Roads UK | A63: East Leeds Link Road

The East Leeds Link Road spent years floating about in the darkest recesses of the minds of City Councillors before work finally began in 2007. The official line is that it will "enable access to key economic development sites within the Aire Valley Leeds regeneration area as well as providing some traffic relief to large densely populated areas of east Leeds."

It links the M1 at Knowsthorpe (J45) with the new tail end of the Leeds Inner Ring Road, which provides a direct route onto the M621. Since the A1-M1 link road was completed back in the nineties, the only route from the M1 to the M621 was via a series of roundabouts, past some industrial estates, along some hastily built dual carriageway, through some tortuous merges, finally being dumped at a congested roundabout with a narrow slip onto the M621. Trust me, no fun at rush hour.

So all hail the replacement - the East Leeds Link Road, soon to be known as the plain old A63. (The previous route of the A63 has already been re-signed locally as an extension of the B6159, which currently runs from Headingley as far as the A64 York Road). The new A63 comprises 3.9km of 7.3m carriageway, with three major roundabout junctions and 2 signallised ones.

At the Eastern end, the forgotten junction on the M1, J45 which has been closed ever since that stretch of M1 was completed, is being re-organised, signallised and opened for the first time. The whole of the new road will be lit, and for all you engineering nerds, the construction has involved 9 retaining walls, with a retained height of up to 4 metres, and the construction of 3 culverts (1 for Wyke Beck and 2 at Bellwood roundabout) on existing watercourses. All sounds pretty good so far. Ah but it couldn't be that simple could it?

During peak times, High Occupancy Vehicle lanes will operate in each direction, for buses, taxis, cars with more than two people on board, and bizarrely HGVs and cycles. Yes, all of the above in one lane! Not sure how cycles and HGVs qualify, unless the bikes are tandems, but there we are.

On top of this, some of the signage already in place is just plain bizarre, and money has been wasted on a number of surely soon-to-be-redundant cycle and footways too.

So I think it's high time we took a little stroll-cum-drive down as much of the new road as is open so far. It's the 7th of January 2009, a grey and miserable day, and the road is already late opening. Let's see what's happening......

Click on a photograph to see a larger version. To come back to this page, click on the "Back" button at the top of your browser.

	Ah, a good place to start. "Improving access and attracting investment". Birse are already doing their bit to help the council instil confidence in potential investors "Completion winter 2008" - today is 7 January 2009, and there's a long way to go...
	Here's where the fun starts. We're coming through a junction at the south-eastern end of the Inner Ring Road, at South Accommodation Road, and heading East onto the new road. The diverge off to the right takes you down the new line of the A61, over the new John Smeaton viaduct, and straight onto the M621 Southbound towards London and Wakefield. You can sneak onto the A653 Dewsbury Road this way too.
	In the foreground, the same section of road. In the background you can just see the A61 sweeping off towards Leeds and the M621. I'm standing on top of a prime example of the over-engineered cycle facilities which adorn the ELLR.
	And we're off. Take a look at the far left of the picture and you can see the ominous HOV (High Occupancy Vehicle) lane signs already looming.
	Check your old maps and you'll find Knowsthorpe Crescent used to veer off left here as the main line of this road. A small unclassified road went straight on as far as Cross Green Industrial Estate. Top tip - if you look at this area on Google Earth at the moment, the satellite picture shows no trace of the new road, but if you add the "Roads" layer to your view, you'll see the ELLR overlaid, which is quite useful. By the way, the red strip is clearly for cyclists, but it isn't signed or marked as such.
	Here's Knowsthorpe Crescent now, viewed from the new road. Nice. I'm assuming there will be some over-the-top cycle access here at some point.
	Here's the view looking back down Knowsthorpe Crescent towards the ELLR. You can see where the old line of the road used to go quite easily here.
	And here we go. The "2+ Lane". This is to encourage car sharing and use of public transport of course. But does my seven year old daughter count as a second person? Her being with me doesn't keep any additional cars off the road, but looking at the council literature, even a week old baby would pass the test. There are no flashy cameras by the way, usage of the lane will be monitored solely by Police patrols, but seeing as there is nowhere for them to park up, I would says it's highly unlikely that more than a handful of people will ever be fined for using the lane inappropriately.
	The only major destinations ahead are reached via the M1, so blue panels start here. In the background, you can see the 2+ Lane, and 2 other lanes, but don't be fooled - the far lane is for right turners only, it isn't an extra lane for the "ordinary" motorist.
	And here is the first signal controlled junction, the right turn advertised on the sign in the last photo. All turn here for the romance of the Cross Green Industrial Estate.
	Now comes the first confusing sign. The blue patch again tells us we're heading for the M1 and A1 (M), but what's this "non-motorway traffic" bit? The road doesn't become motorway at this junction, in fact it's still another few miles to go. In addition, there are still junctions ahead for industrial estates, business parks, and one which connects the road with the Leeds suburb of Halton Moor. So what does the learner or cyclist who wants to reach these destinations do? Whilst the sign is not of course a mandatory instruction, it does seem at the least inappropriate and confusing.
	This sign is also not quite right. Surely a diagonal arrow would have been better than an actual turn marker, seeing as the turn is still 40 yards away. The "non-motorway traffic" legend is back too, and it's even painted on the road. They really don't want you going any further unless you want the motorway. Again, will this help all the new businesses that the Council want to attract?
	On the approach to all the junctions we see this set-up where there HOV lane becomes a normal all-purpose lane again.
	Here's a wider view of that junction. Sweep off to the right to stay on the new A63, bear left for Halton, Osmondthorpe and if you are in an invalid carriage etc. At present, all traffic is going down the slip road and turning right just past the cones you can see at the back.
	More bizarre signing waiting to be uncovered. The A63 and (A64) parts are fine, but the blue panel is going to say "(M1, M62)". Now check your maps, those of you who aren't from round here. Surely traffic from this part of Leeds wanting the M62 would head the other way up the link road, and use the new A61 to join the M621 and on to the M62. Going this way takes you all the way out to the M1 and then back down to the M62 via the same junction where the M621 would emerge. Very odd.
	A closer view of that blue panel. For those of you interested in that kind of thing. This panel also confirms, as if it needed it, that the road is definitely not motorway yet, again begging the question: why the "non-motorway traffic" signs?
	Here's the junction itself. I've turned 90 degrees to my right since the last picture, just to help you get your bearings! Nice to see the street lights already on.
	Astounding imagination on display for the junction naming. The industrial estate gets another access, not sure why. The only real need for this junction is to provide traffic which has joined the east-bound carriageway from Newmarket Gate and Newmarket Lane a turn back towards Leeds. But not really any need for a huge roundabout.
	A fine example of the cycle routes which are destined to be neglected forever.
	I'm not sure where Thornes Farm is, but I'm sure Mr Thorne is pleased with his free publicity. Nothing else much here yet, but the council are hoping this area will soon be thronging with business and industry.
	This is pretty much the end of the line for now. As you can see, "Road Closed", i.e. "we haven't finished this bit yet". Beyond this point, you are not missing much. The road runs in a perfectly straight line out to junction 45 of the M1, which is only about a quarter of a mile away. There is one junction, a left turn just before you hit the motorway, which is a back way into the Temple Newsam estate, and is, I believe gated anyway, so I'm unsure of how necessary this junction is. Without it, the section of A63 between Thornes Farm roundabout and the M1 could have been a spur of the M1, possibly A63 (M), and that would be have been really exciting. Kind of. The council could even have kept their HOV lanes on the spur, as they have already introduced a "2+ lane" on the M606 near Bradford.
	Here's the incomplete part of the new road stretching away into the distance. I have absolutely no idea why they have put a 40mph restriction on a perfectly straight, brand new, rural dual carriageway with only one tiny left turn right at the end. No need for a limit here at all. And nobody will obey it.
	Here's one snap taken on the way back into Leeds; we're now right at the end of the ELLR, meeting the new, final section of the Leeds Inner Ring Road. Straight on for the A61 into Leeds and on to Harrogate, left for the John Smeaton Viaduct towards the M621. Sorry about the amateurish reflection of my pay and display ticket.... And that's where the fun ends for now. Once the final stretch is open, I'll get some more pictures and update this little guided tour.