A645
| A645 | ||||||||||||||||
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| From: | Crofton (SE374188) | |||||||||||||||
| To: | Airmyn Grange (SE703238) | |||||||||||||||
| Distance: | 25.2 miles (40.6 km) | |||||||||||||||
| Meets: | A638, B6378, B6133, B6421, A639, A162, B6136, A19, A1041, A614 | |||||||||||||||
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| Route outline (key) | ||||||||||||||||
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The A645 is a medium-length A-road in Yorkshire, largely paralleled by the M62.
Route
Section 1: Crofton – Ferrybridge
The road begins on the A638 just outside Crofton, by forking right and heading gently uphill, as a non-primary S2. The original road actually went into the middle of the village, joining the A638 just a bit further on, but was bypassed a long time ago. This old section is now part of the B6378.
We head towards the village of Sharlston Common and pass a large garden centre on the right. As we leave the village, continuing towards Featherstone, we pass a number of factories on the right. We meet the B6421 at a staggered crossroads before continuing towards Pontefract.
We cross the A639 at a double roundabout - up until 2016, this was an awkward traffic-light-controlled junction - and for the only time in our entire journey, encounter a very short stretch of D2, which ends at the next roundabout about 100 yards further on. As we cross the A639 we also gain primary status from that road.
We pass Pontefract Castle on our left and continue to head downhill out of the town. We pass close to Ferrybridge Power Station, the first of three we will pass on our journey, together responsible for producing one quarter of the power generated from coal-fired power stations in the UK. We pass underneath the M62 and under the A1(M). We cross over the old A1 (now the A162), throwing slip roads to it off our left hand side, and also at this point losing our briefly held primary designation, as much of our traffic will be heading to one of the motorways - M62 J33 is just to the south.
Section 2: Ferrybridge – Airmyn Grange
Shortly afterwards we pass through Knottingley and after that point the road opens out into open countryside as we make our way eastwards. We meet the old A19 - and them immediately afterwards the current A19 - at roundabouts in Eggborough. Once again, we pass by a large power station, named after that village. We continue on our merry way alongside the M62, which for a short period of time in the mid 1970s came to a temporary end at the point where, these days, the only thing that separates us from the motorway is a small fence.
We head into the town of Snaith, where we historically finished at a roundabout, with the original line of the A614 (now A1041) arriving from Selby to the north. However in the early 1990s an extra bit of the A645 was constructed in order to allow large quantities of coal to be transported to Drax without having to travel through Snaith. In order to find it, we need to turn left at this roundabout onto the A1041 and head north for 3 miles passing over Carlton New Bridge and through the village of Carlton.
We arrive at a roundabout junction on the edge of Camblesforth where the newest section of the A645 commences and we head slightly north-east. As we pass within a couple of hundred yards of Drax Power station (Western Europe's largest coal-fired station), the road turns towards the south and continues in an arrow-straight line for about 3 miles, before ending at a roundabout with the A614.
Original Author(s): Chris W
History
The 2.9 mile Drax - Airmyn Link Road from Drax Power Station to A614 Rawcliffe Road was due to be opened on 14 December 1992. It was built on the route of the former Selby to Goole railway line and provided a direct route to M62 at Goole Interchange. It was funded by National Power, cost £3.5 million.
