Plaque unveiled in honour of motorway 'Pioneer' Sir James Drake - Article 2

'Pioneer of the UK motorway age' Sir James Drake (pictured right) was honoured in a plaque at Samlesbury Friday 5th December.

The plaque commemorates Sir James Drake - the mastermind behind the construction of Britain's first ever motorway, the Preston By-Pass, now part of the M6, which opened 50 years ago today.

It was a chilly morning, but only warm comments were made about Sir Drake, the ex-County Surveyor and Bridgemaster for Lancashire.

Minister of State for Transport, Lord Andrew Adonis and Chairman of Lancashire County Council, Cllr. Alan Whittaker headed the event and both gave a few words before unveiling the plaque.

Alan Whittaker passionately addressed the crowd. He said: "We are proud to be the forerunner of such a economic influence".

He went on to quote Harold MacMillan's words when he opened the Preston By-Pass in 1958. He said: "In the words of the then prime minister Harold MacMillan; "what Lancashire does today, the rest of the country does tomorrow."

(right: Lord Adonis and left: Alan Whittaker officially unveiled the plaque)

Lord Adonis described how the Preston By-Pass had no speed limit, no crash barriers and no hard shoulders when it first opened 5th December 1958. He described the Preston By-pass as a "transport revolution and also a social revolution".

86 year old Harry Yeadon from Lytham St. Anne's who helped construct the by-pass and eventually replaced Sir Drake as County surveyor and Bridgemaster was at the event - as well Sir James Drake's two daughters. One of his daughters, Mrs Diana Wilson said: "I know my father would be very proud to have this plaque in his memory."



(Left: Sir Drakes two daughters admire the plaque in honour of their father)

Also at the unveiling of the plaque today was Anne Williams, 62, from Bamber Bridge who was 12 years old when she attended the opening of Preston By-Pass 5th December 1958.

She recalled how the day was and what it was like meeting Prime Minister Harold MacMillan.

She said: "The weather now is exactly the same as on the day that it happened 50 years ago. I was 12 years old and 60 pupils had been chosen from Walton-Le-Dale secondary modern."

"Harold MacMillan walked along the school children. I was very small and standing at the front, with bright red hair. He came along and tapped me on the head and said "Hello Ginger, this is a very important day for you and one you'll never forget." and I'm happy to say I havn't forgotten it."

"After I'd spoken to Harold MacMillan I always thought that maybe he'd inspired my career for the future because I then became a lorry driver. I was a lorry driver for 30 years and i've always travelled the M6 and all the other network of roads."

(from left to right: Alan Whittaker, Harry Yeadon, Lord Andrew Adonis. Either side of Lord Adonis: Sir James Drake's daughters)

The "Cumberland Gap"
Today's 50th anniversary celebration coincided with the opening of the M6 upgrade between Carlisle to Guards Mill. What was nicknamed the "Cumberland Gap" has now been filled, enabling drivers to travel from London all the way to Glasgow on the M6. The 5 1/4 miles stretch of road cost £117 million; 55 times more than the 8 1/4 miles Preston By-Pass which cost £3 million in 1958.

Bob Baldwin, Performance manager for the motorway network in Lancashire and Cumbria expressed his delight for both of today's celebrations.

He said: "I think today is fantastic and it's very important. Who would believe jut 50 years ago what an impact the motorway network would have on our country."

"We are celebrating today 50 years of the motorway achievement but we should also add today is also the opening of the final section of the M6 which is the upgrade between Carlisle and Guards Mill. Some people might think it's taken my government 50 years to build the rest of the M6 motorway but that being said we're looking at the final section of the motorway today which is being opened by Lord Adonis and now we have a motorway that goes all the way up to Scotland on the West Coast."

He went on to talk about the sentiment of celebrating the two events today. He said: "It was very important that we did this. The government sought to ensure that the upgrade was opened today on the 50th anniversary of the M6 Preston By-Pass. That was our target and thankfully we achieved that target."

View Larger Map

(This Pinpoints the beginning and end of the last section of the M6 motorway from Carlisle to Guards Mill, once the A47.)

The motorway was officially opened after the unveiling of the plaque by Lord Andrew Adonis. The Plaque resides at The Tickled Trout Hotel, Junction 31, at the M6, Samlesbury.

Picture courtesy of The Motorway Archive - http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/pghewitt1/PrestonByPassImages#5257491096549449138 - Sir James Drake
Other pictures courtesy of Alan Whittaker's photographer Denis Oates.

The 50th anniversary of the Preston By-pass - Article 1

The Museum of Lancashire launched its exhibition for the 50th anniversary of the Preston by-pass Saturday 29th December.

It was a strong turn out at the Museum of Lancashire on Stanley Street, Preston, as visitors gathered to celebrate the construction of the UK’s first motorway in December 1958.

The exhibition was officially opened by Chairman of Lancashire County Council, Alan Whittaker and Highways Agency Area performance manager, Bob Baldwin. Both men spoke at the exhibition almost 50 years to the day when former Prime Minister Harold MacMillan officially opened the Preston By-pass - Britain’s first stretch of the M6 motorway.

Bob Baldwin introduced Alan Whittaker who officially opened the exhibition. Mr Baldwin said: "What I would like to say is that I believe we are all indebted to James Drake, Lancashire’s County Surveyor and Bridgemaster of the day whose foresight, persistence and determination persuaded the government to go ahead with the project. Yet who would have thought then of the impact that the motorway network would have on society."

Alan Whittaker said: “Coming to the exhibition today is like going back in the past but it’s a fascinating glimpse of the way it developed, how important it was then and how much we take it for granted now.”

(Allan Whittaker offered his thoughts at Saturday's exhibition on the construction of the Preston By-pass in 1958)

A real insight into life on the road

The M6:50 exhibition welcomes you to discover how the Preston By-pass was designed and built and to learn about the contribution that motorways made to booming Britain in the 1960s. The exhibition also provides original archive film footage and special audio footage such as the former Prime Minister Harold Macmillan’s speech at the opening ceremony of the Preston By-pass on 5th December 1958.

It's fun for all the family as the museum's community gallery morphs into a replica of the 1965 Forton services with a bird's eye view from the Pennine Tower.

The exhibition also helps explain how much traffic congestion has been improved since the Preston By-pass was constructed under the design by County Surveyor and Bridgemaster Sir James Drake.

Lead curator of the exhibition, Anthea Purkis said: “For Lancashire and Preston it’s such an accolade to have been the first county and the first city to have the first motorway.”

“Before we had the Preston By-pass which is obviously now the M6, congestion in Preston was absolutely horrendous. People could sit in traffic for hours.”

“The opening of the Preston By-pass and then the knock-on effect of the whole M6 being opened meant that people’s travel time in and out of Preston was cut drastically.”

“I think for Preston and Lancashire it was good because it was the first motorway and that was an important heritage for Preston and Lancashire and it improved the lifestyle for people who live here. It improved it to no end really. It gave people a new opportunity to spread further and wider.”

The exhibition will remain in the Museum of Lancashire until April 11 2009. It will appear in Lancaster City Museum May 2 until August 29.


View Larger Map

(Map: Where you can find the Preston By-Pass)

Find out more about the Museum of Lancashire here.

"What Lancashire does today, the rest of the country does tomorrow"

(A young Harold MacMillan in 1920 - former Prime Minister who officially opened the Preston By-Pass in 1958)

On 5th December 1958 Prime Minister Harold MacMillan uttered these words in his speech at the opening of possibly one of the most influential experiments in the history of the UK economy.

The construction of the Preston by-pass was the "guinea pig" that resulted in the M6 motorway - Britain's longest and busiest motorway. Preston By-pass was a test for future motorway developments and many of the lessons learned from the construction of the 8 1/4 miles stretch of road were used during the rest of the M6. It changed the way we live and travel today, cutting down travel time drastically and enabling Lancashire's products and people to get around the rest of the country. Lancashire's accessibility was massively improved.

Many of the engineers involved went on to develop much of the North West’s motorway network. One of the men who worked under Sir James Drake on the Preston By-pass, Harry Yeadon, eventually replaced him as County Surveyor and Bridgemaster.


Motorway Facts

• Italy, Germany and America were the first in the World to construct motorways. Sir James Drake considered their method of construction when creating his own design for the Preston By-pass.
  
• 75,000 lorries delivered the materials needed to construct the Preston By-pass. Ironically, this would have been a lot easier with the attribute of a motorway!
  
• The Preston By-pass wasn't the only first for Lancashire. Lancashire also invented white lines on our roads to keep our drivers on the straight and narrow.
  
• When the motorway was first opened there was no speed limit, despite an initial design of 70mph - no doubt motorists used this as an excuse to test their limits.
  
• When the Preston By-pass first opened, it ran from Bamber Bridge, to the South of Preston, to Broughton, to the north of Preston.
• County surveyor and Bridgemaster for Lancashire, Sir James Drake, had long wanted an improved road system through Lancashire and he had put together the road plan for Lancashire quite a number of years before the motorway opened in 1949.
• Sir James Drake was credited with the title 'Pioneer in the Development of the British Motorway Network'.

(Sir James Drake - 'Pioneer of the Development of the British Motorway Network')

You can find more information on Sir James Drake on the Lancashire County Council's website here

http://www.flickr.com/photos/fawbs/1066403438/ - harold macmillan 1920
http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/pghewitt1/PrestonByPassImages#5257491096549449138 - Sir James Drake
http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/pghewitt1/PrestonByPassImages#5257412380542748674 - The opening brochure. The photograph on the cover shows the Samlesbury bridge under construction, and the intermediate junction with the A59.