Road Lengths
in Great Britain
The Department for Transport have collected statistics on the estimated lengths of all roads maintained at public expense in Great Britain since the early 1900's.
These roadways fall into three main categories:
Motorways
A-roads
Minor roads
Motorways can be distinguished by large volumes of traffic moving at high speed, multiple lanes, a lack of pedestrians and cyclists, a hard shoulder, and blue signage; A-roads may retain the high speed and similar levels of traffic, but the signage is green and there's (typically) only two lanes; the minor roads are everything else - distributor roads which have far lower traffic densities and get you from local streets onto main roads.
Scroll down to see how Britain's road network has grown in size since the early 1900's.
Vehicle pictured: Fiat 502
Miles of minor roads: 0
Miles of A-roads: 0
Miles of motorway: 0
Total:
0
That's the same as travelling from Land's End to John o' Groats over 200 times.
Also In This Year
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Also in this year
- Troops from France and Belgium occupy the Ruhr area, to force Germany to make reparations payments.
- Louis Armstrong makes his first recording, "Chimes Blues".
- Prince Albert (later George VI) marries Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon (later The Queen Mother) in Westminster Abbey.
- The Hollywood Sign is inaugurated in California.
- Vehicles on UK roads would all be sporting dateless registrations in this year.
Vehicle pictured: Austin A40 Devon
Miles of minor roads: 0
Miles of A-roads: 0
Miles of motorway: 0
Total:
0
That's over 7 times around the Earth (24,901 miles for one lap).
Also In This Year
X
Also in this year
- SAAB produces its first automobile.
- A supposedly downed extraterrestrial spacecraft is reportedly found in the Roswell UFO incident, near Roswell, New Mexico.
- Princess Elizabeth (later Elizabeth II), marries The Duke of Edinburgh.
- Captain Chuck Yeager flies a Bell X-1 rocket plane faster than the speed of sound.
- Vehicles on UK roads would all be sporting dateless registrations in this year.
Vehicle pictured: Jaguar Mark 2
Miles of minor roads: 0
Miles of A-roads: 0
Miles of motorway: 0
Total:
0
That's equivalent to flying from London to Sydney 18 times.
Also In This Year
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Also in this year
- Christopher Cockerell's invention, the hovercraft, is officially launched.
- A plane transporting musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper crashes killing all on board.
- Mattel's Barbie doll debuts in the United States.
- The Xerox 914, the first plain paper copier, is introduced to the public.
- Vehicles on UK roads would all be sporting dateless registrations in this year.
Vehicle pictured: Opel GT
Miles of minor roads: 0
Miles of A-roads: 0
Miles of motorway: 0
Total:
0
That's the same distance as over 400 trips to the International Space Station... and back again.
Also In This Year
X
Also in this year
- Manchester United wins the European Cup Final, becoming the first English team to do so.
- The BBC broadcast Dad's Army for the first time.
- Martin Luther King Jr. is shot dead at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee.
- NASA launches Apollo 7, the first manned Apollo mission.
- New vehicles on UK roads would be sporting suffix registrations in this year - specifically G reg for 1968.
Vehicle pictured: Audi Quattro
Miles of minor roads: 0
Miles of A-roads: 0
Miles of motorway: 0
Total:
0
Travelling at 70mph, non-stop, this distance would take you 125 days to cover.
Also In This Year
X
Also in this year
- The Audi Quattro, a four-wheel drive sporting coupe, is launched in West Germany.
- The Empire Strikes Back is released in the United States and Pac-Man is released in Japan.
- Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher delivers her famous "The lady's not for turning" speech.
- John Lennon is murdered by Mark David Chapman.
- New vehicles on UK roads would be sporting suffix registrations in this year - specifically W reg for 1980.
Vehicle pictured: Peugeot 306
Miles of minor roads: 0
Miles of A-roads: 0
Miles of motorway: 0
Total:
0
That's further than travelling from Earth to the Moon (238,900 miles).
Also In This Year
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Also in this year
- Czechoslovakia ceases to exist, separating into the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
- Bill Clinton is sworn in as the 42nd President of the United States.
- The Maastricht Treaty takes effect, formally establishing the European Union.
- The big summer blockbuster was Jurassic Park.
- New vehicles on UK roads would be sporting prefix registrations in this year - specifically L reg for 1993.
Vehicle pictured: Suzuki Swift
Miles of minor roads: 0
Miles of A-roads: 0
Miles of motorway: 0
Total:
0
That's enough for a trip round Saturn (a circumference of 235,298 miles).
Also In This Year
X
Also in this year
- Millennium celebrations take place across the world. The Millennium Dome is officially opened by HM The Queen.
- Production of the Ford Escort, one of Britain's most successful and iconic motoring nameplates, finishes after 32 years.
- The PlayStation 2 is released in Japan.
- The first resident crew enters the International Space Station.
- BMW sells the bulk of the Rover Group (the Rover and MG marques) to the Phoenix Consortium, while it retains the rights to the Mini marque, and sells Land Rover to Ford.
- New vehicles on UK roads would be sporting prefix registrations in this year - specifically W or X reg for 2000.
Vehicle pictured: Audi A1
Miles of minor roads: 0
Miles of A-roads: 0
Miles of motorway: 0
Total:
0
That's an additional 67,658 miles of roadway constructed since 1923 - ten laps of the moon!
Also In This Year
X
Also in this year
- The tallest man-made structure to date, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, is officially opened.
- The Deepwater Horizon oil drilling platform explodes in the Gulf of Mexico, creating one of the largest oil spills in history.
- Confectionery giant Cadbury was taken over by American rival Kraft Foods.
- A cloud of volcanic ash from the eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland caused the closure of airspace over the UK and much of north western Europe.
- New vehicles on UK roads would be sporting new style registrations in this year - specifically 10 or 60 series reg for 2010.
Vehicle pictured: Ferrari 812 Superfast
Miles of minor roads: 0
Miles of A-roads: 0
Miles of motorway: 0
Total:
0
That's 90% of a trip around Jupiter (the largest planet in our solar system at 272,946 miles).
Also In This Year
X
Also in this year
- Donald Trump becomes the 45th President of the United States.
- The Leonardo da Vinci painting, Salvator Mundi, sells for $450 million - a new record price for any work of art.
- Cassini–Huygens ends its 13-year mission by plunging into Saturn, becoming the first spacecraft to enter the planet's atmosphere.
- The new twelve-sided £1 coin is released.
- New vehicles on UK roads would be sporting new style registrations in this year - specifically 17 or 67 series reg for 2017.
Data and sources for the above can be found here.