A628 | ||||
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Route information | ||||
Length | 38.2 mi [1] (61.5 km) | |||
Major junctions | ||||
West end | Mottram Moor, Hollingworth (A57 near M67) 53°27′39″N1°59′46″W / 53.4609°N 1.9961°W | |||
A57 A6024 A616 A629 M1 A635 A61 A633 A6195 A638 A639 | ||||
East end | Pontefract (A639) 53°40′51″N1°18′48″W / 53.6807°N 1.3133°W | |||
Location | ||||
Country | United Kingdom | |||
Primary destinations | Barnsley | |||
Road network | ||||
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The A628 is a major road connecting Greater Manchester and South Yorkshire in northern England. It crosses the Pennine hills by way of Longdendale and the Woodhead Pass in the Peak District National Park. The road's altitude and exposure to bad weather create problems in winter and the road is sometimes closed due to snow or high winds.
The road starts to the east of Manchester at the end of the M67 motorway and A57 road. It passes through Mottram in Longdendale, Hollingworth and Tintwistle and then through Longdendale in the Peak District National Park to Crowden and Salter's Brook Bridge where the road leaves Derbyshire and enters Barnsley Metropolitan Borough. From its summit the road descends through Millhouse Green, Thurlstone, around Penistone before joining the M1 motorway at Junction 37.
From the M1 junction the road passes through Barnsley, Cudworth, Brierley and around Hemsworth (bypassed) to Ackworth Moor Top ending in Pontefract at a junction with the A639 road. The section from Ackworth Moor Top Roundabout through Ackworth has a 7.5 tonne weight limit because of a number of tight bends and narrow sections.
The Woodhead Pass section, while not formally defined, covers the section of the road that passes through the national park.
The A628 originated as a salt road accessing what was a valuable preservative in the 18th century. The route was used to transport salt from mines in north Cheshire to towns in Yorkshire. Construction of the western section of the road to Saltersbrook in the Longendale valley began in 1732 and the section to the east towards Doncaster opened in 1740. [2] The road was improved and reconstructed as a turnpike road in 1844. [3]
A modern section of the A628 between Barnsley and Pontefract runs on the line of the former Hull and Barnsley Railway.
The road's altitude and its exposure to the weather over the Woodhead Pass creates problems in winter [4] [5] when it can be closed because of snow or high winds. [6] The high altitude of the pass and its winding, narrow route through the Pennine hills makes travelling difficult, and the road is often closed. The alternative trans-Pennine route is a lengthy detour via the M62, 15 miles to the north. High winds along the pass cause HGVs to overturn or jack-knife, creating obstructions, and ice can make the road "like a skating rink". [7]
In 2015, Highways England proposed a £6 billion scheme to build a combined road and rail tunnel under Woodhead, which would be the longest tunnel in Europe. The plans were scaled back to involve a partially tunnelled scheme. Drivers are unimpressed with the slow progress in upgrading the pass, complaining the road "is currently about 30 years behind the times". [7] [8]
The Longdendale Bypass has been promoted as a project to remove traffic from the villages of Mottram, Hollingworth and Tintwistle, which lie between the M67 and the Woodhead Pass. The scheme has been perennially controversial. As of 2017, the project has no definitive start date. [9]
The A628 is mentioned in the 2001 Human League track "The Snake", which suggests it as an alternative route from the M62 or A57 Snake Pass. The road features in the film Hell is a City (1960) when robbers stop to dispose of a woman's body alongside the road.[ citation needed ]
Longdendale is a valley in the Peak District of England, north of Glossop and southwest of Holmfirth. The name means "long wooded valley" and the valley is mostly in the counties of Derbyshire and Greater Manchester.
The River Etherow in northern England is a tributary of the River Goyt. Although now passing through South Yorkshire, Derbyshire and Greater Manchester, it historically formed the ancient county boundary between Cheshire and Derbyshire. The upper valley is known as Longdendale. The river has a watershed of approximately 30 square miles (78 km2), and the area an annual rainfall of 52.5 inches (1,330 mm).
Mottram in Longdendale is a village in Tameside, Greater Manchester, England. At the 2011 census, the population for the ward of Longdendale, which includes Mottram and the surrounding area, was 9,950.
The M62 is a 107-mile-long (172 km) west–east trans-Pennine motorway in Northern England, connecting Liverpool and Hull via Manchester, Bradford, Leeds and Wakefield; 7 miles (11 km) of the route is shared with the M60 orbital motorway around Manchester. The road is part of the unsigned Euroroutes E20 and E22.
The M67 is a 5-mile-long (8 km) urban motorway in Greater Manchester, England, which heads east from the M60 motorway passing through Denton and Hyde before ending near Mottram. The road was originally conceived as the first section of a trans-Pennine motorway between Manchester and Sheffield that would connect the A57(M) motorway with the M1 motorway; however, the motorway became the only part to be built.
The A57 is a major road in England. It runs east from Liverpool to Lincoln via Warrington, Salford and Manchester, and then through the Pennines over the Snake Pass (between the high moorlands of Bleaklow and Kinder Scout), around the Ladybower Reservoir, through Sheffield and past Worksop. Between Liverpool and Glossop, the road has largely been superseded by the M62, M602 and M67 motorways. Within Manchester a short stretch becomes the Mancunian Way, designated A57(M).
The Trans Pennine Trail is a long-distance path running from coast to coast across Northern England on a mixture of surfaced paths, with some short on-road sections, and with gentle gradients. It forms part of European walking route E8 and is part of the National Cycle Network as Route 62.
Hollingworth is a village in the Metropolitan Borough of Tameside, in Greater Manchester, England. It is about 11 miles (19 km) east of Manchester on the Derbyshire border near Glossop. Historically part of Cheshire, it gave its name to a family who owned much of the surrounding area from before the time of the Norman conquest.
Hadfield is a town in the High Peak of Derbyshire, England, with a population at the 2021 Census of 6,763. It lies on the south side of the River Etherow, near to the border with Greater Manchester, at the western edge of the Peak District close to Glossop. It doubled as the fictional town of Royston Vasey in the BBC comedy series The League of Gentlemen.
The Woodhead Tunnels are three parallel trans-Pennine 3-mile (4.8 km) long railway tunnels on the Woodhead Line, a former major rail link from Manchester to Sheffield in Northern England. The western portals of the tunnels are at Woodhead in Derbyshire and the eastern portals are at Dunford Bridge, near Penistone, South Yorkshire.
Woodhead is a small and scattered settlement at the head of the Longdendale valley in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the trans-Pennine A628 road connecting Greater Manchester and South Yorkshire, 6 miles (10 km) north of Glossop, 19 miles (31 km) east of Manchester and 18 miles (29 km) west of Barnsley. It is close to the River Etherow and the Trans Pennine Trail. Although part of Derbyshire since 1974, like nearby Tintwistle and Crowden the hamlet was in the historic county of Cheshire.
The Woodhead line was a railway line linking Sheffield, Penistone and Manchester in the north of England. A key feature of the route is the passage under the high moorlands of the northern Peak District through the Woodhead Tunnels. The line was electrified in 1953 and closed between Hadfield and Penistone in 1981.
Snake Pass is a hill pass in the Derbyshire section of the Peak District, crossing the Pennines between Glossop and the Ladybower Reservoir at Ashopton. The road was engineered by Thomas Telford and opened in 1821. The pass carries the A57 road between Manchester and Sheffield, but it is no longer the main signposted route between those two cities, with traffic instead directed through the Woodhead Pass to the north.
The A635 is a main road that runs between Manchester and Doncaster running east–west through Stalybridge, Saddleworth Moor, Holmfirth, Barnsley and the Dearne Valley. The section forming the eastern part of the Mancunian Way is a motorway and is officially designated as the A635(M) though there is no road sign with this designation, and the signs at the entrance of Mancunian Way westbound show A57(M).
The Longdendale Bypass is a long-planned National Highways road scheme in the Tameside and High Peak districts in England. Its aim is to alleviate traffic congestion on the A57, A628, and A616 routes that presently pass through the villages. There is both support and opposition for this long-planned scheme, which will pass through the valley of Longdendale and part of the Peak District National Park.
The A616 is a road that links Newark-on-Trent, Nottinghamshire, to the M1 motorway at Junction 30, then reappears at Junction 35A and goes on to Huddersfield, West Yorkshire.
Swallows Wood is a nature reserve near Hollingworth, Tameside, straddling the border between Greater Manchester and north Derbyshire. The 60-acre (0.24 km2) reserve, which contains semi-natural woodlands, meadows, ponds and marsh areas, is owned by United Utilities who are responsible for its management. The site was formerly occupied by the Hollingworth and Waste Lodge reservoirs; these were demolished in 1987, and the nature reserve was installed in their place. Arnfield Reservoir, the lowest of the Longdendale Chain reservoirs, is nearby.
Padfield is a small village near Hadfield in High Peak, Derbyshire, England. The village is on the west side of the Peak District National Park, and the nearest town is Glossop, where many local amenities and services are based. It is in a conservation area. The population as of the 2011 census was 2,796.
The Mottram Tunnel is a tunnel carrying drinking water by gravity from Arnfield Reservoir, Tintwistle, Derbyshire, in the valley of the River Etherow, to Godley, Greater Manchester, in the valley of the River Tame. It was essential to the construction of the Longdendale Chain of reservoirs constructed by John Frederick Bateman. The tunnel was built between August 1848 and October 1850, and the Godley Reservoir was finished in 1851 to receive and filter the water.
National Cycle Network (NCN) Route 62 is a Sustrans National Route that runs from Fleetwood to Selby. As of 2018 the route has a missing section between Preston and Southport but is otherwise open and signed.