A646

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A646

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From:

Salterhebble, Halifax (SE095233)

To:

Habergam (SD808334)

Length:

23 miles (37 km)

Meets:

A629, A58, A6033, A671, A679, A671

Primary Destinations

Burnley • Halifax •

Highways Authorities

Calderdale • Lancashire

Traditional Counties

Lancashire • Yorkshire

Route outline (key)

A646	Salterhebble, Halifax – Rose Grove
A646	Rose Grove – Habergam

Route

This road travels through Pennine valleys from Halifax in Yorkshire to Burnley in Lancashire, crossing the county border near Todmorden. Do not use this route if you want to travel quickly east to west, trying to avoid the M62, however use it if you want to see traditional Pennine villages from the industrial revolution, some probably have not changed much!

Section 1: Salterhebble, Halifax – Todmorden

Starting at the junction of the A629 just south of Halifax, the road goes up a long hill to join the A58 at a major junction, heading west high above Sowerby Bridge and out of the built up area, down a hill to the Rochdale Canal which is the roads partner until Todmorden, along with a railway, all hemmed in by the steep hills.

Mytholmroyd Boundary Stone

The A646 follows the valley, partly wooded, partly industrialised, through strange sounding villages of Luddenden and Mytholmroyd and into the recently revived Hebden Bridge. This town has become a tourist attraction with plenty of small classier shops.

The A646 heads south west while minor roads climb one in three gradients and head over the top of the moors towards Burnley. The A646 keeps in the valley for Todmorden, indeed the route has few steep inclines making it one of the lowest Trans-Pennine routes. To the south you can see Stoodley Pike, a rocket style monument on top of the hills.

Into Todmorden, and under large railway arches next to the market place, the road travels through villages including Portsmouth, the road twists and bends, weaving under the railway several times, before climbing up to the border, with a brief section of rural road. The scenery is impressive at this point with moorland dropping steeply to the road.

Section 2: Todmorden – Habergam

Crossing over the A671 coming from Lancashire mill town of Bacup, the A646 heads up onto the outer part of Burnley, giving extensive views over the town with Pendle Hill behind. Continuing onwards the road has a small D2 part as it drops steeply to the junction of the A679 where most of the traffic heads west to join the M65. The A646 heads over the motorway bridge into Burnley's suburbs and terminates nearby on the A671 which we met before but chooses (bravely!) to go through the centre of Burnley.

Original Author(s): Norfolktolancashire

Bob Sykes writes:

This is, I suppose, my "local A road" passing less than a mile from my house. So indulge me a little whilst I stick up for it.

Sure, it meanders along the Calder Valley, and it's frustrating to be stuck behind a pootling Nissan Micra, or worse, a bus (as few stops have dedicated bays, they usually just stop in the road and you can't get past due to constant opposing flow) – and Hebden Bridge and Todmorden can be real crawls (although not bottlenecks in the "congestion" sense, just slow), but as your post rightly points out, there is some spectacular scenery and parts of the road can be a real pleasure to drive. There are still some NSL sections, and even the fairly built-up bits in Yorkshire that have been downgraded to 50mph are still above the current norm had other local authorities been in control. It has a long 40mph section in Halifax when you'd think 30mph would be the norm nowadays, and the S3 50mph stretch descending from Halifax to Luddendenfoot – it amazes me that this is still there. The Lancashire section is mostly NSL with the bits round the outskirts of Burnley a satisfactory 40mph (although part of this was NSL – with your tiny S2 stretch (essentially an extended traffic island separating the opposing flows of traffic round the bend) therefore a technical 70mph! – until a couple of years back). Yes, I know that the car-hating Guardianista lesbians of Hebden Bridge have successfully campaigned for a 20mph through the centre, but it's so festooned with traffic lights, parked cars and pedestrian crossings that you can't do more than that anyway.

I always miss out the Burnley-Hebden Bridge section by taking the faster high level unclassified route than runs parallel to it almost from my front door, so avoid the slowest bit. But certainly on the times I have to go to Leeds on business, it's the trek from Halifax to the M62 or the M62 from j26 to 27 that generally seems to take longer than the drive along the A646.

A646

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