A601(M)
Where is it?
Carnforth, Lancashire. It meets the M6 at junction 35.
Can you show me that on a map?
What makes this a pathetic motorway?
The northern section was originally the top end of the Lancaster by-pass, one of the first sections of motorway in the UK. The motorway then got extended into Cumbria, but from the current junction 35, leaving a small stub, with the junction at the end numbered 35a (It still says so on the signpost today).
My query about the numbering of that small stub has now been answered for certain, when this map came into my possession, clearly showing the current northern section of A601(M) as M6.
That's all perfectly reasonable, so why is it here?
Well, that's not the end of the story. In the 1990s, the southern section was built to service the quarries at Over Kellet. This extension was built as a single carriageway road, with motorway restrictions. This section has no hard shoulders, a double white line down the middle, and not so much as a lay-by, let alone a hard shoulder! It also ends at a little T-junction.
Oh yes, and the name A601(M) means a section of the A601, upgraded to motorway status. That makes this an upgraded section of the Derby Ring Road, then...
And in total, it's about a mile and a quarter (2km) long.
Can I see some more photographs?
Can I see some video footage?
Here's what it looks like to drive down, both northbound and southbound.
Can I comment on this motorway?
Of course! Contact me and I'll put them here!
Have any other visitors commented?
SABRE member Curly says:
"I don't believe the A601(M) was ever the A6(M) and was always regarded as a spur of the M6 until the southern section was built".
Graham Mackay adds:
"Have you seen this?
Was an M6 to Barrow connector road the original rationale for this stub of a road? Who knows? :)"
Chris Williams comments:
"Your Photo Gallery on this motorway raises a point about the signing - the white sign pointing down the A601(M) directing traffic to Kirkby Lonsdale & Over Kellett Quarries actually replaced a blue sign which was correct - this white sign gives a misleading impression to road users that this isn't a motorway route - in fact there is no reason for it to be - the Motorway Regulations can easily be terminated at the ends of the exit sliproads from the M6 itself and the A601(M) resigned as B6254 in white from the B6254 itself then A6 from the M6 roundabout to the A6 roundabout itself - but then again the Highways Agency do appear to have a mental abberation against showing B - road exits on motorway signposts!!!! I'm writing to Lancs. County Council with my comments!!!
A precedent for this was the A36 Link at Ower/Totton from J2 of the M27 - when the A326 Totton Link opened the Motorway Regulations in the A36 link were cancelled (although a "No Cycling" restriction is still in force on it) and the road resigned in green."
Russell Oakes updates us:
"Just a line to say that the scrabby bridge on the A601(M) has been painted a very nice blue! So no-one visiting Morecambe Bay from the north needs to see a horiible bridge anymore!"
Stephen Cragg with some local information:
I was born in Carnforth and my parents lived in the area before that. My Dad had a job (1958 / 1959) as a pipe layer when they were building the motorway in this area. My parents lived in Carnforth from then till 1981, but still go there every week to visit friends and relatives.
My Dad cannot recall this section of road ever being called the A6(M).
Vicky Lamburn spots something I've missed completely:
Just looking at this page and noticed the fourth photo in for the A601(M); the sign in the middle appears to have a patch over what could have been a route number, which looks just wide enough to state M6, and not wide enough to have A6(M) in its place.
Probably stating the obvious, but just thought I'd mention it :)
Martin Rowe adds some information about a potential A601(M) extension:
J35 to J35A of the M6 continued to be designated M6 on O.S. maps and road maps after the M6 was extended north into Cumbria in the 1970's. If you think about it, if J35A wasn't on the M6, why wasn't known as A601(M) J1 ?
This short section of M6 from J35 to J35a was only later redesignated A601(M). Until then there were 2 M6 motorways north of Carnforth!
Later, when the eastern A601(M) was added for the quarry, the M6 spur to 35a was redesignated A601(M). But the junction is still 35A!
There was a plan to construct a link road from Barrow to the M6 and this might have connected at J35/35a, had it ever been built. The following is taken from http://www.arnsidesilverdaleaonb.org.uk/asaonb/history.html
" The Arnside Link Road....the Ministry of Transport (MOT) were developing a road scheme to link Barrow to the A6/M6. The County Councils had already accepted the line of road running through the proposed AONB from Yealand Redmayne to Arnside and on across Meathop Moss in the southern part of the Lake District National Park. The Countryside Commission were very concerned about the damage such a road would cause to the landscape of the area. In June 1970, following a campaign by the Arnside Link Road Objection Committee, officers of the Countryside Commission met with the Ministry of Transport and the two County Councils to discuss the landscape impact of the road scheme. Following this the Commission inspected the route proposed and reported on the disastrous landscape impact of the scheme on the proposed AONB. The Commission employed a consultant to prepare a report advising on a possible alternative to the link road scheme".
Parts of this road were eventually built, for example the Lindale bypass, but the proposed road bridge over the River Kent at Arnside and the new road from here to Carnforth were both withdrawn. Instead, the new road from Lindale to Levens was realigned to the north and now joins the Kendal Link Road at Brettagh Halt a short distance from M6 J36. "