Kudos to The Quiet Man for sending me some links to a fascinating documentary from the BBC on the history of the British Motorway system (the equivalent to our Interstate system over here.) It took the better part of three days for me to get through two parts but it sucked me right in and the result was a compelling, fascinating documentary on how the rise of the Motorway impacted and changed culture in the United Kingdom forever.
The first motorway opened in 1958 (the M1) and they took off from there- Part One mainly focuses on the development of them (the concept had been around since the 30s but the war and then the recovery from the war put them on the back burner- an interesting parallel to our own Interstate Highway system which developed over a similar timeline) and the massive construction efforts especially on the stretch of the M62 that goes over the Pennines in the north of England. A seven mile stretch (I think I remember driving this one vacation. Stunning landscape- one place in Britain I've seen that could be considered desolate) of the road had to be built at some of the highest elevations in Britain, parts of it were in a peat bog and the weather conditions were truly brutal- especially in winter. It took seven years to complete- and today traversing it takes about seven minutes or so. (They also spend time on the massive Spaghetti Junction, where three Motorways meet in Birmingham. It's not the only Spaghetti Junction out there- but a nice bonus was finally figuring out that the 80/35 and 80/235 interchanges in Des Moines were the 'Mixmasters' that the DM Register always refers to on their Twitter feed. I feel less stupid now.)
Part Two of the documentary focuses on how the culture changed because of the Motorways. The rise of commuting sparked an exodus of the middle class away from the cities, some to the specially constructed 'New Towns' like Milton Keynes but others to smaller towns and villages strategically located not too far from a Motorway. This in turn, helped to revitalize large swathes of rural England while in turn spurring businesses and shopping malls to spring up along Motorways as well.
The rise of commuting, of course, lead to a boom in radio culture (because what else are you going to do in a car for so long) which in turn lead to drive time radio, traffic information (now mainly handled via text, CCTV and the internet) and of course- because you need something to eat now and again, the service stations. Service stations are probably the most unique thing about British motorways- imagine if every rest area was a gas station/restaurant/truck stop- a little like the DeKalb Oasis outside of Chicago and you'd be getting close. But British service stations take pride in their food, cleanliness (they interview two toilet reviewers. Seriously- they hand out 'Loo Of The Year' awards) and generally wallow in British-ness. (It was a Motorway service station that I first encountered the phenomenon known as mushy peas. Needless to say, I wasn't impressed.)
Tragically, it seems that the copyright infringement police caught up with the wonderful YouTuber that posted the links to this documentary and it was removed before I managed to watch Part 3- which deals with the rise of the road protest movement in Britain.
But the two thirds I did see were AWESOME! It inspired me to do a little Wikipedia reading on our own Interstate system- and I think if the BBC is looking for a sequel, The Secret Life of The Interstate might be a great place to start. (Random facts I didn't know: the Eisenhower Interstate system took thirty five years to complete and cost $425 billion which makes it the most expensive public works project since Pyramids. I-80 was only completed in 1986, I-90 in 1991 and the whole darn thing wrapped up in 1992. Missouri, Kansas and Pennsylvania all lay claim to building the first interstate.)
I loved this documentary- sometimes it's the little things you take for granted that are the most fascinating to learn about... one of these days, I'm going to have to dig up the third part of this documentary and finish out my viewing experience.
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