Transport in Preston Transport in Preston Preston is a city in Lancashire, around North-west of Manchester. The Preston By-pass was the first part of the M6 Motorway, the longest motorway in the country. It was made a motorway in 1958, being the first motorway in the United Kingdom. It is now the stretch between Junction 29 (A6 and M65, Bamber Bridge) and Junction 1 of the M55 (A6 Preston North), with four intermediate junctions – J30, J31, J31A and J32. The other motorway within the city is the M55 (Preston - Blackpool), and it is also served by the M65 (Preston - East
Preston By-pass Preston By-pass The Preston Bypass was Britain’s first motorway. It was designed and engineered by Lancashire County Council surveyor James Drake as part of a larger initiative to create a north-south motorway network that would later form part of the M6 motorway. The bypass was opened on 5 December 1958 by the Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan. Nearly £3 million was spent in its construction. The original -mile () motorway ran around the east side of Preston between Bamber Bridge (now the M6, Junction 29) and Broughton (now the M55, Junction 1) and crosses over the River Ribble at Samlesbury at