MT 126/47

Urban motorways: provision of local direct signs; policy

Date range	1967-1974
Location	National Archives (see all files stored here)
Catalogue	See entry
File base	Series MT, subseries MT 126

Context

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, there was an intention that funding for road construction would switch from rural inter-urban routes to urban roads in the seventies. This never came to pass, but there is a lot of preparation for it happening in the run-up to the change, and this file is a small corner of that.

The Ministry of Transport wanted to investigate the possibility of signposting local (white sign) destinations from urban motorways, at selected exits only and on roads where a certain proportion of traffic was making local journeys. Much of this file is the consultation exercise carried out on that subject.

Not a great deal ever came of this, but it mentions that two authorisations were made - for the M621 and one of the motorways around Manchester - for black-on-white blue-border signs on the motorway mainline. There was also consideration given to signs for the NEC at Birmingham which were also to be in the same form.

Contents of note

• List of local authority motorways, presumably included as a means of identifying likely candidates for local signage, which lists those that are open, those under construction and those in the preparation pool. It notes that the A40(M), M41 and A102(M) Blackwall Tunnel Southern Approach are only restricted to motorway traffic classes by GLC order.
• Some correspondence about NEC signs lists the adjacent motorway, then in planning, as part of the M50.
• An approved design for an urban gantry sign face, with local destinations incorporated, which looks strikingly similar to Glasgow-type gantry signs.

Links to other files

MT 95/540 Overhead gantry signs: policy (1960-1971)

MT 118/340 Motorway sign and sign/signal gantries: standard design (1968-1974)

People with camera copies

Chris Marshall has a partial copy.