The M50 is a motorway in

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Shropshire, Staffordshire, and the West Midlands (county), West ...

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( , ; abbreviated Glos.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Herefordshire to the north-west, Worcestershire to the north, Warwickshire to the north-east, Oxfordshire ...

, and

Herefordshire Herefordshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England, bordered by Shropshire to the north, Worcestershire to the east, Gloucestershire to the south-east, and the Welsh ...

, England. Sometimes referred to as the ''Ross Spur'', it is a connection of the

M5 motorway The M5 is a motorway in England linking the Midlands with the South West England, South West. It runs from junction 8 of the M6 motorway, M6 at West Bromwich near Birmingham to Exeter in Devon. Heading south-west, the M5 runs east of West Brom ...

to a point near

Ross-on-Wye Ross-on-Wye is a market town and civil parish in Herefordshire, England, near the border with Wales. It had a population estimated at 10,978 in 2021. It lies in the south-east of the county, on the River Wye and on the northern edge of the Fore ...

, where it joins the

A40 road The A40 is a trunk road which runs between London and Goodwick (Fishguard), Wales, and officially called The London to Fishguard Trunk Road (A40) in all legal documents and Acts. Much of its length within England has been superseded by motorw ...

continuing westward into

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

. The motorway was fully opened in 1962.

Route

The M50 runs between junction 8 of the

, NNE of

Tewkesbury Tewkesbury ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the north of Gloucestershire, England. The town grew following the construction of Tewkesbury Abbey in the twelfth century and played a significant role in the Wars of the Roses. It stands at ...

on the

border; and the junction with the A449, the A40 and the A465 ("Heads of the Valleys Road") taking traffic into

South Wales South Wales ( ) is a Regions of Wales, loosely defined region of Wales bordered by England to the east and mid Wales to the north. Generally considered to include the Historic counties of Wales, historic counties of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire ( ...

. Leaving the M5 at junction 8, it passes north of Tewkesbury then south of Ledbury. Between junctions 1 and 2 chiefly for these towns respectively, it crosses the

River Severn The River Severn (, ), at long, is the longest river in Great Britain. It is also the river with the most voluminous flow of water by far in all of England and Wales, with an average flow rate of at Apperley, Gloucestershire. It rises in t ...

on the Queenhill Bridge and Viaduct over the

flood plain A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river. Floodplains stretch from the banks of a river channel to the base of the enclosing valley, and experience flooding during periods of high Discharge (hydrolog ...

. After passing north of

Newent Newent (; originally called "Noent") is a market town and civil parish in the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire, England. The town is north-west of Gloucester. Its population was 5,073 at the 2001 census, rising to 5,207 in 2011, The population ...

, the motorway terminates at junction 4.

History

Ripple 2 M50 Motorway under construction railway overbridge1717855 72b7f8b9

The construction works for the M50 were let under four contracts: * Contract 1 was awarded to Tarmac Construction * Contracts 2 and 3 were awarded to R M Douglas Construction * Contract 4 was awarded to A E Farr Ltd Both contracts were undertaken between 1958 and 1962: On 3 March 1958, Harold Watkinson, the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation fired a starting flare during the inauguration ceremony in Herefordshire to signal the start of construction of the M50. Junctions 1 to 4 opened in 1960 and the section between the M5 to junction 1 opened in 1962. The route forms a strategic (that is, trunk or main) route from

the Midlands The Midlands is the central region of England, to the south of Northern England, to the north of southern England, to the east of Wales, and to the west of the North Sea. The Midlands comprises the ceremonial counties of Derbyshire, Herefords ...

and northern Britain to South Wales (also including the A449 and A40 and so was constructed as an early priority.) It is one of the few British motorways not to have been widened, instead retaining its original layout of two lanes in each direction.

Murder of Marie Wilks

In 1988, a woman was abducted from the hard shoulder of the M50 and found murdered three miles further up the motorway.

Junctions

Data from driver location signs are used to provide distance and carriageway identifier information. {, class="wikitable" , - style="background:#0080d0; text-align:center; color:white; font-size:120%;" , colspan="6" , M50 motorway junctions , - ! mile , km ! Eastbound exits (B carriageway) ! Junction ! Westbound exits (A carriageway) ! Coordinates , - style="text-align:center;" , 0.0 , 0.0 , The Midlands, Worcester, Birmingham, The South West,

, Bristol M5 , M5, J8
''Terminus'' , ''Start of motorway'' , , - style="text-align:center;" , 1.7 , 2.8 ,

A38 , J1 , Malvern A38 , , - style="text-align:center;" , 10.9 , 17.5 ,

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city, non-metropolitan district and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West England, South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean ...

A417 , J2 , Ledbury A417

Hereford Hereford ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of the ceremonial county of Herefordshire, England. It is on the banks of the River Wye and lies east of the border with Wales, north-west of Gloucester and south-west of Worcester. With ...

(A438) , , - style="text-align:center;" , 18.0 , 28.9 ,

B4221 , J3 , Newent B4221 , , - style="text-align:center;" , 21.6 , 34.7 , ''Start of motorway'' , J4
''Terminus'' ,

Monmouth Monmouth ( or ; ) is a market town and community (Wales), community in Monmouthshire, Wales, situated on where the River Monnow joins the River Wye, from the Wales–England border. The population in the 2011 census was 10,508, rising from 8 ...

, Ledbury,

A449 ,

Services

After both ends of the M50 are motorway service stations: *

Strensham services Strensham services is a motorway service station on the M5 in Worcestershire, England. It is operated by Roadchef. In August 2011, it was rated as 4 stars (southbound) and 3 stars (northbound) by quality assessors at Visit England. Unusual ...

operated by RoadChef, north of the M50's northeastern terminus (unnamed, nominally 0) junction with junction 8 of the M5. *

Esso Esso () is a trading name for ExxonMobil. Originally, the name was primarily used by its predecessor Standard Oil of New Jersey after the breakup of the original Standard Oil company in 1911. The company adopted the name "Esso" (from the phon ...

garage on the combined short section of the A449 road and A40 remains westbound.

History

Instead of the latter, beyond junction 4 was a larger Ross Spur Services operated by Welcome Break which closed in the 2000s.

Descriptions

The starting junction (junction 8 of the M5) was originally a free-flowing trumpet-style, then converted to a roundabout with M5 flyover when the M5 was widened in the 1990s. Junction 1, where the M50 meets the A38, is a

partial cloverleaf A partial cloverleaf interchange or parclo is a modification of a cloverleaf interchange. The design has been well received, and has since become one of the most popular freeway-to-arterial road, arterial Interchange (road), interchange designs ...

. Junction 2 has full slips roads from the deceleration lane into the slip roads save the kinked eastbound exit to local roads. Junction 3 consists of dual-carriageway-style 90° exits due to cost, low traffic volume and the style of road; however this has been the scene of various accidents. The long disused railway bridge over the motorway which carried the Tewkesbury and Malvern Railway was dismantled in 2012 and donated to the Bluebell Railway.

References

External links

Motorway Archive – M50Pathetic Motorways – M50
{{DEFAULTSORT:5-0050 Motorways in England Transport in Gloucestershire Transport in Herefordshire Roads in Worcestershire

Route

History

Murder of Marie Wilks

Junctions

Services

History

Descriptions

See also

References

External links