Lancashire has a tremendous history of highways from the Romans, through the Turnpike age to the modern day era. Just a brief description is given here but use the menu at the left to find out in detail about the subject of your choice.
Roman Roads
Lancashire has of some the most spectacular Roman roads in the country. Online we have one of the most comprehensive reviews of recent times with many aerial photos, contour maps and old Ordnance Survey map extracts.
Turnpike Roads
The story of these, the first major roads after the Romans, is told in detail by a former Deputy County Surveyor.
The East Lancs. Road, A580
This was the country's first purpose-built intercity highway and was opened by King George V in 1934. This page features the original opening brochure.
Road Plan for Lancashire 1949
This visionary Road Plan was produced by Lancashire County Council in 1949 and is frequently referenced in the Motorway section below. The first chapter of the book is online here.
Motorways
The Motorway era began in Lancashire and Lancashire County Council was at the forefront of their design and construction. The Preston By-pass section of the M6 was actually the country's first motorway and was opened in December 1958.
Here we seek to publish the story of the construction of these pioneering roads as told by the actual civil engineers' responsible. As such they are personal reminiscences and do not therefore necessarily represent the views of Lancashire County Council.
Photo Gallery
A new section where it is planned to show a selection of the more interesting images from the archive.
Forum
We would like to know your views about Lancashire's historic highways, and welcome your comments and discussions in our Historic Highways Forum.
Finally, not a lot of People know this!
Lancashire has an impressive list of firsts. First White Lines - Yorkshire may have invented cats-eyes but white lines were a Lancashire invention; First County to erect sign-posts; First to enforce "Rule of the Road" - forerunner of the Highway Code; First Inter-City Highway - East Lancs Road Liverpool to Manchester; First Motorway - Preston Bypass M6.
Lancashire Historic Highways
