The M62 motorway, stretching 107 miles from Liverpool to Hull via Manchester and Leeds, rises to 1,221ft (372 metres) above sea level at Junction 22 on Saddleworth Moor, making it the highest motorway in the United Kingdom. Built at a cost of approximately £765 million in today's money, the road opened in stages between 1971 and 1976 and now carries thousands of commuters, holidaymakers, and freight vehicles daily.
Engineering Feat Across the Pennines
First proposed in the 1930s as a better route linking Lancashire and Yorkshire, construction began decades later. Engineers blasted through rock, created Scammonden Reservoir, and built bridges to withstand harsh Pennine conditions. The M62's chief engineer, Geoffrey Hunter, said in the BBC Four documentary The Secret Life of the Motorway that the original aim was to build a road that would stay open year-round, even in severe winter weather.
Notorious Weather Disruption
Despite those ambitions, the M62 remains notorious for weather-related disruption. During the Beast from the East in 2018, thousands of vehicles became stranded as heavy snow and blizzard conditions swept across Saddleworth Moor. Windy Hill, a well-known stretch, regularly experiences strong gusts, thick fog, heavy rain, and snowfall, often within hours.
Stott Hall Farm: A Geological Quirk
One of the motorway's most unusual sights is Stott Hall Farm, an isolated farmhouse sitting between the eastbound and westbound carriageways. Contrary to popular belief that the owners refused to sell, engineers discovered a geological fault beneath the property, making it simpler and safer to leave the farmhouse standing than to demolish it.
Enduring Importance
More than 50 years after it first opened, the M62 remains one of Britain's most important roads, linking the east and west coasts while crossing some of England's highest and most challenging landscape.
