Special Road
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

A special road is a road or highway (these terms have different meaning in different jurisdictions in the UK) in the United Kingdom reserved for use by ''special'' classes of traffic; such roads include but are not limited to motorways. For a road to be designated a special road, the status must in England and Wales be provided by a scheme under the
Highways Act 1980 The Highways Act 1980 (c. 66) is an act of Parliament (UK), act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom dealing with the management and operation of the road network in England and Wales. It consolidated with amendments several earlier pieces ...
; in Scotland Special Roads are provided for in the Roads (Scotland) Act 1984; in Northern Ireland, legislation commenced with the Special Roads Act (Northern Ireland) 1963.


The Special Roads Act 1949

The passing of the Special Roads Act 1949 ( 12, 13 & 14 Geo. 6. c. 32) through
Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
allowed authorities in Great Britain to construct roads that were not automatically rights of way for certain types of user. Existing roads were mostly rights of way for all road users, including pedestrians, so it was not possible to build roads designated only for motorised traffic. The Act therefore allowed the construction of
motorway A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway, and expressway. Other similar terms ...
s. The Special Roads Act 1949 was in England and Wales partly repealed by the
Highways Act 1959 Highway Act (with its variations) is a stock short title used in India, the United Kingdom and the United States for legislation relating to highways. India *The National Highways Act, 1956 United Kingdom * The Highways Act 1555 ( 2 & 3 Ph. & ...
( 7 & 8 Eliz. 2. c. 25).


The first special road

The Special Roads Act was first used in the late-1950s to designate the
Preston By-pass The Preston Bypass was the United Kingdom's first motorway, opened in 1958. It was designed and engineered by Lancashire County Council surveyor James Drake as part of a larger initiative to create a north-south motorway network that would l ...
in
Preston, Lancashire Preston () is a city on the north bank of the River Ribble in Lancashire, England. The city is the administrative centre of the county of Lancashire and the wider City of Preston, Lancashire, City of Preston local government district. Preston ...
, now largely part of the
M6 motorway The M6 motorway is the longest motorway in the United Kingdom. It is located entirely within England, running for just over from the Midlands to the border with Scotland. It begins at Junction 19 of the M1 motorway, M1 and the western end of t ...
, as a special road.


Classes of traffic (England and Wales)


Non-motorway special roads

Although the majority of special roads in the UK are also motorways, there are a number of special roads that are not motorways. Quite a number of these are
toll bridge A toll bridge is a bridge where a monetary charge (or '' toll'') is required to pass over. Generally the private or public owner, builder and maintainer of the bridge uses the toll to recoup their investment, in much the same way as a toll road ...
s, and several others are former motorways which have since been downgraded. In order to charge a toll on a newly built road, special road regulations are usually necessary. In addition, a small number of non-motorway special roads are relatively newly built dual-carriageway roads, such as the A1 Dual Carriageway east of Edinburgh and parts of the A720 Edinburgh bypass, or parts of the A55 in
North Wales North Wales ( ) is a Regions of Wales, region of Wales, encompassing its northernmost areas. It borders mid Wales to the south, England to the east, and the Irish Sea to the north and west. The area is highly mountainous and rural, with Snowdon ...
. These particular roads have many of the same regulations as motorways, apart from the speed limit regulations, since that only applies to special roads which are also motorways. The usual speed limit regulations that apply to all-purpose roads do not apply to special roads, so a non-motorway special road must define a speed limit as part of its Statutory Instrument.


References

{{reflist
Special Special or specials may refer to: Policing * Specials, Ulster Special Constabulary, the Northern Ireland police force * Specials, Special Constable, an auxiliary, volunteer, or temporary; police worker or police officer * Special police forces ...