BACKPAGE
LANCASTER BYPASS
IT IS HARD to imagine a time when
the UK wasn’t criss-crossed with
congested motorways.
But less than 50 years ago, if
you wanted to travel the length and
breadth of the country, you had to
do so on single-carriageway roads.
Here The Engineer reported on
the completion of the Lancaster
Bypass, an 11.5-mile stretch of
road by-passing the city of Lancaster,
and forming a small part of
what eventually became the
UK’s longest motorway, the M6.
Further South, motorists were
already able to sample the delights
of ‘motor-road’ driving on the
Preston Bypass, an eight-mile
stretch of road that was the first
82
THIS WEEK IN… 1960
length of motorway in the country.
It was, reported the magazine,
a considerable engineering challenge.
‘The road climbs to a maximum
height of about 300ft above
sea level, with views over the sea
and the Lakeland hills. The highest
embankment is just over 40ft,
and the deepest cut about 30ft.
The total quantity of excavation
was about 1.7 million cubic
yards, including over 160,000
cubic yards of peat.’
In a rather quaint estimation of
future traffic increases, the magazine
reported: ‘Like the earlier road,
it has dual two-lane carriageways
with a central reservation wide
enough to allow widening to a
dual three-lane road should this
PRIZE CROSSWORD For The Engineer Brainteaser subscribe to our email newsletter at www.theengineer.co.uk
When completed rearrange the highlighted squares to spell out an instrument used
for obtaining specimens of water from any depth. The first correct answer received
will win a £20 Borders voucher. Email your answer to jon.excell@centaur.co.uk
Across
1 Hanging down as from weakness (6)
4 Deep fissure (8)
10 Breaks into pieces (9)
11 Substitute for a professional workman (5)
12 Synthetic silk-like fabric (5)
13 Brief event in which two or more bodies come together (9)
14 Acts of removing solid particles from a liquid (14)
18 Preventing from happening (7, 3, 4)
20 Thin case for carrying loose papers or drawings (9)
22 Of the highest quality (5)
24 Complete reversal of direction of travel (1-4)
25 Skilfulness derived from practice (9)
26 Illumination yielded by the combustion of a light fuel (8)
27 Wipe out digitally recorded information (6)
Down
1 Common optical phenomenon (8)
2 Reproductive structure (5)
3 Difference in electrical charge between two points in a circuit (9)
5 Energy produced after an action (9, 5)
6 Minute hairlike projections on a membrane (5)
7 Built in several distinct units (9)
8 Expensive white fur (6)
9 Control device operated through rubbing between two parts (8, 6)
15 Tanks for keeping live fish (9)
16 With regard to fundamentals but not details (2, 7)
17 Infringe on the rights of (8)
19 Said of a spar that has been cracked (6)
21 Taxonomic kingdom (5)
23 Sudden outburst of anger (5)
measure be needed in the future.’
They could not have anticipated
that 50 years on, despite various
road-widening schemes and the
creation of the M6 toll road, the
Last issue’s solution
Across: 1 Terraced, 6 Dirt, 8
Spiraea, 9 Insides, 11 Perpetual
motion, 12 Rota, 13 Wavelength,
17 Hydrometer, 18 Halo, 20
Recording studio, 23 Elevate, 24
Narrows, 25 Stub, 26 Maypoles.
The solution to the Prize Crossword will appear in the next
issue of The Engineer. Last issue’s winner is Jacqui Caulfield
who wins a £20 Borders Voucher
motorway that is now regarded as
the most congested in the UK, is
often slower than the ancient country
lanes that snake alongside it.
Jon Excell
Down: 2 Emigrated, 3 Reader, 4
Coagulate, 5 Drill, 6 Discover, 7
Radii, 8 Supercharge, 10 Synchronous,
14 Emergency, 15
Grandiose, 16 Doorjamb, 19
Stereo, 21 Cleat, 22 I-beam.
Highlighted solution: SUPERHEAT.
the EnGIneeR 21 APRIL–4 MAY 2008
To view a Ceros magazine you need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser and have the flash player 8 or higher installed. To install the latest flash player, click the icon above, install the flash plugin and then click here to refresh this page.