North West England Other motorways in the region include the fairly short M55 which connects the city of Preston and the town of Blackpool at in length. The M65 motorway runs from east to west starting in the town of Colne, running past Burnley, Accrington, Blackburn and terminating in Preston. The Lancaster-Morecambe area is served by the A683, A6 and A589 roads, the Blackpool-Fylde-Fleetwood area is home to the A587, A584, A583 and A585 roads. The city of Preston and its surroundings are served by the A6, A59, A585, A584, A583, A582 and to the very south-east, the M61 motorway. To the east
Motorways in the Republic of Ireland new sections of motorway opened. The first decade of the twenty-first century saw a major expansion in the construction of new motorways in Ireland, after an initially slow start. There were no new motorways opened in 2000 but another section of the M1, extending the Dunleer bypass northwards to the south of Dundalk (junction 16), and the M50 Southern Cross Route were opened in 2001. Continuing the quiet period, 2002 also saw no new motorway in Ireland, but 2003 was a big year. Finally the various sections of M1 were joined together, creating continuous motorway from Dublin to just south