A6/route
Section 1: Luton - Bedford
The A6 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.
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 Road and Ampthill Road 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 Road, 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, to be honest, 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 Road, Britannia Road, Prebend St, Ashburnham Road and Shakespeare Road
This route is especially confusing, as the 3T limit has since been removed from the Ampthill Road railway bridge, and a new 17T limit has been imposed on Ashburnham Road 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 Road 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.Bedford - Kettering
After leaving Bedford, the A6 soon passes Clapham. Until 2002 the A6 ran through Clapham, but a bypass was built. This opened on 12th December 2002 and is called Paula Radcliffe Way. The bypass is built to dual carriageway standard and includes two grade separated junctions. The bypass crosses the Great Ouse twice, on Paula Radcliffe Way Bridge 1 and Paula Radcliffe Way Bridge 2
At the end of the Clapham bypass, the road becomes single carriageway again and rejoins its original alignment for a short distance. The A6 only meets unclassified roads through this section by way of give way junctions and one roundabout.
After about ten miles, the A6 bypasses Rushden and Higham Ferrrers. This bypass opened 14th August 2003. Up to the second A5028 roundabout (junction with John Clark Way), the bypass is single carriageway. From here the road is dual carriageway until the end of the bypass although there is a flat roundabout midway through the dual carriageway part. Here the A6 meets the B645.The bypass ends at a roundabout with the A45 and A5028.
The A6 then crosses the River Nene, on the impressive Irthlingborough Viaduct, after which it passes Irthlingborough itself, then runs through the village of Finedon where it meets the A510.
A few miles later, the A6 bypasses Burton Latimer. This is a single carriageway bypass (Although with a short section of D1 at a junction with unclassified roads) and opened in the 90s.
Immediately afterwords, the A6 meets the A14 at a grade-separated roundabout junction (A14 Junction 10). The A14 and the A6 then multiplex for a short distance as the A14 bypasses Kettering. The A6/ A14 multiplex ends after a few miles at the A14's junction 3, a dumbbell type junction which also incorporates the B576. Here the lines of the A14 and A6 diverge, and the A6 heads off northwards.
Kettering - Leicester
After leaving the A14, the A6 is immediately on the Rothwell and Desborough Bypass. This is 6 km long and was opened on 14 August 2003. It is a single carriageway road and ends at a roundabout junctionwith the B576 (the old route of the A6) near Desborough. The road then returns to its original route for two miles.
Two miles later, the Market Harborough Bypass begins. Like the Burton Latimer Bypass, the Market Harborough bypass was built in the 1990s (specifically 1994), however the Market Harborough Bypass is built to a S2+1 standard. The A6 meets the A4304 and A427 at the first roundabout on the bypass, then the B6047 at the roundabout at the end of the bypass.
After this the A6 runs through Kibworth Beauchamp and then bypasses the village of Great Glen, which opened on the 19th February 2003.This means everywhere on the A6 is bypassed between Leicester and Bedford with the exceptions of Finedon and Kibworth.These bypasses have been funded by the Highways Agency prior to the detrunking of the A6.
The A6 then begins running into the urban area of Leicester, first passing through the suburb of Oadby where it has a junction with the B582. Shortly afterwords, the A6 meets the A563 at a roundabout, then meets the A6030, where the A6 becomes non primary.
The A6 then runs into Leicester along London Road past the station. Just before the city centre it meets the A594 inner ring road at a signal controlled junction. This section of the A6 can become very busy.
The A6 and A594 then multiplex around the inner ring road, with the A594 being the dominant number. The A6 leaves the A594 at the North- Western side of the ring road, and runs along what was the A5131 towards Birstall, meeting the B5327 before it gets there. (The old route out of the city was up the Fosse Way, multiplexing with the A46). This section of the A6 is non primary.
Leicester- Derby
The A6 meets the A563 at a grade separated roundabout, however the A6's line through the junction is not grade separated meaning traffic on the A6 has to stop at the roundabout. After crossing the roundabout the A6 becomes both primary and dual carriageway, but only for a short distance.
After a few hundred metres, the A6 becomes single carriageway for a short distance, and runs through Birstall, before becoming dual carriageway again, this time for a far more substantial length.
Shortly after this stretch of dual carriageway starts, the A6 meets the A46 at a grade separated junction, but again the A6 is not grade separated, so has to stop for the roundabout.
The A6 then bypasses Mountsorrel and Quorn. This bypass opened in October 1991 and was built to stop quarry traffic traveling through Mountsorrel. The Mountsorrel and Quorn Bypass includes 2 roundabouts and 4 grade separated junctions. The bypass ends at a roundabout with the A6004 where the A6 TOTSOs.
From here the A6 runs right through the centre of Loughborough, where the A6 meets the A6004 (twice), the A60, the A512 and the B589 at a variety of traffic signal controlled and give way junctions.
A few hundred metres after Loughborough, the A6 runs through Hathern, after which it meets the B5324 and then the A6006, the latter at a signal controlled junction. There is then a short section of dual carriageway, lasting only a mile or so.
After the end of the dual carriageway, the A6 runs through the town of Kegworth, before meeting the A453, A50 and M1 at the infamous Kegworth Roundabout (M1 J24). Again the A6's line through the junction is not grade separated.
After M1 J24 the A50 and A6 multiplex until the the A50's junction 2, which is a trumpet type interchange (with the A50 being the dominant number) . After this the A6 runs along a slightly older section of dual carriageway which opened with the A50 Derby Southern Bypass on 4th September 1997.
This stretch of A6 ran from the A50 J2 to the Thulston Roundabout, from where the A6 used to run through Alvaston. Since 2003 though the A6 has bypassed Alvaston on the Alvaston Bypass. It cost 10.6 million pounds and opened on the 17th December 2003. The Alvaston bypass rejoins the old route of the A6 at the Raynesway Park Roundabout, which was a flat roundabout in 2003 when the junction opened, but has since been grade separated, with the A6 being able to run straight through the junction for the first time in early 2011. Photos of the work in progress are available here 1
From Raynesway Park the A6 runs through the northern part of Alvaston, and then across Pride Park towards the centre of Derby(At this stage non-primary). The A6 meets the A601 at The Cock Pitt which is a large, signalised junction. From here the A6 multiplexes with the A601 (with the A601 being the dominant route) for a short distance, until Duffield Road, where the A6 leaves the A601 at a grade-separated junction (although there is no access to the A6 from the A601 clockwise) and heads off in a North Westerly direction.
Immediately after the A601 junction, the A6 enters the Five Lamps junction, which is a sort of large loop. It has caused some controversy in the city, as many view the junction as not being very good. It was improved as part of the Connecting Derby works in the late 00s.
From here the A6 runs along Duffield Road through the Five Lamps & Darley Abbey areas of the city, before meeting the A38 at a grade separated roundabout, however the A6 is again not grade separated and has to stop at the roundabout.
Derby- Buxton
After crossing the A38, the A6 becomes a primary route again.From here the road becomes relatively winding as it heads for the Peak District, passing through Duffield (where it meets the B5023), Belper (where it meets the A609 & A517) then Ambergate, where there is a junction with the A610 from Nottingham.
Shotly afterward, the A6 passes through Whatstandwell, a small village, where the A6 makes a sharp left, crosses a bridge, then a sharp right turn in the centre of the village. The A6 multiplexes with the B5035 over the bridge, meeting it on either side.
The next place on the A6 is Cromford,part of the Derwent Valley World Heritage Site, where there is a junction between the A5012 and A6.
The A6 then passes through the town of Matlock Bath (This stretch can become busy in summer) and under the cable cars of the Heights of Abraham. This can be achieved as the A6 is at the bottom of a valley, and the cable cars run from one side to another. The road then runs through Matlock, adjacent to the river.
From Matlock the A6 runs next to the old St. Pancras-Manchester Central line. At Rowsley the B6012 (ex-A623) leaves for Chatsworth, and a mile further on, near Haddon Hall, the B5056 used to be the A524. (The now-defunct A622 left the A619 three quarters of a mile to the east; it's now B6001.) From Bakewell the A6 climbs Ashwood Dale, to bypass Taddington by way of a rather unexpected 1930s dual carriageway. This section is icy and snowy in winter, and quite often blocked. Dropping down to Buxton the road is very bendy; one passes beneath four rather fine iron railway bridges whilst following the infant River Wye. On entering Buxton the A6 swings away to the right, for the town centre and Stockport (nowadays usurping the former A624). The green distance sign in your mirror gives Leicester as being 66 miles away, the greatest mileage given for any destination on an A6 distance sign.
Original Author(s): Simon {A6(M)}
Buxton - Preston
North from 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 with 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- a proposed bypass of New Mills/Disley/High Lane etc was scrapped in the 90s; 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 30 mph all the way. The A6 goes right through the centre of Stockport, over a high level bridge over the infant River Mersey and the M60. however there is no junction between the A6/M60.
North from Stockport towards Manc, the A6 was a wide, four lane road, but still 30 mph, 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. 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
Preston - Carlisle
Leaving Ringway in the centre of Preston, 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 30mph limit all the way.
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 opportunities, 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 road building policies in the 30s/40s).
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The M6 runs parallel to the A6, usually less than half a mile away. We pass Lancaster University's campus, and the southern suburbs of Lancaster. Lancaster used to 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.
We then leave towards Carnforth, and the fringes of Morecambe Bay, as the A6 passes at some points close to the coast. 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.
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 Westmorland, 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 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.
After about 2 miles, we reach the Kendal bypass, and the A6 reappears, but you have to turn off to reach it.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 vicious bends (many of which were improved over the years), and this was (and is) a legendary piece of road to many. There is a monument (an old AA clock I believe) at the summit in memory of those who used to have to traverse this route.
The summit is some way short of Shap itself, and the road has started to descend again before we reach the B6261, 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 downgraded 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
