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A64

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A64
Location Map ( geo)
Cameraicon.png View gallery (64)
From:  Leeds (SE309337)
To:  Scarborough (TA039883)
Via:  York, Malton
Distance:  66.6 miles (107.2 km)
Meets:  A64(M), A61, A653, B6159, A6120, A1(M), A659, A162, A1237, A1036, A19, A166, A1079, B1248, B1257, B1258, B1249, A1039, B1261, B1427, A170, A165
Old route now:  A659, A1036
Primary Destinations
Highway Authorities

National Highways • Leeds  • North Yorkshire

Traditional Counties

Yorkshire

Route outline (key)
A64(M) Leeds
A64 Leeds – Scarborough

The A64 is a primary route connecting Leeds with the historic city of York and connecting both Leeds and York to the Yorkshire Coast at Scarborough.

Route

Leeds – York

Red Bus Café near Thorner

The A64 number starts in the centre of Leeds at the point where the A58 turns off the A58(M) on the Inner Ring Road (creating a TOTSO for A58 traffic); the Inner Ring Road becomes the A64(M). However, this road is short lived, and soon becomes the A64 proper where the sliproad merges from the Woodpecker Junction. Oddly, the A64 at York Road has three lanes each way, while the A64(M) has only two.

The A64 exits Leeds grade-separated all the way, until it reaches the traffic lights at Harehills Road, and the B6159 begins its multiplex for a mile or so. From here to the Ring Road there are guided bus lanes down the middle of the dual carriageway, and there are two lanes each way.

After another mile there's a traffic light controlled junction where the B6159 ends its multiplex and forks off to the right along the original western end of the A63, and the road carries on through a few more sets of traffic lights until it reaches the A6120 Ring Road, and the road has a multiplex with the A6120 for half a mile uphill to the next roundabout to the north (the A6120 is the signed road here). This remains a survival of NSL in an urban environment. The dual-carriageway stops from here and the road is reduced to a single-carriageway road for several miles until the Bramham Crossroads on the A1(M).

After this roundabout, we return to two-lane dual carriageway. There are some grade-separated junctions, on the Tadcaster bypass, built in the late 1970s. The former A64 through Tadcaster is now called the A659.

Once the road passes the signs for "YORK" and the A1237, it's sub-motorway standard all the way. The road joins the York ring road where the A1237 turns off; that road (of much poorer quality than the A64) forms the northern half whereas the A64 goes around the south. There's a junction with the A1036 which was the former A64 through York, after which we continue along the York Bypass built in 1976 and has GSJs with the A19, A1079, and A166. The road continues around the South of York until it reaches the Hopgrove Roundabout, at the end of the York bypass. This is where the A64 re-meets the A1036 and A1237. From here, the dual carriageway ends once again, and the road continues as a single carriageway to the edge of the Vale of York.

York – Scarborough

A64 - Coppermine - 2896.jpg

At the edge of the Vale of York, the road enters a series of steep climbs and drops. There is a 5-mile single carriageway section, then D2 dual carriageway on over of the steeper hills, including Barton Hill. This dual carriageway ends again and there is a 3-mile single carriageway section before reaching the Malton Bypass, which is a high quality D2 dual carriageway. The Malton bypass was built in 1979, and the former A64 through Malton is now the B1248. The bypass has two junctions with this road (one recently had major work done to it) and one with the A169.

After the Malton Bypass, the road goes back to being single carriageway. There is no more dual carriageway along this road. The road passes the Ham and Cheese Inn at Scagglethorpe and then the Flower Cafe as the road passes through the centre of Rillington, just after the traffic lights. From here the road runs along the southern side of the Vale of Pickering. The A170 runs parallel, on the north side of the valley. After a while, the road passes through West and then East Heslerton. However, most of the village is away from the main road. The road then enters Sherburn, which it goes right through the centre of. The speed limit through Sherburn is 30 mph, as it is with Rillington and East and West Heslerton. After Sherburn, the road passes a large factory building on the left belonging to Ward Building Components Ltd. (They make the girders and panels that make up modern industrial buildings).

After this the road goes past Ganton and then past another set of traffic lights at the start of the Staxton bypass and Staxton Hill, the B1249, then has a roundabout with the A1039. The A64 turns north rather suddenly here, and to another roundabout with the B1261 and the Seamer bypass begins, the former A64 being the B1261. The A64 goes round towards Scarborough and passes through the industrial area of Seamer and around a roundabout with Dunslow Road before meeting the B1261 at another roundabout. From here the road joins it old alignment and heads into Scarborough and runs through a few sets of traffic lights. It turns right at one of these, where it meets the A170 (and just misses the A171 coast road) to end at another set on the A165 between the Stephen Joseph Theatre and Scarborough railway station. The A64 junction marks the end of the primary route part of the A165.

Prior to the mid-1980s the A64 continued along Westborough, Newborough and Eastborough to terminate at the West Pier at the junction with Foreshore Road. The 1987 OS 1:1250 plan appears to be the last map to show the A64 extending this far.

Improvements east of York

As detailed above, the majority of the road east of York, with the notable exception of the Malton bypass, is single carriageway and in the early 1990s proposals were drawn up by the Department of Transport which would have seen the road dualled between the Hopgrove Roundabout and the start of the then recently opened Seamer bypass. The plans were for the road to follow the current alignment between York and Malton but east of Malton, a new road would have been built which for the most part it would have run parallel to the York - Scarborough railway line. The current A64 would have been retained a local access road. However these plans were shelved in the late 1990s. Now, the only possible improvement to the road might be a bypass of the village of Rillington as dualling the road east of York is now seen as unrealistic on cost grounds.

The traffic effectively splits in two at Malton, going onwards to Scarborough and northwards to Pickering on the A169. There are only two short sections of single carriageway between York and Malton, so an option for improvements would be to just fill the 5-mile gap east of York and the 3-mile gap west of Malton. Almost all the required land take on the 5-mile Hopgrove-Barton Hill section is already reserved, so almost no additional land take would be required, and the additional carriageway could be constructed alongside the existing carriageway.

In 2021, National Highways produced three options regarding dualling the single carriageway section between Hopgrove and Barton Le Willows. Two of the three options consider the dualled route running on a different alignment with the third option being for the current road to be dualled.

History

Route Changes

A64 historic route from 1922/3 numbering

Opening Dates

Year Section Notes
1976 York Southern Bypass The 8.9 mile D2 dual carriageway from Askham Bar to Malton Road, north of Hopgrove Roundabout - was completed in April 1976 per the Policy for Roads: England 1978 Report. Outturn works cost was £12 million.
1978 Tadcaster Bypass The 3.5 mile D2 dual carriageway was fully opened in August 1978. The eastbound carriageway had opened earlier in the year. Outturn works cost £8.9 million.
1978 Malton and Norton Bypass The 5 mile dual carriageway was opened on 14 December 1978 by John Horam, Parliamentary Under-secretary at Department for Transport per the RAC World Holiday Planner 1979. Contractor was Dowsett. The Department of Transport required the use of wet mix for the road pavement despite reservations by the Regional office, and previous problems that had seen its use banned on motorways in 1969 and dual carriageways in 1976. It needed remedial work in 1985 - 88 costing £3.1 million.
1986 Scagglethorpe Bypass In a Hansard debate of 24 March 1987 it was mentioned that the village was provided with a bypass in the last six months. It may have opened in 1987.
1988 Seamer and Crossgates Bypass The 2.4 mile road was opened on 5 February 1988 by Sir Michael Shaw, MP. Contractor was Dowsett, cost £5 million.

Links




A64
Junctions
Services
Crossings
Roads
Places
Leeds • Malton • Scarborough • York
Miscellaneous
Related Pictures
View gallery (64)
A64 Hopgrove Roundabout - Coppermine - 23416.jpgA64 - Coppermine - 2898.jpgA64-20-Askham Bryan interchange - Coppermine - 1614.jpgA64-05-A1036 slip road - Coppermine - 1596.jpgThe A64 heading downwards! - Coppermine - 22977.jpg
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