A617

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A617

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From:

Chesterfield (SK385708)

To:

Newark (SK793546)

Length:

30.9 miles (49.7 km)

Meets:

A61, M1, A38, A60, A614,A46

Primary Destinations

Chesterfield • Mansfield • Newark-on-Trent •

Highways Authorities

Derbyshire • Nottinghamshire

Traditional Counties

Derbyshire • Nottinghamshire

Route outline (key)

A617

Chesterfield - Newark

Route

Chesterfield - Mansfield

The A617 starts at a roundabout junction with the A61 in Chesterfield,

The existing route is D2 to junction 29 of the M1,

After passing over the M1, the D2 ends after half-a-mile and meets up with the original alignment. A 40mph speed limit takes us through Bramley Vale and up the long drag of a hill in Glapwell. A staight mile and a half across farmland take us down to the Pleasley bypass, a short section of D2 interspersed with a large roundabout.

The road used to travel through the nondescript suburbs of Mansfield, but in late 2004 a partially-new WS2 alignment opened, which curves south of the town. We turn right onto it just after leaving Pleasley, and the old route is now the A6191. After passing farmland and going through a shallow cutting, we turn right at a set of lights at a junction with the A6075. After using that road's alignment to travel over another set of lights, we go down a hill towards the A38. Traffic coming the other way has the luxury of two lanes coming up the hill.

A huge set of lights (can you see a theme developing!) sees us meet the A38 and we travel straight on, multiplexing with it for a few hundred yards, before a TOTSO left brings us onto the second section of brand new tarmac, which is very fast and sees us pass underneath the A611 before meeting the A60 at yet another set of lights.

Mansfield - Newark

A slightly hillier stretch takes us to a roundabout (yippee!) junction with the A6117, which is separate new road diving off to the left, and a further half-mile sees us terminate on the roundabout at the western end of the Rainworth bypass, where we also pick up the other end of the A6191. We travel straight over this island, whereas the original alignment travelled across the other two arms, from Mansfield on the left to Rainworth on the right. The bypass itself is high quality D2, only interrupted by a set of lights at a junction with an unclassified road leading to a refuse disposal site.

After reaching the end of the bypass, the road becomes a normal country road, passing fields and farmland. The roundabout junction with the A614 and the villages of Kirklington, Hockerton, and Kelham are all passed through. Incidentally, when climbing the steep hill leaving Kirklington, a sign for traffic heading the opposite way gives the gradient as 12.5%, the decimal point being something I haven't seen anywhere else.

Kelham Bridge

We cross the River Trent at the stone-arched Kelham Bridge, built in 1875 and strengthened in the 1960s. It is narrow - two trucks cannot pass each other - and long vehicles heading towards Manfield take up the whole road to negotiate the 90-degree turn at the East end of the bridge.

The section between the bridge and Newark Rugby club is often flooded if the Trent is high. The old alignment can be seen on the right just past the rugby club - this used to take us to an at-grade junction with the old A1 (was A6065, now B-road status) in Newark. This route is now cut in two by the A46 Newark bypass, which is where the final section of the A617 takes us.

Original Author(s): Andie(Coasterjunkie)Rob

History

Chesterfield: The A617 originally began a few hundred yards north of its current position; there is a railway bridge with a road leading to nowhere adjacent to the roundabout that is the old alignment.The old road used to pass through Hasland, Temple Normanton and Heath on what is now the B6039 and an unclassified road. There was also a TOTSO left in Temple Normanton.that has come in from Heath and passed through the hamlet of Doe Lea. This route now dead-ends at the embankment below the M1.

Rainworth to Newark: Originally, the A617 ran through the centre of Rainworth, and then crossed the A614 at the White Post roundabout. It then passed through the villages of Farnsfield, Edingly and Halam, before terminating at a junction with the A612 at Southwell. The current route of the A617 was an unclassed road as far as the junction with the current A612 near Averham, the A612 then running as far as Newark.