A61 road
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| Major junctions | |
| From: | Derby |
 A52 road A608 road A38 road A6175 road A617 road A619 road A6107 road A621 road A57 road A6101 road A6102 road A629 road A616 road[[Image:Motorway Left.svg|[ |x30px|link=]]      M1 motorway A6195 road A6133 road A635 road A628 road A633 road A6186 road A638 road A642 road A650 road A654 road A639 road[[Image:Motorway Left.svg|[ |x30px|link=]] M1 motorway[[Image:Motorway Left.svg|[ |x30px|link=]]   M621 motorway A653 road A64 road A58 road A6120 road A659 road A658 road A6040 road A59 road A6108 road A1 road A167 road A170 road A19 road | |
| To: | Thirsk |
| Location | |
| Primary destinations: |
Alfreton Chesterfield Dronfield Sheffield Hillsborough Barnsley Staincross Wakefield Leeds Harrogate Ripon |
| Road network | |
The A61 is a major trunk road in England connecting Derby and Thirsk in North Yorkshire by way of Alfreton, Clay Cross, Chesterfield, Sheffield, Barnsley, Wakefield, Leeds, Harrogate and Ripon. The road is closely paralleled by the M1 motorway between Derby and Leeds.
Route
Heading south, the road begins as single carriageway from Thirsk which bypasses Ripon and travels towards Harrogate, eventually passing through Harrogate town centre. Here, the road divides into two major one-way streets which enclose the town centre and run along The Stray, (a 200-acre (0.81 km2) stretch of grassland in Harrogate). As Leeds Road, it then passes through the southern suburbs of Harrogate before meeting the A658 near the village of Pannal. The A61 continues through Harewood before approaching the north's metropolis, where a sudden urban fringe approaches. As the road enters Leeds and crosses the A6120 outer ring road, the road becomes Scott Hall Road, a main dual carriageway (or Trunk Road) and artery for north Leeds. For a distance it stays the same before the arrival of the superbusway near Potternewton. Here, the A61 rises slightly, and a panoramic view of Leeds skyline is revealed. The descent into Leeds is quick and the road soon turns into a multi-lane road, as it approaches Sheepscar Interchange. Fast-flowing traffic is directed onto the A61, although some traffic is directed off the A61 to avoid Leeds City Centre as it routes around the back of Quarry House. The A61 meets it shortly after, as it shares the city centre loop for a short distance. After crossing the river, the road splits again before taking traffic out to the motorways. The road then continues out of Leeds towards Wakefield and Barnsley. South of Barnsley it crosses the M1 at Junction 36 then heads towards Sheffield. Between the M1 at Junction 36 and the Westwood roundabout intersection with the A616, the road is designated as a trunk road under the responsibility of the Highways Agency.
The A61 travels into Sheffield through Grenoside and Hillsborough, passing next to the Sheffield Wednesday football stadium. At this point it forms a major artery into the City Centre from the north, before becoming the Sheffield Inner Ring Road (which as of 2007 is labelled as A61 all the way around). It meets the A57 twice; at Park Square and Brookhill roundabout. The A61 takes a southerly course past Sheffield United football stadium through Heeley as Chesterfield Road and climbs up to Norton and Greenhill roundabout. Between Sheffield and Chesterfield is a dual carriageway, avoids Dronfield as the eponymous by-pass. The road used to go through Chesterfield town centre, passing by the famous crooked spire, but was heavily congested. This was alleviated by the construction of the Chesterfield bypass in the 1980s on the alignment of the former Great Central Railway. The road reverts to single carriageway south of Chesterfield, passing through Clay Cross and Alfreton.
South of Alfreton, the A61 merges with the dual carriageway A38, but the old A61 continues as the B6179 through Swanwick and Denby, meeting the A38 again just north of the City. The A61 road continues towards the city centre along Sir Frank Whittle Road until it finally ends at the junction with the A52 near to the headquarters of Derbyshire County Cricket Club.
Map of Route
Road safety
In June 2008 a 6.2-mile (10.0 km) stretch of the A61 between Barnsley and Wakefield was named as the most dangerous road in Britain, when motorcycle accidents were excluded.[1] In the latest EuroRAP findings from the Road Safety Foundation, this stretch of road was also found to be the most dangerous road in Yorkshire and Humber. With 22 fatal and serious injury accidents in the three years analysed (2004–2006), this single carriageway route was rated as Red — the second highest risk category.[2]
References
- ↑ "EuroRAP 2008: GB Tracking Survey Results" (PDF). EuroRAP. 30 June 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 February 2012. Retrieved 2009-03-09.
- ↑ "GB A61 (Risk Rate)". EuroRAP. Retrieved 2009-03-09.
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to A61 road (England). |
A roads in Zone 6 of the Great Britain road numbering scheme | ||
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Coordinates: 53°34′02″N 1°28′19″W / 53.56713°N 1.47182°W