The M62 is a 107-mile-long west–east trans-Pennine motorway, connecting Liverpool and Hull via Manchester, Bradford, Leeds and Wakefield; 7 miles of the route is shared with the M60 orbital motorway around Manchester.
The motorway, which was first proposed in the 1930s, and conceived as two separate routes, was opened in stages between 1971 and 1976, with construction beginning at Pole Moor near Huddersfield and finishing at that time in Tarbock on the outskirts of Liverpool. The motorway absorbed the northern end of the Stretford-Eccles bypass, which was built between 1957 and 1960. Adjusted for inflation to 2007, its construction cost approximately £765 million. The motorway has an average daily traffic flow of 144,000 vehicles in West Yorkshire, and has several sections prone to gridlock, in particular, between Leeds and Huddersfield and the M60 section around Eccles.
Construction in Milnrow July 1968
We were walking along Tunshill Lane on our way to the Piethorn Valley, our crossing of the M62 facilitated by this elegant road bridge.
A notable structure between junctions 21 and 22 on the uphill section towards Windy Hill is the Rakewood Viaduct which carries the road over the Longden End Brook.
The viaduct is 280 yards long and 140 ft above the valley floor. It was built in 1966 by Reed & Mallik and opened to motorway traffic in October 1971. It has a sister bridge, the Gathurst Viaduct in Wigan, which carries the M6 motorway over the Leeds & Liverpool Canal, the Manchester-Southport line and the River Douglas and was constructed before the Rakewood Viaduct.
The steelwork deck was subcontracted to Robert Watson Steelwork of Bolton.
Under construction 1968.
We returned to Smithy Bridge Station passing under the viaduct.
The Modern Mooch is a pedestrian – yet has written of motorway matters here and here.
Drive and arrive safely you motorway motorists!
Modern Mooch 