3-lane motorway) (Strategic Road Network).
- Extend the M58 west past Switch Island through Rimrose Valley Country Park to The Port of Liverpool at Seaforth (new dual 3-lane motorway reducing to dual 2-lane to merge on to the A5036 Princess Way). The current single lane DfT proposals through Rimrose Valley to Brooms Cross Road are inadequate.
- New rail freight terminal & container port at Switch Island, Liverpool, between the M57 & M58 west of Melling; which would be an extension of the Port of Liverpool itself; more than doubling current proposed container capacity at the Port. Introduce new M57 & M58 motorway spurs to serve.
- Extend the M57 south from the M62 Tarbock Island interchange to the A562 (A5300 upgrade to dual 3-lane motorway & A562 junction upgrade; plus a new junction at B5178 to support future development zone). Continue the M57 south past the A562 to Liverpool John Lennon Airport (new dual 2-lane motorway); then continue past JLA to meet the A561 at Garston Freight Terminal (M561), (M57 South – Phase 1).
- New M51 motorway from M6 Junction 16 (Stoke-on-Trent) past the north side of Crewe to Chester & into North Wales (new dual 3-lane motorway, plus A55 upgrades) (Strategic Road Network).
- Extend the M6 east of the M1 all the way to Felixstowe (new dual 3/4 lane motorway) (A14 upgrades to motorway standard with some new alignments) (Strategic Road Network).
- New M12 motorway from M11 Junction 4 (London) to Norwich (new dual 3-lane motorway & partial A12 upgrades) (Strategic Road Network).
- New M14 motorway from Oxford to Colchester, connecting Luton and Stansted Airports and relieving the M25 north (new dual 3 lane motorway plus A120 upgrades; dual 4-lane between M40 & M11) (Strategic Road Network).
- New M15 motorway from A1(M) south of Peterborough to the Humber Bridge (new dual 3 lane motorway from A1(M) to M180; dual 2-lane motorway past M180 to Humber Bridge) (Strategic Road Network) (plus additional feeder roads to Lincoln & around the north of Boston to solve chronic congestion).
- New M59 motorway from the M58 to M6 north of Preston, running west of Preston via a new bridge over the River Ribble (new dual 3-lane motorway). Extend the M65 west to meet the M59 to create a Preston outer ring road. The new M59 would be to Liverpool what the M61 is to Manchester and would now be the primary route from the city heading north (Strategic Road Network).
- New M46 motorway from Cardiff to the Leicester (avoiding Birmingham, incorporating the existing M50 & M69 plus A46 upgrades) (Dual 2-lane west of M5 & new dual 3-lane motorway between M5 & M1) (Strategic Road Network).
- New M29 motorway (full A3 upgrade to dual 3-lane motorway standard between Kingston & Portsmouth) (Strategic Road Network).
- Extend the M42 motorway north to meet the M1 (M42/A42 upgrade to dual 3-lane motorway) (Strategic Road Network).
- Extend the M65 east of Colne through North Yorkshire past the north side of York all the way to Filey on the North East coast (new dual 2-lane motorway between existing dual 2-lane M65 & A568 (Leeds/Bradford Airport) (new dual 3-lane motorway east of A568 to Filey)
HIGH PRIORITY:
- Extend the M5 north of Birmingham to Manchester (new dual 4-lane toll motorway; creating a new primary route on the Strategic Road Network, parallel to the M6). If HS2 does not reach Crewe, this will become a top priority.
- New M68 motorway from M60 Junction 25 (Bredbury) (unfinished junction) to Manchester Airport (new dual 3-lane motorway plus A555 upgrades) (New M5 feeder motorway from M60 East).
- Extend the M53 motorway south to meet the M5 at Gloucester (new dual 2-lane motorway plus A483 upgrades; providing an essential trans-Wales route connecting North & South Wales) (dual 3-lane motorway between Hereford & M5).
- New M62 express motorway running parallel to the M60 on the north side between the M62 west of Manchester and the M62 east of Simister interchange, relieving the Manchester northwest corridor (new dual 3-lane motorway) (Strategic Road Network).
- New M30 motorway connecting the M3 to the M5 (new dual 3-lane motorway & A303 upgrades) (Strategic Road Network).
- New M43 motorway connecting Oxford to Cambridge from new M14 (Aylesbury) to M11/A14 interchange (new dual 3-lane motorway and A421 upgrades) (Strategic Road Network).
- New M69 motorway from Carlisle to Newcastle (Jarrow Tunnel) (new dual 2-lane motorway & partial A69 upgrades; dual 3-lane around Newcastle) (Strategic Road Network).
- New M36 motorway from Bristol to Southampton (new dual 3-lane motorway with partial A36 & A326 upgrades) (Strategic Road Network).
- New M17 motorway from M1/M18 interchange (Sheffield) to Lincoln & Skegness (dual 3-lane motorway)
- New M34 motorway (full A34 upgrade to dual 3-lane motorway standard) (Strategic Road Network).
- A1 upgrade to full motorway standard between A1(M) Peterborough and A1(M) Blyth (new dual 3-lane motorway) (Strategic Road Network).
- New M44 motorway (Wolverhampton & Dudley Western Relief Road to complete West Midlands Ring Road - new dual 3-lane motorway).
- Extend the M18 from the M62 north, around the east side of York to meet the extended M65 and continue on to the A19 at Thirsk (dual 3-lane motorway).
- Extend the M5 south to Plymouth (A38 upgrade to dual 3-lane motorway) (Strategic Road Network).
- Extend the M77 south to the south side of Ayr (new dual 2-lane motorway with A77 upgrades).
- Extend the M23 to Brighton (A23 upgrade to dual 3-lane motorway standard).
- New M121 motorway from new M12 to Harwich (dual 2-lane motorway)
- Extend the A1(M) north from Newcastle to Edinburgh (new dual 3-lane M1 motorway).
- New M19 motorway (A19 upgrade to dual 3-lane motorway standard from A1(M) to Jarrow Tunnel.
- New M70 Edinburgh Ring Road (A720 upgrade to dual 3-lane motorway standard).
- Widen the M8 between Junctions 1 – 6 to dual 3-lane motorway.
- Extend the M90 from Perth to Aberdeen (new dual 2-lane motorway & A90 upgrades),
- Extend the M8 into Edinburgh City Centre (new dual 2-lane motorway, to merge with upgraded Western Approach Road),
- Extend the M5 west of Plymouth into Cornwall (new dual 3-lane motorway & A30 upgrades to address chronic holiday traffic).
- Extend the M64 east from the A1(M) to the East Coast (new dual 3-lane motorway to M12 (Norwich interchange); dual 2-lane motorway to Hopton terminus between Great Yarmouth & Lowestoft) (M64 – Phase 2).
- Extend the M67 west into Manchester City Centre (new dual 3-lane motorway), with distributor slip roads onto A6010 Intermediate Ring Road & A365 Inner Ring Road.
- New M35 motorway (Bristol southern ring road) (dual 3-lane) connecting the M5 to new M36 and Bristol Airport.
- Extend the M62 east from North Cave to Salt End to create a Hull outer ring road (A63 upgrade & new dual 3-lane motorway).
- New M78 motorway from Paisley (South West Glasgow) to meet A78 at Saltcoats (new dual 2-lane motorway, A737 & A78 upgrades to meet the extended M77 at Glasgow Prestwick Airport).
- New M96 motorway from Inverness to Aberdeen (new dual 2-lane motorway).
- New M81 motorway (North Glasgow Ring Road) from M898 to M80 & M73 (dual 2-lane).
- Extend M62 motorway west into Liverpool City Centre (new dual 3-lane motorway from current Rocket flyover terminus to new Junction 2 (Edge Hill)). South spur west of Edge Hill to be in a dual 2-lane cut & cover underpass to Upper Parliament Street (50mph speed restriction). The main north section west of Edge Hill to be through two new dual 2-lane bored tunnels (1 mile long) under Kensington to A580 Islington (50mph speed restriction).
- New M601 connecting the M60 north to Manchester City Centre (catering for traffic from Bury & The East ONLY) (new dual 2-lane motorway) (M602 handles traffic from Bolton & The West).
- Extend M876 from Kincardine to Dunfermline (new M86 motorway).
- New M92 motorway from M90 (Dunfermline) to the Tay Bridge (dual 2-lane motorway with A92 upgrades).
- New M7 motorway parallel to A702 linking the M6 to Edinburgh (new motorway).
- Upgrade A55 to dual 3-lane M56 motorway from Northop to Colwyn Bay (M56 West – Phase 2).
- Extend the M53 motorway Moreton spur west of its current terminus through Saughall Massie to Heswall and redesignate M52 (dual 2-lane) (M52 – Phase 1).
- Extend the M57 motorway north past the new terminus at Ince Blundell roundabout to Southport and Preston, to meet the western end of the extended M65 (M59/M65 interchange) (new dual 2-lane motorway) (M57 North – Phase 2).
- Extend the M57 further south over the River Mersey to meet the M56 when the New Mersey Crossing reaches capacity and continue south through Cheshire to meet the new M51 (new dual 3-lane toll motorway) (1 mile dual 3-lane tunnel required under Helsby Hill) (M57 South – Phase 2).
- Extend new M52 west from Heswall over the River Dee on a causeway bridge to meet the extended M56 at Holywell (North Wales) (new dual 2-lane toll motorway) (M52 – Phase 2) (incorporate new railway crossing (Liverpool – Holyhead/Llandudno) into new motorway bridge).
- Extend M23 motorway north from current terminus to Banstead Common (A217 roundabout) (new dual 3-lane motorway).
- Extend the M2 east of present terminus to Margate (new dual 2-lane motorway & A299 upgrade).
- If the M56 West – Phase 1 intervention proves insufficient, extend M56 west from Shotwick Junction over the Connah’s Quay Bridge to meet the A55 at Northop (new dual 2-lane motorway plus A548 upgrades).
- Extend the M54 from Telford to meet the extended M53 and continue on to Welshpool (A5 upgrades, new dual 2-lane motorway).
- Extend the M66 north from its present terminus at Edenfield to meet the M65 (A56 upgrade to motorway standard) (dual 2-lane).
VERY LOW PRIORITY - LIKELY IMPRACTICAL
- New M16 motorway (Ringway 2 – South London) (new dual 4-lane motorway) (prohibitively expensive – too much opposition)
- Extension of M23 further north into South London to Tooting Bec Road (A214) & Tooting Bec Common to meet new M16 (new dual 3-lane motorway) (prohibitively expensive – too much opposition).
