B6223

Route

View down Drake Street, Rochdale

The B6223 is a short link road in Rochdale town centre.

The road starts at traffic lights on the B6266 South Parade and heads south along Drake Street. This road now carries the tram lines into the town centre and so to begin with the road is one-way southbound for buses only, with a single line carrying trams in both directions. It's not long before the tramway becomes double-track, after which, at traffic lights, the road becomes two-way and open to all traffic. A short distance further on the road fork,s with both sections being the B6223 and both shortly ending on the A640.

The west fork (the through route and the one that the trams follow) is the mainline of the B6223; this then multiplexes with the A640 along more of Drake Street before turning left to regain its number. It goes south along the narrow - and one-way - Milkstone Road. At the far end it reaches a T-junction where the road ends. To the left is the B6224; all other roads are unclassified.

History

The original route of the B6223

This is where things get confusing. Originally the A627 ran along the northern section of Drake Street, turning off into Oldham Road whilst the B6223 continued west along Drake Street. Road improvements in Rochdale removed the A627 from the area. The Class I section of Drake Street became part of the B6223 whilst the Class II section became the A640.

Milkstone Road has always been the B6223. However, at the far end on meeting the B6224 our road turned right to head west along Tweedale Street to end on the A58 Manchester Road. This section is now unclassified, even though the road appears to be of better quality than Milkstone Road which is still part of the B6223.