B6200

This article is about the current B6200, the former A57 to the east of Sheffield.
For the original B6200 in Bolton, see B6200 (Bolton).

Route

The B6200 runs along the old route of the A57 east of Sheffield. It replaced the road through Darnall and Attercliffe in the 1970s and was then extended further east through Handsworth in 1995.

Section 1: Attercliffe to Handsworth

Handsworth Road

The first part of the B6200 was created in the 1970s with the opening of the Sheffield Parkway through to Park Square, the former route number being the A57 Liverpool to Lincoln trunk road. The B6200 did not replace all of the previous length into Sheffield: the old line of the A57 was replaced between the A630 Sheffield Parkway and Attercliffe with the B6200, then between Attercliffe and the City Centre with the A6178 and possibly the A6109 and A6135, although historic mapping is unclear on these last two numbers.

The current B6200 is single-carriageway and follows a built-up path with a collection of pre-WWI homes towards the western end, gradually becoming less old as the route heads east. Much of this section is traffic-calmed and has a very residential feel. The route intersects with the A6102 at Darnall, previously as a lesser road, but improved in the 1970s to become the major road due to its increasing importance as an outer ring road to Sheffield. The junction was later improved in the early 1990s and a again in the early 2000s as traffic demand has grown.

The road climbs gently uphill from Darnall, first as a single-carriageway, then after crossing the former LNER line, a short section up to the Sheffield Parkway is dual-carriageway, although much of the length is limited to a single lane due to extensive frontage parking.

Section 2: Handsworth to Swallownest

Retford Road

Passing under the A630 Sheffield Parkway via a roundabout, the B6200 continues as a dual carriageway for another mile, before becoming a wide single-carriageway road for just over a mile. This side of the Sheffield Parkway has a mix of buildings from all ages back to the 17th century; many have commercial frontages with accommodation above. The frontage jumps suddenly into a historical journey of post-WWII homes, through to the River Rother.

A network of Class II roads meet the B6200 along this section, a small clue to its former grandeur as a major trunk road before being finally replaced by the A57 Mosborough Parkway in 1991. From the west, the B6200 meets the B6065 Richmond Road (and Laverack Street as a one-way system), the B6066 Rotherham Road to Catcliffe and a short cut to the A630 Sheffield Parkway, the B6066 Beaver Hill Road and B6064 Furnace Lane to Woodhouse. It then widens to become a dual-carriageway again and meet the old Aston Bypass.

The last part of the B6200 was constructed in the early 1980s as a bypass for Aston and Swallownest; this single-carriageway route still forms part of the A57 to the east, but the western section has been bypassed itself by the Mosborough Parkway, which, although never planned as a specific bypass, forms a high speed link around the suburban areas of Woodhouse, Handsworth and Beighton. Ironically the volume of traffic on the current B6200 far exceeds the level of traffic on the former A57 that justified the building of the Mosborough Parkway in the 1980s.

Improvements

Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council have a proposed £10m link road that will meet the B6200 at a point near to the River Rother crossing. Money has been committed in the Local Transport Plan, but work has yet to begin on site. The scheme will see a new junction on the B6200; it is unclear at the time of writing if this will be a roundabout or signal controlled junction.