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| Major junctions | ||||
| From | Derby | |||
| Major intersections |  A52 A57 M1 M621 A64 A58 A59 A19 | |||
| To | Thirsk | |||
| Location | ||||
| Country | United Kingdom | |||
| Primary destinations | Alfreton Chesterfield Dronfield Sheffield Barnsley Staincross Wakefield Leeds Harrogate Ripon | |||
| Road network | ||||
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TheA61 is a majortrunk road in England connectingDerby andThirsk inNorth Yorkshire by way ofAlfreton,Clay Cross,Chesterfield,Sheffield,Barnsley,Wakefield,Leeds,Harrogate andRipon. The road is closely paralleled by theM1 motorway between Derby and Leeds.
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 alongThe 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 ofPannal. The A61 continues throughHarewood before approaching the north'smetropolis, where a sudden urban fringe approaches. As the road enters Leeds and crosses theA6120 outer ring road, the road becomes Scott Hall Road, a main dual carriageway (or Trunk Road) and artery for north Leeds. There are sections ofguided bus route using kerb guidance nearPotternewton. 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 approachesSheepscar 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 ofQuarry 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 ofLeeds towardsWakefield andBarnsley. South of Barnsley it crosses theM1 at Junction 36 then heads towardsSheffield. Between the M1 at Junction 36 and the Westwood roundabout intersection with theA616, the road is designated as atrunk road under the responsibility ofNational Highways.
The A61 travels into Sheffield throughGrenoside andHillsborough, passing next to the Sheffield Wednesdayfootball stadium as Penistone Road. It continues down to Shalesmoor and at this point it forms a major artery into theCity Centre from the north, becoming theSheffield Inner Ring Road (which is labelled as A61 all the way around). It meets theA57 twice; atPark Square and Brookhill roundabout. At Junction 4 (Bramall Lane) of the Sheffield Inner Ring Road, is a spur road the A621 – Bramall Lane, this road takes you past the western side of Sheffield United'sstadium and back onto the A61 as Queens Road. The A621 is used as a shortcut, instead of continuing on the Sheffield Inner Ring Road to Junction 3 (Granville Square), where it meets Queens Road further north. The A61 then continues throughHeeley asChesterfield Road and climbs up toNorton and onto Bowshaw roundabout. Between Sheffield and Chesterfield it is adual carriageway, avoidsDronfield andUnstone as the eponymous by-pass. The road used to go through Chesterfield town centre, passing by the famouscrooked spire, but was heavily congested. This was alleviated by the construction of the Chesterfield bypass in the 1980s on the alignment of the formerGreat Central Railway. The road reverts to single carriageway south of Chesterfield, passing throughClay Cross andAlfreton.
South of Alfreton, the A61 merges with the dual carriagewayA38, but the old A61 continues as the B6179 throughSwanwick andDenby, meeting theA38 again just north of the city. The A61 road continues towards the city centre alongSir Frank Whittle Road until it finally ends at the junction with theA52 near to the headquarters ofDerbyshire County Cricket Club.
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]
A roads in Zone 6 of theGreat Britain road numbering scheme | ||
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53°34′02″N1°28′19″W / 53.56713°N 1.47182°W /53.56713; -1.47182
