A Highway Runs Through It Trivia Quiz

Answer: Newcastle upon Tyne

The A167(M) runs between the Tyne Bridge and Exhibition Park in Newcastle upon Tyne. It was opened in 1975 and was originally going to be part of a much greater motorway network around Newcastle that had been planned in the 1960s but the A167(M) was the only motorway in that plan which was built.

Answer: Glasgow

The M74 extension is a 5-mile extension to the northern end of the M74 which joins it up to the M8 and the M77. The M74 extension runs south of the River Clyde and creates a major route through the south of Glasgow. Work was started on construction in 2008 and the road opened to traffic in June 2011.

The road was planned to cost £444 million and when it was opened the Scottish government claimed it was under budget: however the 'under budget' figure did not include the cost of purchasing the land that the motorway was built on; when this money is included the cost of the extension is £692 million, making it considerably over budget!

Answer: Burnley

The M65 runs from Bamber Bridge to Colne and helps link the towns of Blackburn, Accrington and Burnley to the M6 and M61. It is 40 miles long and was built between 1981 and 1997 with sections opening all through this period. The stretch from junctions 10 to 11 passes through Burnley and was part of the first section to be opened.

The stretch between junctions 10 and 14 is unusual in that it is managed by Lancashire County Council rather than the Highways Agency who are usually responsible for managing motorways in the UK.

Answer: A66

The A66 is a major route running for 115 miles across Northern England. Much of the route is dual carriageway but a few sections over the Pennines remain single carriageway; there is also a 2-mile stretch near Darlington which is motorway standard and designated as the A66(M).

As well as passing through Middlesbrough, the A66 passes close to the towns of Stockton-on-Tees, Darlington, Penrith, Keswick and Cockermouth.

Answer: Manchester

The 'Mancunian Way' is the southern part of the Manchester Inner Ring Road. The A57(M) is 1.3 miles long and was built in 1965. The A635(M) was built as an extension to the A57(M) in 1992 and is one of the shortest bits of motorway in the UK at just 330 yards long! 'Mancunian' is the demonym associated with Manchester.

Answer: M53

The A58(M), A64(M) and M621 can all be found in Leeds, with the A58(M) and A64(M) in the north of the city and the M621 in the south. The M621 was built between 1972 and 1975, it is 7 miles long and links south Leeds to the M1 and the M62. The A58(M) and the A64(M) form part of the Leeds Inner Ring Road with the A58(M) to the west and the A64(M) to the east.

The A58(M) is 1 mile long and built between 1964 and 1975, making it a very early bit of urban motorway. The A64(M) is shorter at only 0.7 of a mile long and was built in 1975.

Answer: Birmingham

The A38(M) links Birmingham to the M6. It is called the 'Aston Expressway' because it runs through the Aston area in north Birmingham. The A38(M) is an unusually motorway because, rather than having so many lanes in each direction separated by a barrier, it is seven lanes across and uses electronic signs to manage which lanes the traffic can use.

This means that more capacity can be generated at busy times, so for example in the morning rush hour when lots of traffic is heading into Birmingham there can be 4 lanes into the city and only 2 lanes out and vice versa in the evening.

In order to improve safety the traffic is always separated by a lane which is closed in both directions and the speed limit is only 50mph rather than 70mph which is the usual speed for British motorways.

Answer: Bristol

The M32 leaves the M4 at junction 19 and runs for 4.5 miles into the centre of Bristol. It was built in 3 stages with parts opening in 1965, 1970 and 1975.

Answer: St Asaph

The A55 connects the English city of Chester to the port of Holyhead on the island of Anglesey just off the Welsh coast. The A55 originally only ran as far as Bangor but was extended to Holyhead in 2001. It is unusual for a dual carriageway in Britain in that, with the exception of a couple of roundabouts, all the junctions are grade separated motorway style junctions and have junction numbers. Between junctions 27a and 27 the A55 runs very close to the centre of St Asaph. St Asaph was made a city in 2012 to mark Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee despite it being a very small place with a population of fewer 3500 according to the 2001 census.

Answer: M2 and M3

Although the M1 does head towards Belfast it stops on the outskirts; only the M2 and the M3 run through the centre of the city. The M2 runs from north of Belfast into the centre and ends near the docks where it becomes the M3 to cross the River Lagan.

The M3 is a very short motorway at only 0.8 of a mile long and was built in 1998 as an extension of the M2. The reason why it is the M3 not the M2 is because it was originally planned in the 1960s as part of a longer motorway, however the plan was scrapped when the Northern Ireland Parliament was dissolved in 1975 due to the Troubles. Because historically it had been planned as the M3 it was given that number when it was built in 1998.