The M606 is a stretch of

motorway A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway, and expressway. Other similar terms ...

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a Metropolitan counties of England, metropolitan and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and east, South Yorkshire and De ...

, England. Called the Bradford Spur motorway, the M606 leaves the

M62 motorway The M62 is a west–east Pennines, trans-Pennine motorway in Northern England, connecting Liverpool and Kingston upon Hull, Hull via Manchester, Bradford, Leeds and Wakefield; of the route Concurrency (road), is shared with the M60 motorway, ...

at junction 26, near

Cleckheaton Cleckheaton is a town in the metropolitan borough of Kirklees, West Yorkshire, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is situated south of Bradford, east of Brighouse, west of Batley and so ...

, and heads into

Bradford Bradford is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in West Yorkshire, England. It became a municipal borough in 1847, received a city charter in 1897 and, since the Local Government Act 1972, 1974 reform, the city status in the United Kingdo ...

, to join the A6177

Bradford Ring Road The A6177 is a ring road around Bradford in West Yorkshire, England. It is mostly formed from existing roads and save for its southern section is single-carriageway. Route description Starting at Undercliffe going clockwise from the east of ...

. It is officially named the "Bradford South Radial Motorway" and was opened in 1973.

Route

The northern end of the M606, closest to the city, was built with a large raised

roundabout A roundabout, a rotary and a traffic circle are types of circular intersection or junction in which road traffic is permitted to flow in one direction around a central island, and priority is typically given to traffic already in the junct ...

crossing the

, but the original plans to continue the motorway under the roundabout were not carried out: access was only by slip roads to and from the roundabout. In 1999, a new slip road was built that allowed eastward traffic on the ring road, via a mini-roundabout, to enter the motorway directly and avoid the Staygate roundabout. In 2004, the junction was further remodelled, so that traffic leaving the motorway and wishing to turn eastward on the ring road continues under the roundabout, and round to join the roundabout from the opposite site, so that it has a left rather than a right turn to make (via two sets of traffic lights). Staygate roundabout is very close to

Odsal Stadium Odsal Stadium (known as Bartercard Odsal Stadium for sponsorship reasons) is a multi-purpose stadium, multipurpose stadium in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. The stadium is currently the home of Bradford Bulls rugby league football club and ...

, the home of the

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

club

Bradford Bulls The Bradford Bulls are a professional rugby league club in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, and compete in the Championship, the second tier of British rugby league. The club have won the League Championship six times, the Challenge Cup f ...

The southerly junction with the M62 is known as the Chain Bar Interchange and features free-flowing sliproads from the Manchester direction M62 traffic to Bradford, but not the

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

direction, which has to use the complex traffic-light controlled roundabout. In 2007, work started on the M606 to create the UK's first motorway carpool lane (also known as high-occupancy vehicle or

HOV A high-occupancy vehicle lane (also known as an HOV lane, carpool lane, diamond lane, 2+ lane, and transit lane or T2 or T3 lanes) is a restricted traffic lane reserved for the exclusive use of vehicles with a driver and at least one passenger, ...

lane). The lane scheme was on the M606 southbound and allowed vehicles with more than one person in the car a fast track onto the M62 eastbound at Junction 26. In August 2017 the lane's restriction was removed and is now open to all traffic. In September 2016, it was revealed that the M606 is the slowest part of the motorway network averaging .

List of junctions

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, rowspan="3",

, 0 , 0 , 1 , - Manchester, Leeds
- Leeds, Halifax
- Cleckheaton, Wakefield , , - , 1.5 , 2.4 , bgcolor="ffdddd" , 2 , bgcolor="ffdddd" , Oakenshaw, Low Moor , bgcolor="ffdddd" , No northbound entrance , - , 2.4 , 3.9 , 3 , - Halifax
- Bradford , *Ceremonial Counties ;Coordinate list

References

External links

Pathetic Motorways – M606

{{Motorways and Trunk Roads in England 6-0606 Transport in Bradford 6-0606