M1 motorway near Flora, Northamptonshire. (September 1973) The M1 is a major north-south motorway in England connecting London to Yorkshire, where it joins the A1(M) near Aberford. While the M1 is considered to be the first inter-urban motorway to be completed in the United Kingdom, the first road to be built to motorway standard in the country was the Preston Bypass, which later became part of the M6. The motorway is 193 miles (310 km) long and was constructed in four phases; the majority of the motorway was opened in 1959 and between 1965 and 1968. The two ends of the motorway were extended later; the southern end in 1977 and the northern end in 1999. It forms part of the unsigned European route E13. 固opFoto / Fortean