The A601(M) is a

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 ...

Carnforth Carnforth is a market town and civil parish in the City of Lancaster in Lancashire, England, situated at the north-east end of Morecambe Bay. The parish of Carnforth had a population of 5,560 in the 2011 census, an increase from the 5,350 rec ...

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 Lancas ...

, England. It is long, and meets the M6 at Junction 35. The A601(M) is not the A601 under motorway restrictions, as is the usual explanation for such a classification in the UK. The A601 itself is the

Derby Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby g ...

inner ring road, over away. The motorway has a dual carriageway section leading north from Junction 35 of the M6, and until 2020 had a single carriageway section (one of the only 3 single carriageway sections with motorway status in the United Kingdom) leading south, where it terminated at a T junction on a B road.

History

The section between the M6 and Junction 35A was originally opened in 1960, as part of the Lancaster Bypass.Route 6 – Junction 35
/ref> This was a 2 lane motorway. In 1970, the M6 was extended north, and a short spur was left to the A6. The terminal

roundabout A roundabout is a type 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 junction.''The New Shorter Oxford Eng ...

was given the junction number 35A. Plans existed to extend this as part of an

Arnside Arnside is a village and civil parish in Cumbria, historically part of Westmorland, near the border with Lancashire, England. The Lake District National Park is located a few miles North. Travelling by road, Arnside is to the south of Kendal, ...

link road, which would have connected the

Furness Furness ( ) is a peninsula and region of Cumbria in northwestern England. Together with the Cartmel Peninsula it forms North Lonsdale, historically an exclave of Lancashire. The Furness Peninsula, also known as Low Furness, is an area of vill ...

Peninsula with the M6, but they were scrapped for environmental reasons, but parts of this road exist today, along the

A590 The A590 is a trunk road in southern Cumbria, in the north-west of England. It runs north-east to south-west from M6 junction 36, through the towns of Ulverston and Barrow-in-Furness to terminate at Biggar Bank on Walney Island.

. In 1987, a link was constructed with the B6254, to remove traffic for

Over Kellet Over Kellet is a village and civil parish near Carnforth in the English county of Lancashire. The parish, which is in the City of Lancaster, includes the village of Capernwray, at its northern end, and has a population of 778, decreasing slight ...

Quarries A quarry is a type of open-pit mine in which dimension stone, rock, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, gravel, or slate is excavated from the ground. The operation of quarries is regulated in some jurisdictions to reduce their envir ...

and

Kirkby Lonsdale Kirkby Lonsdale () is a town and civil parish in the South Lakeland district of Cumbria, England, on the River Lune. Historically in Westmorland, it lies south-east of Kendal on the A65. The parish recorded a population of 1,771 in the 2001 ...

passing through

. The road was then renumbered as the A601(M). No junction number was given to this terminus. In early 2020 the link road was downgraded to become the B6601 road, and in late 2021 Lancashire County Council issued a revocation order for the remaining portion of the motorway to be downgraded to non-motorway status. As of December 2022, the County Council were awaiting a decision from the Minister of Transport regarding the application. If successful, the road would be renumbered A6070, have the speed limit reduced to 50mph and remove the hard shoulder.

Junctions

References

External links

Pathetic Motorways – A601(M)
{{DEFAULTSORT:6-0601 Motorways in England Roads in Lancashire Two-lane expressways

History

Junctions

See also

References

External links