Motorway Database

You are here: Home - Motorway Database - M10

SignSignSignSignSignSignSign

Location mapThe original southbound distributor for the M1. The reason the seemingly unimportant M10 exists goes right back to when this bit of the M1 opened in 1959. There were no other connections (there were, for that matter, barely any other motorways) so all the M1's traffic had to return to the old road network. There was no way that any road in the vicinity could cope with six lanes of high speed traffic being dumped onto it. So at each end, a spur was built heading off towards a popular destination, with the hope that lots of traffic could be removed from the road before it slammed into the terminal roundabout. In the north, the M45 diverted traffic onto the A45 to Birmingham; in the south the M10 dropped traffic at the A414 and A405, the predecessors to the M25.

Today the M10 is a bit redundant, forming a third of a St. Albans bypass. Ideally it would continue a bit further to connect to the M25, to alleviate congestion at the M1/M25 interchange.

When the M1 is upgraded to four lanes, the M10 will vanish. Since most traffic now uses it as a section of the A414, leaving at the next junction up, a link road will be constructed alongside the M1 and the A414 will then continue on what is now the M10, up the new road and onto the next section of A414 at junction 8. It will be quite sad to see the M10, one of the first motorways to open, disappear.

Factfile

Start Potters Crouch (M1)
Finish Park Street (A414)
Passes St Albans (nearly)
Length 3 miles
Terminates None
Spurs None
Meets None

Images

Views of the M10 from on and off the road. If you have a photo to contribute, contact me.

There are presently no images in this section.

Construction Timeline

When the various parts of the M10 were built, listed in chronological order.

Open Section
1959 Entire motorway

Exit List

All the junctions and destinations along the route.

Westbound               Eastbound
The NORTH
Luton
M1 Image
ImageImageImageImageImageImageImage
M1 WEST
Fork
M1 N/A
3 miles, 2 lanes Image Image 3 miles, 2 lanes
N/A










ImageImageImageImageImage
A405

A5183









Roundabout
A414
EAST
A5183









St Albans
A5183

Hatfield
A414

Radlett
A5183

Chiswell Green
A405
ImageImageImageImageImage