The A61 at the Sheepscar Interchange (its interchange with the A58 and the Leeds Inner Ring Road, in Sheepscar, Leeds.

The A61 is a major trunk road in England. It runs from Derby to Thirsk in North Yorkshire. From Derby, it heads north via Alfreton, Clay Cross, Chesterfield, Sheffield, Barnsley, Wakefield, Leeds, Harrogate and Ripon. The road is closely paralleled by the M1 motorway as far as Leeds.

Heading south, the road begins as single carriageway which bypasses Ripon and onto Harrogate town centre. At Harrogate, the road divides into two major one way streets which enclose the town centre and run along The Stray, (a 200 acre stretch of grassland in Harrogate). The A61 continues through Harewood before approaching the north's metropolis, where a sudden urban fringe approaches. As the road enters Leeds, the road becomes 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.

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), meeting the A57 at junction 1 (for Sheffield Parkway heading east to Worksop) and junction 6 (for the Snake Pass to Manchester) of the ring road, and then emerging on the south side past the Sheffield United football stadium through Heeley and climbing up to Norton and the Meadowhead roundabout. From there the road becomes dual carriageway, heading towards Chesterfield on the Dronfield by-pass. The road used to go through Chesterfield town centre, passing by the famous crooked spire, but this caused heavy congestion that was alleviated by a bypass built in the 1980s. The spire itself is clearly visible from the bypass. The road reverts to single carriageway south of Chesterfield, passing through Clay Cross on its way to 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.

Road Safety

In June 2008 a 10km stretch of the A61 between Barnsley and Wakefield was named as the most dangerous road in Britain, when motorcycle accidents were excluded. 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.

External links

• UK roads: A61
• EuroRAP GB Tracking Survey Results
• Road Safety Foundation

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