The A666 is a major road in
Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: Manchester, Salford, Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tam ...
and
Lancashire
Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly.
The non-metropolitan county of Lancash ...
, England.
Route
The road runs from its junction with the
A6, and
A580 at the
Irlams o' th' Height
Irlams o' th' Height is a suburb of Salford, Greater Manchester, England. It is located on top of the Irwell Valley, on higher ground than Pendleton, hence the reference to ''The Height''.
The first part of the name derives from the Irlam fami ...
boundary with
Pendlebury near
Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
, through
Pendlebury,
Clifton,
Kearsley
Kearsley ( ) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England. The population at the 2011 census was 14,212. Historically part of Lancashire, it lies northwest of Manchester, southwest of Bury and south of ...
,
Farnworth
Farnworth is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, southeast of Bolton, 4.3 miles south-west of Bury (7 km), and northwest of Manchester.
Historically in Lancashire, Farnworth lies on the River Ir ...
,
Bolton
Bolton (, locally ) is a large town in Greater Manchester in North West England, formerly a part of Lancashire. A former mill town, Bolton has been a production centre for textiles since Flemish weavers settled in the area in the 14th ...
,
Darwen
Darwen is a market town and civil parish in the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The residents of the town are known as "Darreners".
The A666 road passes through Darwen towards Blackburn to the north, Bolton to the s ...
and
Blackburn
Blackburn () is an industrial town and the administrative centre of the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The town is north of the West Pennine Moors on the southern edge of the Ribble Valley, east of Preston and north-n ...
before meeting the
A59 at
Langho
Langho is a small rural village north of Blackburn in the Ribble Valley, Lancashire, England. It is part of the parish of Billington and Langho. The village is linked with Blackburn and Clitheroe by the A666 road and is served by Langho railw ...
. Along the route are the
West Pennine Moors
The West Pennine Moors is an area of the Pennines covering approximately of moorland and reservoirs in Lancashire and Greater Manchester, England. It is a Site of Special Scientific Interest.
The West Pennine Moors are separated from the main ...
, the
Turton and Entwistle reservoir
Turton and Entwistle Reservoir is a water reservoir in the village of Edgworth, Lancashire, England. The reservoir's existence is due to the Entwistle Dam. When constructed in 1832 the Entwistle Dam was the highest in Britain; it rises 108 feet ...
and the Entwistle reservoir forest.
Road names
Most common names
The road is mostly known as Manchester Road, Bolton Road, or Blackburn Road, depending on which area it is in.
Devil's Causeway
It is sometimes referred to as the
Devil
A devil is the personification of evil as it is conceived in various cultures and religious traditions. It is seen as the objectification of a hostile and destructive force. Jeffrey Burton Russell states that the different conceptions of ...
's Highway
or the Devil's Road because of
Biblical associations of its number 666, and its high accident rate on the moors between
Egerton and Darwen.
St Peter's Way
Officially, a short length from the A666(M) motorway and bypassing Farnworth to central Bolton is calle
St. Peter's Way
Crash rate
Because of a crash rate that was three times higher than motorways in the borough, with 26 vehicle collisions and crashes a year and 40 people injured, road works and other changes were introduced, including the speed limit changed from 70 mph to 50 mph,
speed camera
In everyday use and in kinematics, the speed (commonly referred to as ''v'') of an object is the magnitude of the change of its position over time or the magnitude of the change of its position per unit of time; it is thus a scalar quantit ...
s, better safety fencing, banning
cyclist
Cycling, also, when on a two-wheeled bicycle, called bicycling or biking, is the use of cycles for transport, recreation, exercise or sport. People engaged in cycling are referred to as "cyclists", "bicyclists", or "bikers". Apart from two ...
s from the road, and
slip road
In the field of road transport, an interchange (American English) or a grade-separated junction (British English) is a road junction that uses grade separations to allow for the movement of traffic between two or more roadways or highways, usin ...
changes. Finished at the start of 2000, these reduced
road accidents by 60%.
See also
*
List of highways numbered 666
The following highways are numbered 666:
Belgium
* The pilgrimage centre of Banneux in Belgium is located on the N666 road.
Canada
* Alberta Highway 666
* Ontario Highway 666 (former)
Ireland
* R666 road, R666
Italy
* Strada regionale 666 di ...
References
External links
SABRE A666 page
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