A617 road

A617
Route information
Length	34 mi (55 km)
Major junctions
From	Newark-on-Trent
Major intersections	A46 A616 A612 A614 A6191 A6117 A60 A38 A6075 M1 A6175 A61
To	Chesterfield
Location
Country	United Kingdom
Road network
Roads in the United Kingdom Motorways A and B road zones

TheA617 roadruns through the northernEast Midlands,England,betweenNewark-on-TrentandChesterfield.

Route

See also:Coal mining in the United Kingdom

The route runs south-east to north-west through the northern East Midlands, largely through former coal-mining areas. It runs largely parallel to theA616 road,around six miles further south.

Newark to Sutton-in-Ashfield

Hockerton parish church

The eastern terminus begins on the A46 Newark bypass, at the roundabout with the A616, on the former route of theGreat North Roadin theNewark and Sherwooddistrict ofNottinghamshire,as atrunk road.It traverses the Trent Valley, crossing theRiver Trentat narrow bridge only really passable by light traffic;Kelham Bridgewas built in 1857 when larger road vehicles never existed, and is mildly dangerous. The eastern terminus of the route was formerly in Kelham, where it met the former route of the A616 at a T-junction. It meets theTrent Valley Way,which it follows toAverham.A mile to the south isStaythorpe Power Station,with a traffic lights exit to the south, and the route is crossed by electricity lines. Before Micklebarrow Hill, the A612 leaves to the west at traffic lights forSouthwell.It passes throughHockertonand theSpread Eagle,following a northern ridge of theRiver Greet,further to the south. There is a long straight towards Kirklington, passingMaxeys Farm Shop.

It passes throughKirklington,known for its formerKirklington Hall Research Station,now a residential special school, and the road is crossed by theRobin Hood Way.There is an exit to the north forEakring,and itsNational Grid Training Centre.It passes to the south ofBilsthorpe,with an exit to the south to Hexgreave Park(inFarnsfield). Close to a line of pylons, it crosses the former north-south Southwell-Mansfield railway line, and further on officially entersSherwood Forest,before an exit to the south for Farnsfield. To the north is Lockwell Hill Activity Centre.Entering the parish of Rainworth, it meets the busy north–southA614at the busyLockwell Hill Roundaboutand approaches Rainworth onCentenary Avenue.Rainworth is now bypassed, and the former route is the B6020. The eastern end of the bypass crosses a former railway, and meets the B6020 at a roundabout, where the dual carriageway begins, close to the JETPython Hill Service Stationon the B6020. The main characteristic of this dual-carriageway, heavily landscaped bypass is that it was obviously built in anticipation of a similar (dual-carriageway) bypass of Mansfield, which although planned, never arose, and was built as single carriageway instead. There is an exit to the north with traffic lights for a coal disposal point.

The Rainworth bypass crossesClipstoneForest andRainworth Water,entersMansfield District,and meets the former route of the A617 at the large landscapedThree Thorn Roundabout(named after Three Thorn Hollow Farm), built in anticipation of a bridge over the roundabout at the junction. The £8m Rainworth Bypass, built byBirse,was opened on Friday 23 June 2000 at 1.30pm with acommemorative plaqueunveiled on thetrussedfootbridgeto Strawberry Hill.To the north of the roundabout is Ransom Wood Business Park.A large wind farm is to the south, and the bypass meets theA6117at a roundabout, and theA60at an at-grade junction, where it enters the district ofAshfield,another former coal mining district. It passes under theA611and meets theA38Sutton-in-Ashfield bypass. The Mansfield Bypass (MARR) has nograde-separatedjunctions. The southern section from Rainworth to the A38 opened on 21 December 2004 and was built byAlfred McAlpine,and designed byBabtie, Shaw and Mortonof Glasgow.

TheSherwood WayMansfield Bypass in September 2005; the 6-mile £31m Mansfield and Ashfield Regeneration Route opened in December 2004

Sutton-in-Ashfield to Chesterfield

The road briefly follows the A38 trunk road towards Mansfield. TheKing's Mill Hospitalis directly to the east, and the road follows a route first built as theA6075,and is a non-trunk road. This is the western section of the Mansfield Bypass. Entering Mansfield district, the route of the Mansfield bypass follows a new route of the A617 toRadmanthwaite,where it meets the former route, now the dual-carriageway A6191.

Pleasley Bypass in December 2014; there have been plans for a Pleasley Bypass extension and a Glapwell Bypass

It passes throughPleasleyhill,becoming dual-carriageway where it crosses theRiver MedenenteringDerbyshireandBolsover District,meeting the B6407 and B6417 at the largePleasley Roundaboutwith access for theSports Directwarehouse atShirebrookvia the B6407; the Pleasley Bypass was built in the early 1970s. TheJETStaleys garage at the eastern end of Glapwell closed in 2011. It passes throughGlapwell,passing theCrown CarveriesYoung Vanish,and thePlug and FeathersAtBramley Valethere isEve Trakwayand theBramley Vale Fish Bar.This is the site of the formerGlapwell Colliery.AtDoe LeainAult Hucknall,the road deviates to a dual-carriageway section to the north, built in anticipation of the M1, enteringNorth East Derbyshire.

The road meets theM1 motorwayandA6175at the busy Heath Interchange inHeath and Holmewood.13.5 miles of the M1 were opened on Wednesday 25 October 1967, when the section fromPinxton(junction 28) toBarlborough(junction 30) opened, including junction 29, built byJohn Laing Construction.Construction began in July 1965.To improve access to Chesterfield from the M1 to the south, a new section of dual carriageway was built. On the east-bound carriageway is theEssoHeath Service Stationwith aSubway.The former route takes part of the B6039 through the parish ofGrassmoor, Hasland and WinsickandHaslandinChesterfielddistrict; the A617 Hasland Bypass opened on 15 September 1978. There is a grade-separated junction with the B6425. The road enters the borough of Chesterfield, and the western terminus is with theA61at theLordsmill Roundabout,having crossed under theMidland Main Line.

External links

• SABRE Roads
• Mansfield District Council 1998