History
Built in 1959 when the M1 (as part of a link from London to Birmingham) went as far as Junction 18, the M45 was designed to dissipate some of the motorway traffic before the M1 terminated. Its equivalent at the southern end of the M1 is the former M10, which was downgraded on 1 May 2009 to become part of the A414.
As the signposted route to Birmingham in the 1960s it was one of the busiest roads in Britain, with motorists having to make the final 30 miles (48 km) or so of the journey along the predominantly dual carriageway A45.
In 1972, the opening of the M6 provided a much faster route through to the West Midlands from London. Most traffic diverted to this route, leaving the M45 with only a fraction of its previous traffic.
A limited-access junction (Eastbound exit and Westbound entry) was added in September 1991 around two-thirds of the way along from the M1, near Dunchurch. Apart from this, the motorway is very much in its 'as-built' condition.
Read more about this topic: M45 Motorway
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“Anyone who is practically acquainted with scientific work is aware that those who refuse to go beyond fact rarely get as far as fact; and anyone who has studied the history of science knows that almost every great step therein has been made by the “anticipation of Nature.””
—Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–95)
“The history of persecution is a history of endeavors to cheat nature, to make water run up hill, to twist a rope of sand.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“A people without history
Is not redeemed from time, for history is a pattern
Of timeless moments.”
—T.S. (Thomas Stearns)