M50 motorway

M50 motorway in the UK
map
Basic data
Operator:	Highways Agency
Overall length:	34.7 km (21.6  mi )
Countries :	England
Development condition:	four lanes
The M50 just before the Severn Bridge
Course of the road ((8th))  The MIDLANDS , The SOUTH WEST , Worcester , Birmingham , Gloucester (1)  Tewkesbury , Evesham , Great Malvern Queenhill Bridge ( Severn ) (2)  Ledbury , Great Malvern , Hereford (3)  Newent , Gorsley B4221 (4)  Ross-on-Wye , Ledbury End of the highway Continue on  ( ) SOUTH WALES , Monmouth

The M50 motorway ( English for 'M50 motorway') is a motorway in western England in the counties of Worcestershire , Gloucestershire and Herefordshire .

This motorway was built very early and after the M6 (at Preston) and M1 (with its slip roads) it was only the third motorway to open in the UK. The section between Tewkesbury and Ross-on-Wye was opened to traffic in 1960, two years after construction began, and in 1962 the section to the junction with the M5 was opened, the first section of which to Birmingham was only completed at that time. The reason for building this motorway so early, ahead of the main routes, is probably because of its strategic importance as part of the route between Birmingham and South Wales , which was considered important at the time.

Today, the M50 is one of the few motorways still in its original condition, apart from the modern crash barriers and rebuilt junctions with the M5. It still remains four lanes today and the hard shoulder is too narrow for today's standards and ends at every bridge or overpass. On the Queenhill Bridge over the Severn, only one full-width lane per direction is built. But the connection points were not repaired either, e.g. B. Junction 3 at Gorsley, where the entry and exit areas consist only of rectangular and not separated lanes that end just a few meters behind the motorway on a local road.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Pathetic Motorways

Web links

Commons : M50 motorway  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• M50 on cbrd.co.uk