A601/History

Early Plans

According to word of mouth in Derby, ring road plans were first suggested during 1936, and The Morledge and Traffic Street were some part which was constructed of this plan. Whether this is true or not remains to be seen, however it seems unlikely as there didn't appear to be any reference to such a plan in 'Traffic in Derby 1964-2010'.

The first plan which it is certain was considered was made in the late 1950s (c. 1958/9) for a ring road around the centre of Derby. This was a fairly unambitious plan, where Derby's radial roads met the inner ring road at flat roundabout junctions. There were a number of issues with this plan - particularly that the radial roads would continue into the very centre of the city after the ring road and therefore travelling through the centre of town would still be shorter than using the ring road. Another issue was the flat roundabout junctions - later analysis revealed they would be unable to cope with the volumes of traffic using the ring road.

The inner ring road from the 1959 plan followed a similar route to the modern construction with the exception of the modern part of the ring road between the A52 junction and the Cock Pitt - this section did not exist on the 1959 plans; instead the ring road ran out to the Pentagon Island, then curved back down to rejoin a similar line to the modern road somewhere near the Cock Pitt.

Early Work

The Traffic Street section of the ring road from the then A6 London Road to the Morledge was opened by Sir Harry Twyford, Lord Mayor of London, on 24 February 1938. It linked to existing roads to form a bypass route. Cost was £62,226. It is possible that this was as a result of Charles Herbert Aslin's Central Improvement Plan which resulted in the construction of the Council House and other roads such as the Morledge. The timing for this to be the case certainly makes sense; however it is as yet uncertain whether this is true. Traffic Street gained its name from an existing road in the area, which was then renamed Lower Traffic Street. It survives today as the section of Copeland Street running in a roughly North-South direction.

What is now the Bradshaw Way section of the ring road is built on the site of a street called Bradshaw Street. The buildings along Bradshaw Street (including, among other things, a 'classically styled' Congregational chapel which was later used as a cinema) were demolished in 1959. Work on the road itself was delayed by a 'ministry scandal' meaning a grant to fund the work was delayed; however work on Bradshaw Way was locally uncontroversial. The ministry finally approved the scheme in mid-July 1961. Work had started by November 1961, and Bradshaw Street was closed early in 1962 as the new dual carriageway section of road was built. The modern Bradshaw Way was opened by the then-Mayor of Derby on the 26th May 1962.

Once Bradshaw Way had been completed, the council decided it was necessary to allocate a number to the short section of ring road - at that time just Traffic Street and Bradshaw Way. At a meeting on 10th September 1962, the highways committee decided to apply to the Ministry of Transport to upgrade Traffic Street and Bradshaw Way to Class I (i.e. A Class) status. It is assumed the A601 number was then allocated, as the section of road in question appears to be numbered thus on maps from the mid-1960s.

Simultaneous with the work to plan and build Bradshaw Way, was a plan to build a much more controversial section of ring road- the Willow Way and Bridge Street section which drew criticism from both businesses and local people. The main sticking point was Friar Gate, regarding both the demolition of property along the street to make way for the ring road, and how the ring road would meet Friar Gate - both a flyover and roundabout were mooted. Despite the controversy, the council pressed ahead with the scheme. Compulsory purchase orders for buildings on both Friar Gate and Ford Street were made and the Ministry of Transport approved a grant to fund the scheme at the same time it approved the grant for the Bradshaw Way section. Controversy surrounding this scheme continued so long that before any work to build it could take place, updated proposals for the ring road had been published in 'Traffic in Derby: 1964-2010', and so the scheme was replaced.

1964 Plan

A document called 'Traffic in Derby 1964-2010' was prepared for the council of the time which detailed enormously ambitious plans for roads and transport in Derby, including not only the ring road, but an 'Inner Circulatory Road', the 'Derby Urban Motorway' and a plethora of multi-storey, surface and underground car parks.

These works would have been hugely destructive and expensive. Despite this it was envisaged that they would be complete by 1980. As it happened, the only parts of the plan to have been constructed were the car parks at Chapel Street and The Cock Pitt, as well as the St Alkmund's Way section of the ring road.

Construction - Late 1960s and Early 70s

1964 plan of the Eastgate Junction

Due to many factors, some including changing attitudes and lack of funding, only stages I and II of the 1964 plan were ever built. These stages now form the St Alkmund's Way section of the modern A601, which of the whole of the plan were considered the most important. What was actually built differs slightly from the 1964 plan, one example being the Eastgate (A52) Junction- this was originally planned not to have the loop, now containing a car park.

Stage I, essentially just the A6 junction, opened on the 24th January 1969. It was opened by Robert Brown MP, who was Joint Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Transport. Stage I started at a roundabout with Willow Row and Ford Street. It is unclear where it ended, but it likely involved some form of temporary terminus at Sowter Road. During the construction of Phase I, in November 1967, St Alkmund's Church was demolished. During the works for the demolition of the church, a tomb was found which was believed to belong to St Alkmund himself, and the road was therefore named after him.

Stage II, the rest of St Alkmund's Way and a far more complex construction project involving two river crossings, opened on the 30th July 1972 and cost £5,034,000 - a plaque, located near Holmes Bridge commemorates this.

Stages I and II were the first to be built as a great deal of traffic on nationally important routes such as the A38 and A6 was being funnelled across two old bridges (St Mary's Bridge and Exeter Bridge). Desire lines from the traffic survey also showed that the Northern section of the ring road would also need to be built first, and to the highest standard. This foresight at the time also meant that in future, should difficulties be encountered, the most important section of ring road was already in place.

Since its construction, St Alkmund's Way has had a mainly positive effect on Derby: congestion was initially relived enormously - in some areas of the city centre, traffic volumes dropped by up to 50% allowing some streets to become pedestrianised, footways widened and bus lanes to be introduced. The time taken to cross the city centre in a North-South direction in 1972 also dropped from 8 to 3.8 minutes.

1970s- 2000

Even while Stage II of the ring road project was under construction, the council had already set about trying to build stage III. Initially, this work progressed well, with the council applying for planning permission, but the project soon ran into difficulties with funding, and was postponed.

Lara Croft Way nearing completion

Once the ring road project was postponed, talk of completing it resurfaced periodically over the years with various completion dates being mooted, but being pushed further and further back as time passed. Work to complete the road never came to be, and by the time the new millennium arrived still no major work had been done on the ring road since 1972, almost 30 years beforehand. In the year 2000, Derby City Council launched the Connecting Derby project, with the aim of the ring being completed by the middle of the 2000s. Once again though, the completion of the ring road was delayed, and came perilously close to being once again indefinitely postponed. The council were determined, however, and the ring was finally joined in 2011, more than 40 years after work had first started on it.

Connecting Derby

See main article A601/Connecting Derby

Connecting Derby was a project launched in the year 2000, and undertaken by Derby City Council during the 2000s and early 2010s, with the main aim of completing the inner ring road, though not quite to the original plans. The project was initially scheduled to finish in 2006, but over ran and was not completed until 2012.

The junctions of the ring road were also numbered as a result of the Connecting Derby project. See main article A601/Junctions

Other Projects

Simultaneous to the Connecting Derby project was the Inner Ring Road Major Maintenance Scheme (IRRMMS) which involved building a new footbridge over the oldest section of St Alkmund's Way, and replacement of sign gantries.

Another £1.2M worth of work was carried out on the ageing ring road between January and August 2013, which involved the refurbishment of some of the ring road's bridges- Causey Bridge, and those over Phoenix Street and Sowter Road, as well as the replacement of a stretch of central barrier and installation of new street lighting. This work caused traffic congestion on roads leading into the city centre, with the Derby Telegraph reporting five mile tailbacks. The work was carried out by BAM Nuttall.

Opening Dates

Section	Opening
Traffic Street	1930s
Bradshaw Way	1962
St Alkmund's Way, Stage I	24th January 1969
St Alkmund's Way, Stage II	30th July 1972
Lara Croft Way	27th July 2010
Mercian Way	16th March 2011