B6226

Route

The B6226, also known as Chorley Old Road, is the original link between Bolton and Horwich before heading onto Chorley.

The B6226 at Bottom o'th Moor

Starting in Bolton at a signalised junction on the A673, where that road appears to TOTSO, the B6226 heads north west up a gentle gradient passing a bizarre set of signals for a housing estate. This obstacle is soon passed and the road behaves as a generic urban distributor through Heaton and Doffcocker before meeting the A58 at a late 1920s roundabout in Johnson Fold. Passing the McDonalds on the left, traffic is sent up a steeper gradient into a short 40mph speed limit through the notorious crossroads with Old Kiln Lane at the Bob's Smithy Inn, whereupon the road becomes semi-rural with a 50 mph speed limit and crosses across the edge of the moors towards Horwich.

The speed limit drops back to 40 as the road becomes built-up and traffic is sent down a long gradient past a recently rebuilt retaining wall before eventually ending up in Horwich town centre. Beyond here, the road is a typical high street before returning to a normal urban route meeting the A673 once more at the bizarre roundabout at the top of Scholes Bank. Here, all traffic (including that already on the roundabout) has to give way to the A673.

History

The B6226 in 1923

Although the above route is the old road between Bolton and Horwich it was not deemed worthy of a number in 1922 and so was unclassified at the beginning. The B6226 did exist in the area, however, running between the A673 in Horwich and the A6 in Blackrod.

By 1932 the B6226 had been extended east, taking over the current route of the road. The original section of the road was then renumbered as an extension of the B5238; this took place in the mid-1930s and probably coincided with the construction of the A6 Blackrod bypass which would have put the B6226 out of zone anyway. This gave the B6226 its current position.