M55 motorway from nearby Warton Aerodrome made a test landing on the motorway, in order to prove its capability to use makeshift runways in time of war. Data from driver location signs are used to provide distance and carriageway identifier information. M55 motorway The M55 is a motorway in Lancashire, England, which can also be referred to as the "Preston Northern Bypass". It connects the seaside resort of Blackpool to the M6 at Preston. It is 12.2 miles (19.6 km) in length. The M55 has three lanes in both directions for most of its length. After leaving the M6 at junction 32,
M6 motorway to the edge of the Lake District with a short stretch within the national park boundaries and then passes Carlisle on its way to Gretna, before the motorway becomes the A74(M) a few hundred metres (yards) short of the Scottish border. The first section of the motorway and the first motorway in the country was the Preston By-pass. It was built by Tarmac Construction and opened by the Prime Minister Harold Macmillan on 5 December 1958. In January 1959 the Preston by-pass was closed because of rapid surface deterioration over a stretch of "due to water freezing and then thawing".