Description
Rakehead viaduct under construction. 15th January 1970.
The motorway, which was first proposed in the 1930s, and originally conceived as two separate routes, was opened in stages between 1971 and 1976, with construction beginning at Pole Moor and finishing in Tarbock on the outskirts of Liverpool. The motorway also absorbed the northern end of the Stretford-Eccles bypass, which was built between 1957 and 1960. Adjusted for inflation to 2007, the motorway cost approximately £765 million to build. The motorway is relatively busy, with an average daily traffic flow of 144,000 vehicles in Yorkshire, and has several areas prone to gridlock, in particular, between Leeds and Huddersfield in West Yorkshire.