Watford Gap, 6pm. Rush hour on the M1. Except, because this is the M1, nothing is rushing. Nothing is even moving. Static necklaces of red and white lights drape the hills. Inside the services weary commuters drink cappuccinos between ketchup carousels and chewable toothbrush dispensers.

Suddenly, there is a commotion. A ceremonial signpost is being set up in the car park. One hand reads “North”, the other “South”. At the moment they point East-West. “It’s meant to be a tourist attraction,” explains Neil Byard, Watford’s station manager. “People can have their picture taken beside it. Like at Land’s End.” Do they get many tourists at Watford Gap? Neil looks disconsolate. “No. Not many.”

Despite the tat and the traffic jams, all that is changing. The M1 is increasingly being viewed as an icon rather than an eyesore; a 193-mile monument to motoring. In the past month alone it has featured in documentaries, Facebook appreciation societies and has even starred on stage in Watford Gap — The Musical!

Surprising though it may seem today, the M1 was once used to this level of adulation. As commuter Gavin Maxwell remembers: “Its opening was extremely exciting. I was 6. This was a very big event for a car-mad boy.”

It wasn’t only six-year-olds who were enthusiastic. In those days, motorway creation was a triumph rather than a tragedy and in 1959 an eager nation gathered round TV sets to watch the opening of “Motorway One”. Its influence was huge, changing not only the landscape but also the language of the nation: the term “Watford Gap”, which originally referred to the break in the hills through which the M1 ran, came to denote less a geographical than a sociological divide. It wasn’t just the road that appealed; the Watford Gap Services, with their “fine dining” and uniformed hostesses, were a cult destination.

Unsurprisingly, perhaps, many remain M1 sceptics. To balance the celebratory Facebook site there is also one called “I Hate the M1 Motorway and anything to do with it!!!” Others feel dubious about its celebrity status. As 13-year-old Izzie Williams, on her way back home from half-term in Leeds, puts it: “It’s all right here. But I can’t imagine Beyoncé coming to the Watford Gap. I’m not sure it would be her sort of place.”