The Catthorpe Interchange

The Catthorpe Interchange is a major motorway and trunk road junction in the Midlands, named after the nearby village of Catthorpe. It marks the starting point of the M6 and the A14, meeting at Junction 19 of the M1.

Originally constructed as a fork junction where the M1 and M6 split (with the local route running underneath), it was adapted during construction of the A14 in 1994. Due to budget constraints, a simple roundabout interchange was built, using the local road to link together the major routes. As such the junction became quickly overloaded and remains a accident blackspot and regular point of congestion. In 2014 works began to adapt the junction to replace the roundabout with limited free-flow links. The links to the local road and between the M6 and M1 north have now been closed.

The link road from the M1 to the M6 (direction not known) was used to film an episode of Z-Cars, which was recorded before the road opened. That footage is possibly the earliest film of the motorway network here recorded.