Opening booklets:
M50 Ross Motorway

Booklet published to mark the opening of the M50

Opened in 1960, the Ross Motorway (sometimes known as the Ross Spur and, more commonly, the M50) was one of the UK's very first motorways. The booklet published to commemorate its completion and opening is gloriously and unashamedly proud of this small but pleasant route, describing it as "one of the most beautiful roads in Britain".

Being so early in the 1960s motorway programme, the M50 was sometimes referred to as an experimental motorway, and this booklet describes not just the road that was built and opened, but also contains huge amounts of detail on the motorway programme in general, rules for motorway driving, the process of planning motorways, how route numbering works and even arrangements for gritting and salting it in winter.

In this section

What's new

Sorry, wrong number

Road numbering is a system with clear rules. What happens when the people responsible for numbering roads don't follow them?

We need to talk about Wisley

National Highways are spending a third of a billion pounds rebuilding one of the most congested junctions on the M25. Is it money well spent?

Oxford's Ground Zero

Oxford's Zero Emission Zone is just a trial, but transport policy in Oxford has become the catalyst for pitched battles and drawn in protestors from across the UK. What's happening to this genteel university town?

Share this page

Have you seen...

M1 Architecture

The most unique motorway in Britain owes its identity to its fifties architecture. Much of it is in danger of being removed or irreperably altered. This page documents it in detail.

About this page

Published

Last updated