A6
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| A6 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| From: | Luton | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| To: | Carlsie | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Length: | 299 miles (481.2 km) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Meets: | M1, M61, M6, A1081, A14 A50, A38, A591, A590, A7 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Primary Destinations | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bedford • Buxton • Carlisle • Derby • Kendal • Kettering • Lancaster • Leicester • Loughborough • Luton • Manchester • Market Harborough • Matlock • Penrith • Preston • Stockport • | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Highways Authorities | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Highways Agency • Cumbria • Derby • Lancashire • Leicester • Manchester • Salford | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Traditional Counties | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Bedfordshire • Cheshire • Cumberland • Derbyshire • | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Contents |
Route
Section 1: Luton - Bedford
The A6 used to start in High Barnet, Herts., at what is now the junction of the A1000 (originally A1) and A1081 (originally A6). The Barnet bypass was built in the 1920s (see A1 entry for details), and this was renumbered to the A1 after WWII. This necessitated the renumbering of the A6 between Barnet and South Mimms (where it crossed the new A1), as this was now in the 1-zone—the stretch was given the number A1081.
Let's start our journey from Barnet for historical/sentimental reasons. This was the point where Thomas Telford's Holyhead road of 1810 diverged from the Great North Road, and we shall follow it as far as St. Albans. Once out of Barnet, we notice that we have really left London behind, and we are surrounded by fields. To the east is Wrotham Park, recently used as the setting for the film Gosford Park. However, this rural setting is short-lived as we face the M25 at South Mimms. For a few years, the M25 was continuous from Thurrock to here (it resumed to the west of Watford) and dumped all its traffic on the massive A1/A6 roundabout. The South Mimms services were built here too, on the original alignment of the A6 St. Albans Road, which now carries local traffic to and from the junction.
The A6 bypassed South Mimms (it was dual carriageway as I recall), but the bit between here and London Colney was upgraded to the M25 in 1986. We turn off the M25 at J22 to follow the A6's route—now the A1081: the last time I was that way (a year ago perhaps), the yellow signs were still there saying "A1081 (was A6)". Still dual carriageway here. We meet the A414 which provides an invaluable alternative to the M25 in these parts, and venture into St. Albans. At the "Peahen" Crossroads in the city centre, Telford's road goes straight on, instead we cannon off the A5183 (former A5) which now takes over Telford's Baton. (This junction is the only place, apart from beginnings and ends of roads, where single digit roads met).
We continue north out of the city, still as the A1081, through the town of Harpenden, and before too long reach M1 J10a. The A6 continued straight on, now unsignposted, into central Luton (for a long time this route was still signed as the A6, with the A1081 going eastwards and meeting the A505. I don't think it was officially still the A6 though). Drumroll please: the A6 finally starts at a roundabout with the A505 as St Mary's St and Guildford St in Luton. The A6 has recently been detrunked between Luton and Bedford.
It's a good job the A6 hasn't been renumbered further north than Luton, as the A6 number has gone down in UK legal history because of an incident, known as the "A6 murder" in August 1961. Michael Gregsten and Valerie Storie, employees of the Road Research Laboratory, were forced to drive 60 miles to Deadman's Hill layby from Maidenhead. Gregsten was fatally shot, and Storie was raped and left for dead. James Hanratty was executed for the crime, despite protestations that he was innocent. The case was recently re-opened, but a guilty verdict was still returned.
The A6 continues north to Bedford, where it meets the new A421 bypass at a grade-separated roundabout junction.
Original Author(s): Tom, amended slightly by T1(M)
The only official route, complete with green "A6 signs", is the southbound route through the one way system, following Tavistock St., Broadway, High St., Town Bridge, St Marys Rd and Ampthill Rd. The section through the high street is complete with speed humps (is this the only section of Ax with speed humps?), and the council want to pedestrianise this section on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights. The DfT have refused this, citing numbering confusion!
Northbound, the A6 follows Ampthill Rd, Kingsway, Cauldwell St, Town Bridge, St Peter's Sq, River St, Greyfriars & Union St. This is entirely signed as non primary, with (A6) as the de-facto route number. There was a plan in the 1960s for an additional bridge of the Gt Ouse linking the Kingsway with River St. - to this day the Kingsway sports flared carriageways, and there is a convenient gap between County Hall and Bedford College....
The third route is, TBH, pushing things a bit. Until refurbishment works in the mid-90s, the Ampthill road railway bridge had a 3 tonnes weight limit and a 6' 6" width limit (some signs warning of this remain to this day!). The third route was for heavy vehicles, following Ampthill Rd, Britannia Rd, Prebend St, Ashburnham Rd and Shakespeare Rd.
This route is especially confusing, as the 3T limit has since been removed from the Ampthill Rd railway bridge, and a new 17T limit has been imposed on Ashburnham Rd. This has lead to a mixture of new and old "route for heavy vehicles" signs, which often contradict each other.
All this should be simplified soon, with plans for the Bedford western bypass. This will start at the A6/A421 junction south of "Progress Park", following the A421 Kempston Relief Road past the Interchange retail park as far as Marsh Leys (arguably better known as the Slough of Despond, but then that could be a Sabre roadtrip in itself....). From here it will proceed as a new build S2 with roundabouts around Kempston, south of Box End, swerving over a controversial viaduct over the Gt Ouse, to meet with what is currently the Gt Denham access road. Bizarrely, the section connecting the A428 Bromham Rd with the A6 Clapham Bypass is not part of this scheme - yet the council continue to insist this road isn't simply intended as an access road to new housing estates.Section 2: Bedford - Buxton
The A6 isn't signposted very well in Bedford owing to the one-way system, but it soon sorts itself out and sets off north. Soon you reach Clapham, currently being bypassed by a dual carriageway with a couple of roundabouts and a graded interchange (Clapham Junctions?!). [Quiz question: How many graded junctions are there on the A6 where the A6 is treated as the major road?]
Beyond Clapham there is a pleasant rural section, and then Rushden and Higham Ferrers used to be rather slow, but the bypass has been completed (thanks to Ivan Wood for pointing this out), half of it dual carriageway. The B645 that leaves for Kimbolton used to be the A45; the A605 is no more round these parts. Soon you cross the new A45 and the River Nene, and it's on to Kettering via Finedon and the Burton Latimer bypass. Just south of Kettering the A6 joins the A14 Kettering bypass; the old A6 is now A6003, though you wouldn't know it from the signs. At the A14/A43 interchange there's no mention of the A6003 to Oakham, either - AND it's a primary route! I ask you. Anyway, the A6 leaves the A14 just after Rothwell, to use the new Rothwell/Desborough bypass. Then it's not far to the Market Harborough bypass (3 lane), and roundabouts with the A427 and B6047. The latter connects two primary destinations: Mkt H and Melton M - another crazy anomaly. From here to Leicester it's relatively quick, even quicker now the Great Glen bypass is opened.
North of Leicester city centre the A6 now runs along the ex-A5131: black-on-white signs, but with "A6" in green to indicate imminent primary status. (The old route out of the city was up the Fosse Way, multiplexing with the A46; this route is now A607.) Primary again after the A563 interchange, the A6 embarks upon its longest continuous stretch of dual carriageway, bypassing Mountsorrel and Quornden up to Loughborough. You still go through the centre of Loughborough, where the A6 is joined by the A60 on the right, from Nottingham (amazingly a non-primary route, even though it connects two major primary destinations - how daft can you get?!). Then it's on through Hathern (the A6006 here used to be the B5324), then a couple of miles of dual carriageway to Kegworth, near the stretch of M1 where the plane crash-landed a few years ago. After M1 J24 the A50 is deemed more important, and there is a multiplex until the A6 branches off for Derby: it is signposted, but the second A50 distance sign makes no mention of Derby at all! Curiouser and curiouser. The A6 will soon bypass Alveston, just south of Derby, to the dismay of some local environmentalists. At the moment it heads for the city centre, losing its primary status after the A5111 roundabouts.
Two miles north of Derby the A6 is a primary route again, having crossed the A38. There is STILL no A6 distance sign here (here in Kent all B-roads seem to have them!). From here the road becomes relatively winding as it heads for the Peak District; yet it still attracts much heavy Manchester traffic. After Belper comes Ambergate, where the A610, now a primary route from Nottingham, joins. Ambergate used to have a unique triangular railway station situated where the main railway lines to the Manchester and Sheffield parted company: now there's just a small halt for local trains. The A6 distance sign at Ambergate reads: Matlock 8; Bakewell 16; Buxton 28; Manchester 55. Between here and Matlock the A6 gives access to several tourist attractions, such as the Crich ("Peak Practice") tramway museum, Matlock Bath (spa town), Arkwright's original 1770s cotton mill at Cromford, etc. (And how many other English roads pass beneath cable cars?)
Original Author(s): Simon {A6(M)}
Section 3: Buxton - Preston
North from the pleasant spa town of Buxton, in the heart of the Peak District, the A6 heads northeast towards Chapel en le Frith and Whaley Bridge, via Dove Holes, a fairly tight and busy stretch of road. The original alignment of the A6 was via the now-A5004, a more direct route to Whaley Bridge, but a high level route (which I've never been on), which appears to have some very sharp bends and probably was not suited to being a major trunk route.
The Chapel/Whaley Bridge section was bypassed in the 80s, with a good dual carriageway twisting up the valley. It would be single carriageway if built today. The section between Whaley Bridge and Stockport is slow and very busy, and lacking in bypasses. I learnt from the ABD list of baulked bypasses that a proposed bypass of New Mills/Disley/High Lane etc was scrapped in the 90s (I never realised it was planned); the more high profile Hazel Grove/Stockport bypass (variously the M66, the A6(M) and perhaps now, just an A-class relief road for Hazel Grove) may or may not ever happen.
The Hazel Grove/Stockport A6 is incredibly busy at all hours of day, but mostly two lanes each way, and I think 30mph all the way. The A6 goes right through the centre of Stockport, over a high level bridge over the infant River Mersey, and now, the M60. There is no junction between the A6/M60 - not often that a single digit A road gets snubbed by a motorway (when crossing it at right angles, as opposed to just crossing whilst running in parallel as the A6/M6 does further north). In fact, the A6 gets snubbed twice, as the M60/M61 both ignore it when they cross it again north of Manchester. This goes to show the insignificance of the A6 in these parts in modern times.
North from Stockport towards Manc, the A6 was a wide, four lane road, but still 30mph, which usually flowed pretty well. According to Mudge, it looks like it has now been massacred by bus lanes and red paint. Shame. We meet the A57 from the east, just south of the city centre, and multiplex until we reach Mancunian Way, the A57 heading off as a short urban motorway, the A6 heading into the city centre via London Road/Piccadily, where it loses its number and vanishes. It would have gone straight down Piccadily/Market Street to meet Deansgate, and then across the River Irwell into Salford, and up Chapel Street, where the number reappears. Market Street has been pedestrianised for years, so the A6 has long ceased to be a through route.
After leaving the city centre, the A6 assumes more importance through Salford, reappearing on signs and is now dual carriageway with 2/3 lanes each way. This much improved road must have been built in the 50s/60s (at a guess), and ties in with the A580 East Lancs Road which originally ended on the A6 west of Salford. The A6 dual carriageway now feeds straight onto the A580 - if you want the A6 (now a local road heading towards Swinton and other localities west of Bolton) you have to TOTSO.
I think the A6 from here loses its primary status, with good reason. I've never been on the stretch from here to Chorley, which is now superseded by the M61, although I believe it is a fairly good road. The A6 passes briefly through Over Hulton, with its enlightened 60 mph limit. Possibly a throwback to the time pre-1971 when this road would have carried masses of traffic between Manchester and all points north, and needed to be a fast road to carry the volume it did.
At Chorley (an old bottleneck), the town centre has finally been bypassed (30 years after the M61 opened) - a good dual carriageway by all accounts, despite all the roundabouts and lights. A short A6 spur joins the M61 at junction 8 - later the A674 was extended to this roundabout to bypass the north of Chorley, but the signs still say A6 west of the roundabout.
The A6 crosses the M65 shortly north of here, no junction apart from the indirect link via the industrial estates and the single-carriageway motorway spur to the M65/M61 interchange (the spur has no number as far as I am aware, which must make it our only stretch of motorway without a number), and then the M6 almost immediately after that. Hence it links with the M61, M65 (almost) and M6 within about 3 miles. Can any other A road match this?
The M6 junction marks the start of the Preston bypass, which as the world and his dog knows, is our first motorway. Although it opened long before my time (1958), I am pretty certain that it never took the A6(M) number as some people have suggested. I don't think it had any number at all until the mid 60s when the different bits of the M6 through Lancashire (Warrington - Carnforth) were linked up and the M6 number was allocated. North of here, the A6 meets the end of the M65 (again indirectly, via a very short spur), then heads north to Preston via a new dual carriageway, built to link into the M65 extension. This is the Bamber Bridge bypass (originally built as single carriageway in the 80s), and we rejoin the old alignment of the A6 at Walton le Dale, just south of the Ribble.
We cross the Ribble and enter Preston (the entirety of which lies on the north bank of the river, despite how it looks on a map). At the top of the hill the A59 joins from the east and multiplexes along Ringway. The A6 turns off to the right about halfway round.
Original Author(s): bobsykes
Section 4: Preston - Carlisle
Leaving Ringway in the centre of Preston, which has now become a city since I posted the last instalment, the A6 heads due north to junction 1 of the M55, which is also the original northern terminus of the M6 Preston bypass. Even now, it is effectively still an interchange with the M6, as the M55 splits immediately east of the junction to join the north/southbound M6. If you are coming from the s/bound M6, you don't actually join the M55 if you want the A6. The run out of the city centre is pretty interminable, containing several sets of lights, and a strictly enforced limit all the way (now reduced to 30 I think).
North of the M55, the A6 loses primary status, although is still variously signed with green primary route signs. We pass through Broughton, a small village which Lancs CC have long been planning on bypassing (not sure why, as the M6 extension which opened in the early 60s surely serves this purpose). Then, it is a fairly good run on a wide well-lit road (which I think was still 3 lanes in various places during my lifetime), with plenty of overtaking opportunties, and mostly a 60 limit. When the s/bound M6 is clogged with traffic, the A6 represents a much more preferable alternative. The only place of significance is the pleasant little market town of Garstang which was bypassed many many years ago (probably part of Lancashire's enlightened roadbuilding policies in the 30s/40s).
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The M6 runs parallel to the A6, usually less than half a mile away. The Lancaster bypass section starts at junction 33, and was one of the very first sections of motorway in the UK, opening in 1960 - see previous discussions about the Lancaster bypass and its junctions. We pass Lancaster University's campus, and the southern suburbs of Lancaster. Despite being the county town, an ancient port, and a traditional commercial and judicial centre, Lancaster is not a very big city, and isn't terribly picturesque in the same way as its counterparts such as York or Chester (of course, it pains me to say this as a proud Lancastrian!). It did however, have the burden of carrying most of the traffic heading between England and Scotland on the A6, so has a long one way system through the streets of the centre, some of which are quite narrow and twisty, although it manages to be two lanes most of the way round. Two bridges carry the A6 over the Lune, the river which gives its name to the city (and hence the county).
We then leave towards Carnforth, and the fringes of Morecambe Bay, as the A6 flirts with becoming a coast road. Carnforth is a bit of a bottleneck, although this is caused simply by the lights at the crossroads in the centre of the town, where the narrow streets do not permit extra lanes for turning traffic. Incidentally, Carnforth is a trainspotters' heaven, somewhat like Crewe, as the west coast main lines passes through, along with a couple of branch lines, and there is also a steam train museum. It is also the place they filmed Brief Encounter. Now it is a dilapidated wasteland.
Shortly after leaving the town we reach a roundabout and truck stop marking what was the end of the 1960 Lancaster bypass. Except that the M6 was extended north in 1971 from a point one mile to the east, so until the late 80s we had a spur of the M6 reaching the roundabout, this roundabout becoming known as J35A of the M6. Then a short link to the B6254 was built so that quarry traffic could join the M6 without going through Carnforth, and the rest is history - voilà, we get the A601(M).
After a very short dualled stretch (presumably to allow M6 traffic in the 1960s to "adjust" to life back on an A-road for what would now be a bit of an ordeal of a journey), we leave Lancashire, into Cumbria (formerly Westmorland at this point), and before long reach Milnthorpe, another little coaching town similar to Carnforth, but a bit more picturesque. After Milnthorpe, a nice run brings us to Levens Hall, a bridge over the River Kent, and what used to be a simple junction with the A590 heading off to the left to rejoin what was the detached bit of Lancashire, and the throbbing metropolis of Barrow-in-Furness. Now, we are forced to turn left onto the A590, and dog-leg around to the right to join the new A590 dual carriageway which brings us to the junction with the A591 at Levens. Southbound, the A6 follows its original route.
The A6 has now, to all intents and purposes, vanished. To pick it up again, we must follow the A591 for Kendal and Windermere. This dual carriageway forms part of the main route to the Lakes from the south, and links in with a bypass of Kendal. As previously mentioned in my A591 "Roads x10" posting, this must be a very rare example of a three digit A road taking precedence to a multiplexing single digit A road. The A6, of course, is used to such indignity, following its earlier humiliation in Manchester, where it also disappears from signs, and has in fact been pedestrianised.
To mollify it a little, a distance sign on the A591 shortly after the A590 junction has been patched to read "A591/A6" - note the A6 is not in brackets as is the normal practice. Sadly the famous A591/A6 sign has now been replaced by a more conventional sign showing the A6 in brackets beneath the A591 destinations. After about 2 miles, we reach the Kendal bypass, and the A6 reappears, but you have to turn off to reach it. For some reason, the A6 regains primary status here for the first time since leaving the M55.
Long standing Sabre members will recall an earlier discussion about the extravagant one-way system in Kendal town centre, presumably designed many years before the M6 was extended north, in order to keep traffic moving. In particular, Chris had noticed how, on a recent trip to the Lakes, the A6 south of the town was signed "South Kendal", with the A591 directing "Penrith (A6)" traffic along the bypass. I commented in reply how daft this was, as the bypass didn't rejoin the A6 north of the town, and A6 traffic heading for Shap and Penrith was simply directed to turn back on itself onto the A5284 and head back into the town centre, rejoining the A6 at the top of the main street, but still on the one-way system.
Having passed through Kendal on my travels last week, I couldn't help but notice the new traffic (mis)management system introduced at the end of April (and which is very unlikely to still be there next April!). Oh dear - what were they thinking of! Various roads at the top of the town centre loop (as Leeds Council would no doubt have called it) have been converted into two-way traffic, and one very narrow street down the side of the town hall has had its flow reversed. All this so that northbound A6 traffic can be diverted away from the top of the main street and complete an extra little loop through more twisty streets, rather than simply following the nice three lanes-wide main street.
If they were pedestrianising the main street, then this might make some sense. However, it doesn't seem that this is happening. One reason that I can say this is that the narrow little street which now carries the northbound A6 has a 7.5T weight restriction. So heavy vehicles have to use the original, direct route up the main street.
This is a mess frankly. I cannot think of any other example of the heavy vehicles "diversion" being shorter and more direct than the route everyone else follows! Only it probably isn't shorter because new traffic lights have been installed at the top of town which clearly leaves traffic following the "old A6" at a disadvantage, as only three or four cars can get through at one go. You then have a wait of perhaps 2 or 3 minutes for the rest of the cycle to complete.
At the moment, it is chaos because most people are not following the new route, but simply carrying on as normal. With the change in traffic light priority, long delays are building up in the town centre - presumably the exact opposite to what as intended.
I can't comment on any other changes that might have been made, as I only briefly passed through, but I did hear on the local radio station that the whole of Kendal is up in arms and the bods from the council who dreamt up this scheme are very much on the defensive, and conceding that the scheme may in fact be "experimental". Time will tell...
After leaving the mess of the new-improved Kendal one-way system, the A6 heads off due north, keeping its primary status.
(Slightly off-topic, there are three routes out of Kendal that meet with the M6 - namely the A6 (to junction 39 near Shap), the A685 (to junction 38 at Tebay), and the A684 (to junction 37 near Sedbergh). Traditionally, the A6 and A685 were primary routes, the A6 signed for Penrith and the A685 for Brough. The A684 was essentially a local route, of fairly poor quality heading towards the northern Yorkshire Dales, and had secondary status. I believe that Kendal was signed only from the southbound M6 at junction 38 via the primary A685. This state of affairs seems to change regularly. From the s/bound M6, Kendal is now signed from all three junctions, but bizarrely, primary status now seems to reside only with the A684. This is the shortest route to the M6 (5 miles), but is not a good route. Large vehicles cannot use it anyway because of the low railway bridge on the A684 in Kendal town centre, and have to follow a local diversion down narrow residential streets. I assume that the granting of primary status means that this is to become the preferred route from/to the M6, and the signs (from Kendal, and on the M6) may be changed at some point to reflect this. As it stands at the moment, if you are heading down the M6 from Carlisle, you will still directed off at Shap onto the A6)
It is all uphill from Kendal, for a long slog up to Shap, a bleak village high up on the edge of the Cumbrian Mountains, or to be more precise the Shap Fells Range. This route was long-feared by lorry drivers passing between England and Scotland (this was of course the principal route to Scotland from the western half of England until 1971 when the M6 finally bypassed it), because of the devilishly long climb (and descent when coming home). Many vehicles didn't make it, and my grandad (who used to drive lorries) has testified to the number of wrecked vehicles he saw on this route (or in the valley below!), particularly during winter. There are a number of viscious bends (many of which were improved over the years), and this was (and is) a legendary piece of road to many. There is apparently a monument (an old AA clock I believe) at the summit in memory of those who used to have to traverse this route in the olden days.
The summit is some way short of Shap itself, and the road has started to descend again before we reach the B6261 (the road famous for running in between the two separated carriageways of the M6 just east of here), which itself acts as a spur of the A6 down the junction 39 of the motorway. The A6 loses primary status north of the B6261 and does not regain it until the outskirts of Carlisle.
After leaving Shap, we pass under the M6. There is no junction here, but until 1971, this was the starting point of the M6 Penrith bypass, which opened in the mid 60s - once the missing link from the then M6 terminus at Carnforth opened, the access was closed off, and there is now no sign whatsoever that the M6 used to start and end here.
The A6 refuses to let go of the M6 from now on, and crosses it a further two times in the next three miles. It drops down to Eamont Bridge which was a notorious bottleneck in the early 60s. There is a narrow humped-back bridge here over the River Eamont which is traffic light controlled - apparently (even in the 60s) there were notorious jams here; the same problem occurred one mile further north in Penrith town centre where the main street which carried the A6 had a narrow section which was light controlled. According to the Lancashire Motorway Archive site, these were the reasons why the Penrith bypass was considered a priority, and one of the earliest sections of the M6 to open.
I notice from a new OS Explorer map of the NE Lakes purchased last week, that the route of the A6 has now been changed through Penrith. The old route has been downgraded to unclassified route, with the A6 now multiplexing with the A66 as far as M6 J40 (so the A6 gets to meet its new friend again here now as well), then doubling back along the former A592 back into the centre and resuming its old course - might be a good time to update the A592 Roads by 10 entry to now end on the A66 at Stainton just west of the M6.
North of Penrith, the A6 (still non-primary) runs parallel to the M6. Junction 41 (B5305) was the northern terminus of the M6 Penrith bypass originally, and a spur of the A6 ran down to this - this is now donwgraded to B5305, and the A6 doesn't get a mention from the m/way advance direction signs ("Wigton B5305" I think); however, the roundabout sign at the end of the slip road still gives the right hand direction as "Carlisle A6". (I think it is "Penrith (North) (A6)" when coming south).
For 12 miles the A6 now runs pretty straight, through a couple of small villages. The only traffic using this road presumably is local traffic accessing these villages, buses, cyclists and any traffic being diverted off the A6 if the M6 is blocked. This probably shouldn't be an A-road (see B3181 north of Exeter etc), but probably is because its the A6 and needs to be there to preserve zonal boundaries (see also A55/A5 on Anglesey).
We meet the M6 for the final time at junction 42 south of Carlisle and regain our primary status (well, that's what my map says, but I seem to recall from my one and only visit to Carlisle that its not signed as such). Its about 3 miles into the city centre, and the A6 here is a good, reasonably wide road. I suspect it may have had 3 lanes in places many years ago. I never made it into the city centre, so I can't say how it actually ends, but it appears from the map to end at a roundabout with the A595 and the A7.
(As a footnote, it would seem to make sense (and look nicely symmetrical) if the A6 continued along the A7 to the M6 terminus, and then the A7 started from there to carry on to Edinburgh - after all, the M6 doesn't become the M7 at junction 43 as it passes to the north side of Carlisle.)
Original Author(s): bobsykes
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