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| Route information | |
| Length | 34 mi (55 km) |
| Major junctions | |
| From | Newark-on-Trent |
| Major intersections | A46 A616 A612 A614 A6191 A6117 A60 A38 A6075 M1 A6175 A61 |
| To | Chesterfield |
| Location | |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Road network | |
TheA617 road runs through the northernEast Midlands,England, betweenNewark-on-Trent andChesterfield.
The route runs south-east to north-west through the northern East Midlands, largely through former coal-mining areas. It runs largely parallel to theA616 road, around six miles further south.
The eastern terminus begins on the A46 Newark bypass, at the roundabout with the A616, on the former route of theGreat North Road in theNewark and Sherwood district ofNottinghamshire, as atrunk road. It traverses the Trent Valley, crossing theRiver Trent at a Kelham Bridge (a narrow bridge only really passable by light traffic). Kelham Bridge was built in 1857 when larger road vehicles never existed, and is mildly dangerous. The eastern terminus of the route was formerly in Kelham, where it met the former route of the A616 at a T-junction. It meets theTrent Valley Way, which it follows toAverham. A mile to the south isStaythorpe Power Station, with a traffic lights exit to the south, and the route is crossed by electricity lines. Before Micklebarrow Hill, the A612 leaves to the west at traffic lights forSouthwell. It passes throughHockerton and theSpread Eagle, following a northern ridge of theRiver Greet, further to the south. There is a long straight towards Kirklington, passingMaxeys Farm Shop.[1]
It passes throughKirklington, known for its formerKirklington Hall Research Station, now a residential special school, and the road is crossed by theRobin Hood Way. There is an exit to the north forEakring, and itsNational Grid Training Centre. It passes to the south ofBilsthorpe, with an exit to the south to Hexgreave Park[2] (inFarnsfield). Close to a line of pylons, it crosses the former north-south Southwell-Mansfield railway line, and further on officially entersSherwood Forest, before an exit to the south for Farnsfield. To the north is Lockwell Hill Activity Centre.[3] Entering the parish of Rainworth, it meets the busy north–southA614 at the busyLockwell Hill Roundabout and approaches Rainworth onCentenary Avenue. Rainworth is now bypassed, and the former route is the B6020. The eastern end of the bypass crosses a former railway, and meets the B6020 at a roundabout, where the dual carriageway begins, close to the JETPython Hill Service Station on the B6020. The main characteristic of this dual-carriageway, heavily landscaped bypass is that it was obviously built in anticipation of a similar (dual-carriageway) bypass of Mansfield, which although planned, never arose, and was built as single carriageway instead. There is an exit to the north with traffic lights for a coal disposal point.
The Rainworth bypass crossesClipstone Forest andRainworth Water, entersMansfield District, and meets the former route of the A617 at the large landscapedThree Thorn Roundabout (named after Three Thorn Hollow Farm), built in anticipation of a bridge over the roundabout at the junction. The £8m Rainworth Bypass, built byBirse, was opened on Friday 23 June 2000 at 1.30pm with acommemorative plaque unveiled on thetrussedfootbridge to Strawberry Hill.[4] To the north of the roundabout is Ransom Wood Business Park.[5] A large wind farm is to the south, and the bypass meets theA6117 at a roundabout, and theA60 at an at-grade junction, where it enters the district ofAshfield, another former coal mining district. It passes under theA611 and meets theA38 Sutton-in-Ashfield bypass. The Mansfield Bypass (MARR) has nograde-separated junctions. The southern section from Rainworth to the A38 opened on 21 December 2004 and was built byAlfred McAlpine, and designed byBabtie, Shaw and Morton of Glasgow.
The road briefly follows the A38 trunk road towards Mansfield. TheKing's Mill Hospital is directly to the east, and the road follows a route first built as theA6075, and is a non-trunk road. This is the western section of the Mansfield Bypass. Entering Mansfield district, the route of the Mansfield bypass follows a new route of the A617 toRadmanthwaite, where it meets the former route, now the dual-carriageway A6191.
It passes throughPleasleyhill, becoming dual-carriageway where it crosses theRiver Meden enteringDerbyshire andBolsover District, meeting the B6407 and B6417 at the largePleasley Roundabout with access for theSports Direct warehouse atShirebrook via the B6407; the Pleasley Bypass was built in the early 1970s. TheJET Staleys garage at the eastern end of Glapwell closed in 2011. It passes throughGlapwell, passing theCrown CarveriesYoung Vanish,[6] and thePlug and Feathers[7] AtBramley Vale there isEve Trakway and theBramley Vale Fish Bar. This is the site of the formerGlapwell Colliery. AtDoe Lea inAult Hucknall, the road deviates to a dual-carriageway section to the north, built in anticipation of the M1, enteringNorth East Derbyshire.
The road meets theM1 motorway andA6175 at the busy Heath Interchange inHeath and Holmewood. 13.5 miles of the M1 were opened on Wednesday 25 October 1967, when the section fromPinxton (junction 28) toBarlborough (junction 30) opened, including junction 29, built byJohn Laing Construction. Construction began in July 1965.[8] To improve access to Chesterfield from the M1 to the south, a new section of dual carriageway was built. On the east-bound carriageway is theEssoHeath Service Station[9] with aSubway. The former route takes part of the B6039 through the parish ofGrassmoor, Hasland and Winsick andHasland inChesterfield district; the A617 Hasland Bypass opened on 15 September 1978. There is a grade-separated junction with the B6425. The road enters the borough of Chesterfield, and the western terminus is with theA61 at theLordsmill Roundabout, having crossed under theMidland Main Line.
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A roads in Zone 6 of theGreat Britain road numbering scheme | ||
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