A65

The A65 is another of those Pennine crossings detrunked at the end of the 20th century. It is still primary except at the ends.

Route

Leeds - Kendal

No longer the main primary route north from Leeds (the A660 now does the honours), the A65 starts at the western end of the A58(M) inner ring road at the Wellington Street roundabout. It heads west, through the western suburbs of Kirkstall, then out into the commuter belt of Rawdon and Menston, and finally meeting the A660 at Burley-in-Wharfedale. As I've said elsewhere, it would have made more sense for the A660 to be the A65, and form one continuous primary road, but that would have been far too sensible. Most of the remainder of the A65 is a primary route, and fairly mixed in quality. It has some good bypass sections (Burley-in-Wharefdale - the only dualled stretch, Skipton, Settle), but also some fairly knackered overstretched bits (Long Preston - Settle, Kirkby Lonsdale - M6).

The River Wharfe and the A65

From Burley, the A65 snakes alongside the River Wharfe, through Ilkley (baht 'at) - long overdue a bypass - then onto Addingham, thankfully now with a bypass, mostly a three lane affair, up a damned big hill, and one of those single carriageway stretches where you can easily do 80 without thinking. The old road whizzes over the moors before descending to Skipton on a much-improved section. The market town of Skipton was, until the early 80s, one of the most notorious bottlenecks in the country, with the A59 and A65 trunk routes crossing, plus the A629 filtering in the traffic from Bradford. I remember queues of two or three miles each way into the narrow streets of the town on a fairly regular basis. The bypass, with A59/A65 now multiplexing (and our number having priority), opened in about 1980 and is a godsend.

Kirkby Lonsdale

The A65 north of here is unimproved and bypasses for Gargrave and Long Preston, the latter being a particular bottleneck, have failed to materialise for many years. A narrow and twisty section north of Long Preston adds to the congestion on summer weekends, but things get better with the Settle bypass, a long straight and very fast section with good views of the Dales. Another twisty bit follows, but there is a good bypass (a fairly old one) of Clapham, before the drop down to Ingleton. The run to Kirkby Lonsdale, including a very brief section through the northern tip of Lancashire, is good and has been straightened out over recent years. The A65 avoids Kirkby village on a 1930s bypass - but could do with bypassing again and also a high-level bridge over the Lune to avoid the steep ascent out of the valley.

The next bit was improved before the money evidently ran out, and so the last 5 miles to the M6 is a nightmare, tight and twisty, full of tractors and farm vehicles and little villages. With the coming of the M6 in 1971, a short dual-carriageway spur was built to link to junction 36, originally called Farleton Link - this was later extended as a dual-carriageway link to the A6 at Levens and the Kendal bypass - originally the A591, but now A590. This new link makes the final section of the A65 into Kendal, via Endmoor and Oxenholme, redundant except for local traffic, but this still retains its A-road classification.

The A65 ends on the one-way system in Kendal. Some maps claim that the northbound section is numbered A6 whilst the A65 runs southbound from the roundabout near the station - but following the loop is bad enough without having to worry about numbering.

History

A65 historic route from 1922/3 numbering

Opening Dates

Year	Section	Notes
1932	Kirkby Lonsdale Bypass	The 1 mile road was opened on 3 December 1932 by Lady Bentinck of Underley Hall. It included the new Stanley Bridge over the River Lune, 200 yards south of the narrow medieval Devil’s Bridge. The new bridge was opened by Oliver Stanley, Minister for Home Affairs. Scheme cost was £50,000.
1973	Clapham Bypass	The 1.3 mile road was opened “last week” per the Craven Herald of 9 November 1973. Cost £330,000. Note that it was still shown as under construction on the July 1974 OS Quarter inch map.
1988	Settle and Giggleswick Bypass	The 4.17 mile road from 309 yards north of Crow Nest Road, Austwick to 81 yards south of the Leeds – Carlisle railway bridge at Cleatop was opened on 2 December 1988 by Peter Bottomley, Minister for Roads and Traffic. 7.3m wide with 1m hardstrips, plus climbing lane on the steepest section. Contractor was Norwest Holst, outturn works cost £8.5 million.
1990	Addingham Bypass	2 mile single carriageway road. Opened 17 October 1990. Contractor was Cumbrian Industrials Ltd, contract price £3.67 million.
1991	Draughton Bypass	1.4 mile single carriageway road. Opened in December 1991 per Hansard (19 January 1995). Contractor was Shand Construction Ltd, tender cost £2.18 million.
1995	Burley in Wharfedale Bypas	Opened in April 1995 by Sir Marcus Fox M.P.. Dual carriageway between Ilkley Roundabout and Burley Hall Roundabout, single carriageway for the section east and A65 spur to Otley Road. Contractor was Amey Construction Ltd., tender price £5.6 million. Part was A660.

Links

legislation.gov.uk

• The A65 Trunk Road (From M6 Junction 36 to the Roundabout Junction with the A59) (Detrunking) Order 2008 - an order detrunking part of the road following the 1998 consultation A New Deal for Trunk Roads in England

• The A65 Trunk Road (Thorlby Roundabout to North Yorkshire/City of Bradford Boundary) (Detrunking) (Amendment) Order 2003 - an order detrunking part of the road following the 1998 consultation A New Deal for Trunk Roads in England

• The A65 Trunk Road (Burley Hall Roundabout to City Boundary) (Detrunking) Order 2003 - an order detrunking part of the road following the 1998 consultation A New Deal for Trunk Roads in England

• The A65 Trunk Road (Thorlby Roundabout to North Yorkshire/City of Bradford Boundary) (Detrunking) Order 2002 - an order detrunking part of the road following the 1998 consultation A New Deal for Trunk Roads in England

Grid References

• Leeds: SE290336
• Burley in Wharfdale: SE173462
• M6 J36: SD536823
• Kendal: SD518914