A6006

This article is about the modern A6006 from Hathern to Melton Mowbray.
For the original A6006 near Castle Donington, see A6006 (Castle Donington).

The A6006 is a cross-country A-road in the East Midlands.

Route

The road begins at a traffic-signal-controlled junction on the A6 to the north of Hathern in Leicestershire. It heads east and soon crosses the River Soar into Nottinghamshire. The road passes through the hamlet of Zouch, and then has several turns for settlements between Zouch and Rempstone, like West Leake, East Leake, Normanton on Soar, and then runs up to Rempstone, where it meets the A60 on the outskirts of the village. The section between Zouch and Rempstone subject to a 50mph speed limit enforced with speed cameras that were installed fairly recently. It then runs through Rempstone itself, there being a bend in the centre of the village.

A mile or so after Rempstone and having returned to Leicestershire, the A6006 runs through the village of Wymeswold, where, leaving the village, a 50mph speed limit is introduced again before meeting the A46 at a grade separated junction.

After another mile, the route arrives at the Shoby Crossroads where it meets Six Hills Lane, and to the right gives access to Loughborough via the B676 and once again the A46.

Near Shoby

The road then passes Shoby. This stretch of road is bendy and is therefore known as the Shoby Bends. These bends are an accident blackspot and have, in recent years, seen the introduction of many light-up chevrons.

After the Shoby Bends, the A6006 bypasses the village of Asfordby to the northeast. The bypass ends at a roundabout, giving access to the village. The 50mph speed limit ends here after 40 and 30mph speed limits around Asfordby/Asfordby Valley/Asfordby Hill. There's another roundabout soon afterwards at Asfordby Hill, after which the road runs into Melton Mowbray along Asfordby Road with a short section of NSL. As the road enters Melton, a 40mph then a 30mph speed limit is imposed before the road ends at a signalised crossroads near the town centre where it meets the A606 and A607.

History

Route changes

At classification, the A6006 didn't exist here - there was no road between Wymeswold and the A46. The only classified section was the B676, which followed the route of the A6006 from just east of the A46 to Melton. This situation, though, did not last long.

The next stage of the A6006's numbering history had taken place by 1932, when the first half of the A6006 (up to where the road became the B676) was numbered B5324 (which also continued west of the A6 to Ashby-de-la-Zouch as it does now), with the rest of the road remaining the B676.

The whole route was re-numbered A6006 in 1971 (from the Ordnance Survey maps - between the April 1971 Quarter inch map and the December 1971 One inch map)

Hathern junction

The Y shaped junction shown in 1971

The original junction to the north of Hathern was an elongated "Y" shape with A6006 splitting to meet A6 in two places. The Ministry of Transport proposed a scheme to improve visibility and make turning safer. This was to construct a short section of road to create a T junction. It opened on 3 July 1987 per the Land Compensation Act notice. Cost was £160,000.

Asfordby Bypass

The 1.25 mile road was opened on 22 May 1989 by Neville Hanger, County Council Chairman. Cost £6.75 million.