M180 motorway

The M180 is a short but major 25-mile motorway from from junction 5 on the M18 motorway in Yorkshire to a point close to Humberside Airport in Lincolnshire. The eastern end of the motorway is some five miles from the ports of Immingham and Grimsby and the east coast and provides access for major routes to Cleethorpes, Grimsby, Hull (via the Humber Bridge), Immingham, Lincoln, Scunthorpe and also provides major access for Humberside Airport and the Killingholme Oil Refineries; Humber Oil Refinery and Lindsey Oil Refinery. It is the longest motorway in the United Kingdom to carry a three digit number.

History

Plan of the M180 and A180

Planning and construction

The motorway bypass around Brigg was discussed for many years, but the Flixborough explosion gave it more importance, and was built three years later in 1977 as the second section of the motorway. At this time the A15 ran through Hibaldstow and Redbourne to Brigg, and the junction with the motorway was at Castlethorpe Corner, about a mile east of the current A15 junction on the line of the Roman Ermine Street. The initial, and somewhat diminutive section of the motorway was the short-lived A18(M) also known as the Tudworth Link, which connected the roundabout junction with the M18 to the A18/A614. The easterly A18(M) sliproad is still used, though the original roundabout at junction 1 has now been replaced by a bridge close to Tudworth Hall Farm. The last section to be built was the Trent viaduct, opened in October 1979 by Kenneth Clarke, despite being 43 weeks late on account of strikes and bad weather.

The motorway is built to dual three-lane standard for most of its duration (aside from a short dual two-lane section past Scunthorpe), and is quite straight and flat.

The M180 has its own spur – the M181. While the M180 has to make do with a roundabout junction with the M18, its spur has a large, freeflowing trumpet interchange. At the start of the M180 are the Doncaster North services. Doncaster North

A180 extension

It was extended in the 1980s to trunk-road standard as the A180 which is a two lane dual carriageway which continues on to Grimsby and Cleethorpes. In its early planning stages, it was to be numbered the A18.

The £18 million six-mile section from Brigg to Ulceby (A160) was opened on 29 March 1983 by Lynda Chalker, Baroness Chalker of Wallasey, and the £21 million seven-mile section from Ulceby to Grimsby opened in late 1983.

Junctions

M180 motorway junctions
Westbound exits (B carriageway)	Junction	Eastbound exits (A carriageway)	Coordinates
Yorkshire
Doncaster, Sheffield M18 Doncaster North services	M18, J5 Terminus Services	Start of motorway	53°35’31"N, 0°59’0"W
No access	J1	Thorne A18 Hatfield A614	53°35’31"N, 0°58’12"W
Lincolnshire
Goole, Epworth, Crowle A161	J2	Epworth, Crowle A161	53°34’10"N, 0°49’6"W
Scunthorpe (West) M181	J3	Scunthorpe (West) M181	53°33’24"N, 0°42’45"W
Lincoln A15 Scunthorpe (East) A18	J4	Lincoln A15 Scunthorpe (East), Brigg A18	53°32’39"N, 0°33’29"W
Start of motorway	J5	Humber Bridge, Hull A15	53°35’2"N, 0°25’22"W
Humber Bridge, Hull A15 Non-motorway traffic		Road continues as A180 to Grimsby and Cleethorpes

Outside links

• Pathetic Motorways – M180
• UK Motorway Archive.