Long reads

Speed limits are more emotive and divisive than almost anything else about the road network. How do you sort the fact from the opinion? And how did we end up with the speed limits we have?

The A465 Heads of the Valleys Road is one of the most spectacular trunk roads in the UK, and building it required some of the most remarkable civil engineering. This is the story of how the road was built in the 1960s, and how it's being rebuilt today.

The 1920s and 30s saw a huge roadbuilding boom in London's suburbs. Some of those roads are incredibly well known, but here are five Arterial Roads that have been almost completely forgotten.

The engineering marvel of its day, much altered and maligned ever since: this is the original Mersey Tunnel in all its glory.

We'd be lost without them. Find your way around road numbering - how it works, how it was done and how it doesn't always work all that well.

Three roads were built in the space of 200 years, all trying to tame Rannoch Moor and Glen Coe. This is the impressive tale of one of Scotland's most memorable routes.

The first motorway opened in 1958. The first road restricted to motor traffic, on the other hand, opened in 1923...

From Zebra to Pelican and beyond: the comprehensive history of the development of the humble pedestrian crossing.

The UK has been driving in circles for a hundred years now, and this humble road junction has become part of British culture. Just what is so special about roundabouts?

Common sense suggests that you shouldn't be able to spend so much money on heavy engineering and end up with such a terrible road system.

The very first motorway was eight miles of relief for the Lancashire town of Preston. It goes without saying that there's an interesting story to be told about it.

Even in the 1960s heyday of roadbuilding, some people said you could never build your way out of congestion. Glasgow had plans to prove them wrong.

New Towns are fascinating places socially and architecturally - and, of course, in terms of roads. This article explores one example from start to finish.

The tale of how British traffic signing developed between the Second World War and the mid-1960s, bringing us from a system designed at the turn of the century to the signs we still use today.

Those last few miles of the M1 east of Leeds were completed in 1999. It looks for the most part like a fairly average piece of road, but one of the project's engineers describes some of the challenges that were faced.