M6 Hanchurch-Lymm

Much is made of the achievement in building the first length of the M1, which saw 61 miles of motorway, plus spurs, built and opened in a single project. Less often noted is the similar feat that happened just a few years later on the M6.

By 1962, several substantial lengths of the motorway already existed, forming the Preston Bypass, Lancaster Bypass and Stafford Bypass. In 1963, another 61 miles were opened - another M1, in effect - joining the Stafford Bypass to the Preston Bypass and turning the fragments of M6 into a truly interurban motorway. This enormous change is often overlooked, perhaps because it was opened in two sections a few months apart: Lymm to Preston (J20-29) came in July of that year, and this length, Hanchurch to Lymm (J15-20) in November.

The transformation this made to the UK's early motorway network is obvious if you look at 1963 in our Chronology Maps.

This booklet marks the opening of the Hanchurch to Lymm length of motorway, and is bristling with pictures of a brand new and very empty motorway at a time when the UK's roadbuilding mania was at its height. It is also, in its design, extremely similar to the commemorative booklet for the Preston Bypass, published a few years earlier - presumably an attempt to tie the various M6 projects together with a unified theme.