Leeds Inner Ring Road

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A64(M) Motorway

Road of the United Kingdom
Length 0.5 miles (0.8 km)
Direction East-West
Start Quarry Hill
Primary destinations Leeds
End Brunswick
Construction dates 1969 - complete route
Motorways joined
A58(M) Motorway

Road of the United Kingdom
Length 2 miles (3.2 km)
Direction East-West
Start Brunswick
Primary destinations Leeds
End Armley
Construction dates 1964 - 1975
Motorways joined
By the former International Pool.
By the former International Pool.
Passing underneath the Nuffield Hospital.
Passing underneath the Nuffield Hospital.

The Leeds Inner Ring Road is a part motorway and part A road in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. Most of it is designated the A58(M), a motorway section of the A58 road, a short section is the A64(M), part of the A64 road, and the shortest motorway in the UK. The motorway section is in total it is 2.5 miles (3.8km) long and is subject to a 40 mph speed limit throughout. The remainder of the route is the A61, M621 and A643.

Contents

[edit] Route

The motorway section of the ring road forms a semicircle around the north of the city centre. This corridor is set to become a skyscraper alley with some of the city's tallest buildings proposed or under construction along it.

Although designated as a motorway, the road has no hard shoulders, and has many exits modern planning would consider unworthy of a motorway, including a right-side (fast lane) slip road exit (taking the eastbound A58 off the motorway). Most of it runs in a concrete-walled cutting, though it goes into tunnel around Leeds General Infirmary, a major hospital. The motorway cuts through inner-city neighbourhoods such as Woodhouse, Sheepscar and Buslingthorpe, and forms an important link in the road network, allowing traffic from the A65, A660, A58, A61 and A64 to bypass the city centre.

[edit] History

Leeds suffered severe traffic congestion as it was on the main route betweens Liverpool, Manchester, Bradford and Hull[1]. In 1955 it was decided to build a dual carriageway to remove through traffic[2]. It was during the final stages before construction began that the road was redesignated as a motorway in 1963, without any changes to the design[2]. Construction began with the demolition of 365 homes and 174 other structures[3].

The motorway was built around the city centre in three stages in the 1960s and 1970s[4]. Stage 1 opened was the route from the exit for the town hall to the A58 exit, stage 2 was the A64(M) section and stage 3 linked the road to the A58[5]. Stages 4 to 6 featured upgrades to the A61 constructed in the 1990s to non-motorway standards featuring traffic light controlled intersections and non-grade separated junctions. When the motorway finally opened, Leeds used the motto Motorway city of the 70s.

[edit] Future Plans

The final stage of the inner ring road (stage 7) began construction in 2006. Featuring a large elevated viaduct, it will link the route with the M621 at junction 4 and will be of a similar standard to sections 4-6[6]. Once built this will complete the inner ring road, albeit it will not form an actual ring and will not be the complete urban motorway originally envisioned in the 1960s.

[edit] Junctions

A64(M) Motorway
Eastbound exits Junction Westbound exits
Road continues as A64 to York, Selby & Cross Gates (M621)
No exit Start of Motorway
St James's Hospital A61 Eastgate, Bus station A61
No exit City Centre
A58(M) Motorway
Eastgate, Kirkgate, City Centre A58 No exit
Sheepscar, Chapel Allerton A61 No exit
Headingley, University, Leeds Bradford Airport, Skipton A660 Leeds Bradford Airport, Car Park, Skipton, A660
Town & Civic Halls, Crown Courts, Infirmary Town & Civic Halls, Crown Courts, Infirmary
Start of motorway Kirkstall A65
Kirkstall A65 Road continues as A58 to Armley

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Leeds Construction Link - Building of the Inner Ring Road - Background
  2. ^ a b Leeds Construction Link - Building of the Inner Ring Road - Solution
  3. ^ Leeds Construction Link - Building of the Inner Ring Road - Clearance
  4. ^ The Motorway Archive - Leeds Inner Ring Road Dates Page
  5. ^ CBRD - Histories - Leeds Inner Ring Road - Map
  6. ^ Leeds City Council Scheme Page

[edit] External links

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