The M62 motorway connects the cities of Liverpool and Hull, in England. Along the way, it passes the cities of Salford, Manchester, Warrington, Bradford, Leeds and Wakefield, and crosses the Pennine hills.

The motorway is the most important east-west road in northern England. Great efforts are made to keep the road clear of snow in winter months, when other cross-Pennine routes are often shut. The Pennine stretch of motorway is the highest in the UK; there is a marker at the highest point.

Life in the fast lane

At the highest point of the motorway, the road divides into two to negotiate the hilly terrain, and a farm, built in 1737, is situated in between the two halves.

The inhabitants, Ken and Beth Wild, have lived and worked there since 1971.BBC report on the Wilds and their farm The road forks around the farm for engineering reasons; a myth persists that it is because they refused to be moved out of the way during its construction.

History

The building of the M62 between Rochdale and Huddersfield, crossing the Pennines, is considered to have been one of the most daring road construction projects to have taken place in England due to the nature of the terrain.

On the 4 February 1974, 12 people were killed and many more injured in the M62 coach bombing, when the IRA exploded a 25lb bomb on board an army coach travelling on the road between Bradford and Leeds during the night.

The section of the M62 around Manchester, between junctions 12 and 18, has been renumbered as the M60 Manchester Outer Ring Road road. Another section of the orbital road, the Stretford-Eccles Bypass, formerly a section of the M63, was originally built as a section of the M62. At the M62/M60 interchange, a road leads into Salford, called the M602.

In 2003, work commenced on the A1, upgrading it to motorway status between Doncaster, and Newcastle. The new A1(M) junction opened to traffic on 13 January 2006, intersecting the M62 halfway between J32 (Pontefract) and J33 (Ferrybridge).

In 2007, the UK's first carsharing lane on a motorway is to be built from the M606 allowing passengers with more than one person in the car a fast track onto the M62 Eastbound at Junction 26, near Bradford.BBC news story about the car-sharing lane

List of Junctions

External links

• CBRD Motorway Database - M62

References