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
M6 motorway July 1972 the UK Minister for Transport Industries announced that of UK motorway particularly prone to fog would benefit from lighting in a project which "should be" completed by 1973. Sections to be illuminated included the M6 between junctions 10 and 11, and between junctions 20 and 27. In March 2006, after 15 years of debate, the government authorised the construction of a extension of the M6 from its then northern terminus near Carlisle to the Anglo-Scottish border at Gretna (the so-called "Cumberland Gap"), where it links into the existing A74(M). The road opened on 5 December 2008, the 50th