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
M6 motorway Motorists were diverted to the old road while the UK road research laboratory at Harmondsworth pondered the importance of surface water drainage. Later, other sections of the motorway were constructed, and finally it was all linked together, giving an uninterrupted motorway length of . The second phase of construction was completed in 1960, forming the Lancaster by-pass. Some south, the Stafford by-pass was completed in 1962. By 1965, the remaining sections of motorway Stafford–Preston and Preston–Lancaster had been completed. 1968 saw the completion of the Walsall to Stafford link as well as the Penrith by-pass some north in Cumberland. In