Motorways of England Trivia Quiz

Answer: 1959

Although not the very first motorway-standard road in the UK, the M1 was the first designed to take long distance traffic between London and Birmingham- England's two largest cities. Because it was the first motorway of its kind in the UK, two short spur motorways were constructed at either end to help cope with traffic. These were the M45 to Coventry and the former M10 to St Albans.

Answer: M5

The orbital motorway around Birmingham wasn't purpose built and is made up of three motorways in the area which happen to enclose the city.

Answer: M4

The M3 crosses the Thames using the Chertsey Bridge between the traditional counties of Middlesex and Surrey. The M25 crosses the using the Runnymede Bridge between the Buckinghamshire and Surrey, and the M4 uses Thames Bridge between Buckinghamshire and Berkshire. Another bridge often said to carry motorway traffic across the Thames is the QEII bridge between Essex and Kent- theoretically it carries the M25, but technically it's not the M25 at the point. The bridge loses motorway status so that motorway prohibited vehicles can cross it.

The other three do not cross the Thames. The M1 comes nowhere near. The M40 does come within a few miles but runs parallel to the river. The A404(M) almost makes the river but loses its motorway status a few miles south.

Answer: M180

Only the industrial areas of north lincolnshire attracted any attention from the motorway builders, the M180 providing access to the many ports along the Humber and the North Sea. The M18 just misses Lincolnshire, as does the M62 on the north banks of the Humber in Yorkshire.

Answer: Dorset

Dorset, on the south coast of England has no motorways. The M50 reaches into Herefordshire, whilst the M54 provides access to the new town of Telford in Shropshire. The A1(M) passes through Huntingdonshire.

Answer: M59

The M56 passes mostly through Cheshire, the M57 bypasses Liverpool and the M58 brings traffic into Liverpool from the north. The M59 does not exist, as of May 2010.

The other two digit motorways beginning with 5 are the M50, M53, M54 and M55. There is no M51, M52 or M59.

Answer: Cambridge

All four places have universities, and all four have motorways, but only Cambridge sits on the M11. The M40 reaches Oxford, the M4 goes past Reading and the M3 terminates at Southampton.

Answer: M40

The M40 near High Wycombe was used when still under construction in 1967. The M80 is in Scotland, the M20 runs between London and Dover and the M10 acted a spur of the M1 before being downgraded to the A414 in 2009, fifty years after opening in 1959.

Answer: M2

The M2 is only 25 miles long. It was originally planned to carry traffic to Dover and the channel ports from London, but instead that role went to the M20 further south, now effectively making the M2 a bypass of the Medway towns in Kent. The M3 is 60 miles long between London and Southampton.

The M5 runs 163 miles from Birmingham to Exeter in Devon. The M4 is the longest of the four, at 190 miles from London to south Wales passing Bristol.

Answer: A404 (M) and A308 (M)

If ever there were prizes for the most pathetic motorways, these ones would have to qualify. Whilst the M4 runs almost 200 miles, the two connecting motorways run less than a mile each. The A308(M) is just half a mile long and takes traffic from the roundabout at junction 8/9 to another roundabout for Maidenhead town.

The A404(M) acts a western bypass for Maidenhead heading north to High Wycombe, but it loses motorway status just a mile after starting, continuing as an A road. The A329(M) near Reading shows signs of greater things, as it was originally meant to be part of the M31 between Reading and the M3.

It was never built and today the A329(M) is only 4 miles long. The M40 does not meet the M4.