The M62 Westbound offslip to gain access to the M606 to Bradford suffers from heavy congestion and queues due to the constrained existing interchange roundabout beneath the M62. The interchange is fully signalised but due to the number of phases required to enable the six entry points onto it to be serviced the junction is often over capacity which leads to queues developing on all legs approaching the roundabout.
Highways England had commissioned a consultant to undertake scheme options and assess these. John Bowes was asked By Adam Clellend, the Highways England project manager to review the options developed. The options presented did not utilise the existing interchange but provided a new direct link from the M62 westbound to the M606 passing under or over the M62.
When reviewing the options it was clear that all were very expensive (Range £120m to £220m) and would cause disruption and delay during a long construction period as well as requiring different level so land to accommodate the link.
John developed the idea shown in the image above which utilised the existing interchange beneath the M62 by providing a grade separated link into and back out of the interchange. This provided the following benefits:
Unfortunately Highways England did not continue with the scheme. Hopefully the option can be reconsidered in the future.
