The M1 runs 193 miles from London to Leeds through 48 junctions, and the Department for Transport measures it at 97 separate points. These pages help you find the part of it you actually drive.

Maps of the M1

• Live M1 Traffic Flow Map
• Map of the M1 motorway junctions

The busiest junctions on the M1

Each of these pages carries the official traffic counts for that stretch alongside the traffic news affecting it:

• M1 Junction 42 to Junction 43 (Lofthouse / Leeds) — 159,683 vehicles a day
• M1 Junction 7 to Junction 8 (St Albans / Hemel Hempstead) — 158,937 vehicles a day
• M1 Junction 21 to Junction 21A (Leicester / M69) — 157,403 vehicles a day
• M1 Junction 31 to Junction 32 (Aston / Thurcroft) — 155,303 vehicles a day
• M1 Junction 23A to Junction 24 (East Midlands Airport) — 131,396 vehicles a day
• M1 Junction 16 to Junction 17 (Northampton / Watford Gap) — 120,092 vehicles a day
• M1 Junction 10 to 11 (Luton Airport)
• M1 Junction 19 (Catthorpe, M6 & A14)
• M1 Junction 47 to 48 (A1(M) Merge)

Why these six

Four of them are among the six busiest measured stretches of the M1. The other two were chosen because they are different rather than simply big: junctions 16 to 17 carries a higher proportion of lorries than anywhere else on the motorway, and junctions 23A to 24 runs alongside the UK’s busiest dedicated air-freight airport. Between them they cover the London end, Northamptonshire, Leicestershire, the East Midlands, South Yorkshire and Leeds.

For the whole motorway, see how busy the M1 is junction by junction and where the lorries are.

Traffic figures on this page are Department for Transport road traffic statistics, annual average daily flow for 2025, both directions combined. Annual average daily flow counts how many vehicles use a stretch across the year. It does not measure how fast they travel, so the busiest stretch is not automatically the slowest.

Where the M1 links to other roads

Three more junction pages cover the places where the M1 hands traffic to another major road, rather than its busiest stretches:

• M1 Junction 10 to Junction 11 (Luton / Luton Airport) — the A1081 to the airport and the junction for Luton town
• M1 Junction 19 (Catthorpe: M6 and A14) — where the M6 and the A14 begin
• M1 Junction 47 to Junction 48 (The A1(M) Merge) — where the M1 ends and becomes the A1(M)

For every road that links the M1 with the A1 and A1(M), with the junction at each end, see the M1 and A1 link roads guide.