A617 road
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A617 | |
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Route information | |
Length | 34 mi (55 km) |
Major junctions | |
From | A61 |
To | Chesterfield |
Location | |
Country | United Kingdom |
Road network | |
The A617 road runs through the northern East Midlands, England, between Newark-on-Trent and Chesterfield.
Route
The route runs south-east to north-west through the northern East Midlands, largely through former coal-mining areas. It runs largely parallel to the A616 road, around six miles further south.
Newark to Sutton-in-Ashfield
The eastern terminus begins on the A46 Newark bypass, at the roundabout with the A616, on the former route of the Great North Road in the Newark and Sherwood district of Nottinghamshire, as a trunk road. It traverses the Trent Valley, crossing the River Trent at narrow bridge only really passable by light traffic; Kelham Bridge was 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 the Trent Valley Way, which it follows to Averham. A mile to the south is Staythorpe 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 for Southwell. It passes through Hockerton and the Spread Eagle, following a northern ridge of the River Greet, further to the south. There is a long straight towards Kirklington, passing Maxeys Farm Shop.[1]
It passes through Kirklington, known for its former Kirklington Hall Research Station, now a residential special school, and the road is crossed by the Robin Hood Way. There is an exit to the north for Eakring, and its National Grid Training Centre. It passes to the south of Bilsthorpe, with an exit to the south to Hexgreave Park[2] (in Farnsfield). Close to a line of pylons, it crosses the former north-south Southwell-Mansfield railway line, and further on officially enters Sherwood Forest, before an exit to the south for Farnsfield. To the north is Lockwell Hill Activity Centre.[3] Entering the parish of Rainworth, it meets the busy north–south A614 at the busy Lockwell Hill Roundabout and approaches Rainworth on Centenary 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 JET Python Hill Service Station on 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 crosses
Sutton-in-Ashfield to Chesterfield
The road briefly follows the A38 trunk road towards Mansfield. The
It passes through
The road meets the