“Why can’t I drive north on the M6 from Junction 31a?”

It’s a question we’ve been asked by a number of Blog Preston readers.

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To understand the answer we need to go back to the 1990s, when Junction 31a was built.

At the time there was excess pressure at Junction 31, the Samlesbury Interchange, mainly from traffic travelling south.

The solution was to build Junction 31a at East Preston and Longridge. But, with the real demand being for southbound traffic, and budgets being tight, only the southbound route was built.

Read more: Here’s all the Preston roads and pavements due for major repairs

According to Highways England there still isn’t the demand going north, so there are no current plans to build a northbound route at Junction 31a.

Would you use a northbound route at Junction 31a? Do you have any other Preston questions you’d like us to answer? Let us know in the comments below.