M1 motorway the A5, the motorway takes a more northerly route through the East Midlands, via Leicester, Loughborough, Nottingham to Sheffield, where the M18 splits from the M1 at Junction 32 to head to Doncaster. Originally, the M1 was planned to end at Doncaster but it was decided to make what was going to be the "Leeds and Sheffield Spur" the primary route with the section to the A1(M) south of Doncaster given the separate motorway number M18. From Junction 32, the motorway passes Sheffield, Rotherham, Barnsley and Wakefield, reaching the original end of the motorway at (the original) Junction 44 to
M1 motorway Junction 11 (north Luton), would have lighting columns replaced and remain lit. All lighting columns from Junctions 10 to 14 have now been removed completely, apart from some slip roads. An increasing official interest in secondary safety was evident in an announcement in March 1973 that work would shortly begin on erecting "tensioned safety barriers" along the central reservation of a section of the M1 between Kegworth (J24) and Barlborough (J30). Between 1996 and 1999 the M1 section north of the M62 underwent a major reconstruction and extension to take the M1 on a new route to the A1(M) at