A6178
| A6178 | ||||
| Location Map ( geo) | ||||
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| From: | Sheffield (SK366882) | |||
| To: | Rotherham (SK435923) | |||
| Distance: | 5.5 miles (8.9 km) | |||
| Meets: | A6109, B6071, B6080, B6200, B6085, B6083, A6102, M1, A631, A630, A618, A6021 | |||
| Former Number(s): | A57, A630 | |||
| Highway Authorities | ||||
| Traditional Counties | ||||
| Route outline (key) | ||||
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Route
The A6178 connects Sheffield to Rotherham via Tinsley.
Section 1: Savile Street to Janson Street
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From its junction with the A6109 Fred Mulley Way, a junction built in 1996 as Stage 3 of the £33M Don Valley Link, the A6178 passes along a mix of S4/S3/S2 urban single-carriageway through the former shopping heart of Attercliffe, now revitalised with a mix of specialist shops. Passing the Don Valley Stadium built for the World Student Games in 1991 and the National Ice Skating Centre IceSheffield built in 2003, the road widens back out to S4 near Sheffield Arena and the A6102 Janson Street.
The section between A6109 Fred Mulley Road and B6200 Staniforth Road was formerly the A57 Liverpool to Lincoln Trunk Road, before the Sheffield Parkway was constructed in the 1960s. The remainder of the A6178 follows the original line of the A630.
Section 2: Janson Street to Tinsley Roundabout
Perhaps the busiest part of the A6178 with 36,000 vehicles a day using the road, it comes as no surprise that Attercliffe Common took priority for widening under Stage 1 of the Don Valley Link in 1994. The new dual carriageway managed only to consume a single pub along its entire length, being knocked down in a few minutes not unlike a scene from Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?. The access to Meadowhall Retail Park was built in advance of the major scheme in 1993 with an alignment that accommodated the later widening.
Stage 6 of Don Valley Link widened a old S4 Sheffield Road to dual carriageway between Weedon Street and the former railway line in 1996; the railway bridge was removed later. This part of the A6178 is home to a couple of prestige car dealerships for Porsche and Mercedes, with BMW proposing a new dealership to complete the trio. The roundabout fronting Meadowhall Shopping Centre was built when the centre opened in 1992 and again accommodated future widening back towards Weedon Street, although funding was never forthcoming to upgrade a perfectly adequate S4 into D2. The final part in this section is a old bit of dual carriageway that was built when the M1 was constructed in 1968; this part of the road passes over a weak bridge and is constructed almost completely on retaining walls, minimising options for any low cost improvements to capacity along this very busy section of road. The M1 and A630 are met at the south roundabout of Tinsley Interchange (J34).
Section 3: Tinsley Roundabout to Broom Road
_JThomas_-_Geograph_-_2808637.jpg)
Becoming a much less busy road, the A6178 travels though the former steel mills of Templeborough, passing regeneration projects and the Magna Science Adventure Centre. Other major employers in this area include Toyoda-Mitsui, making parts for cars, and Connought, a leading integrated services provider. The road ends at a roundabout where it meets the infamous A630 Centenary Way, made famous by the very bumpy road surface caused by the steel slag used as a sub-material in the early 1990s swelling with ground water to form a corrugated road surface. A similar problem was evident on the A57 Mosborough Parkway, which was built at the same time, but was fully reconstructed in 2006, hopefully removing the problem.
An amended OpenStreetMap trace for this route awaits uploading to the SABRE Wiki.
History
Opening dates
| Date | Section | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1992 | Sheffield Road Roundabout | Meadowhall Shopping Centre Access |
| 1993 | Attercliffe Common | Meadowhall Retail Park Access |
| 1994 | Attercliffe Common | Don Valley Link Stage 1 |
