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Motorway Database

You are here: Home - Motorway Database - A58(M)

Factfile - Images - Timeline - Exit List

Most of the Leeds Inner Ring Road is designated with this number, including the long cut-and-cover Westgate tunnel. From the junction with the A58 eastwards it mysteriously becomes the A64(M).

The signage on this road is appalling - the City Council (who maintain the road) don't look after any other motorways. Aside from being out of practice, they're also left high and dry by current motorway signage standards, all of which are developed for rural motorways. Nonetheless, the Council's improvised solutions are frequently cluttered, too small, too late and usually fairly useless. Anyone who doesn't know Leeds well and finds themselves on this road has my fullest sympathy!

The Inner Ring Road itself, in terms of engineering, is something of a masterpiece. It removes a massive amount of through traffic from the city streets without really being noticable at all. It runs almost entirely in a vertical-sided cutting, up to 20ft deep, with numerous short cut-and-cover tunnels. It hides the road and shields its noise so effectively that even when walking it's hard to tell you're anywhere near it until you find yourself on an overbridge looking down at four lanes of fast moving traffic.

At North Street, where the A58(M) becomes A64(M), there's the unusual design feature of a right-hand exit sliproad when heading eastbound. Early plans of the route reveal that this was added to save space, the alternative being an exit slip around the outside of the current loop, which would have interfered with the merge from the A660. The same early plan showed the sliproads to the A61 at Claypit Lane on the inside of the junction, with the mainline passing around the outside - a pair of right-hand entry and exit!

And as if that wasn't quite enough, this was the UK's first ever urban motorway, beating the often-hailed city of motorways, Manchester, by a good three years. Ha!

Factfile

Start	Armley (A58)
Finish	Brunswick (A64(M))
Passes	Leeds
Length	2 miles
Terminates	None
Spurs	None
Meets	None

Images

Views of the A58(M) from on and off the road. If you have a photo to contribute, contact me.

Construction Timeline

When the various parts of the A58(M) were built, listed in chronological order.

Open	Section
1964	Phase I Westgate - Claypit Lane
1969?	Phase II Claypit Lane - Woodpecker Jct
1975	Phase III Westgate - Armley Gyratory

Exit List

All the junctions and destinations along the route.

NB: Leeds city centre is to the left of this diagram. The A58(M) curves around roughly ninety degrees in its course but runs generally west to east around the city.

The A660 junction incorporates Woodhouse Lane multi-storey car park, built directly above the Inner Ring Road with direct access sliproads from the motorway itself. It appears in the exit list as the grey block with blue and white 'P' symbol.

Westbound								Eastbound
Armley Motorways (M1 , M62 , M621 ) A58		A65		WEST A58		A65		N/A
Kirkstall A65
0.25 miles, 2 lanes								0.25 miles, 2 lanes
Town & Civic Halls Crown Courts Infirmary								Town & Civic Halls Crown Courts Infirmary
0.75 miles, 2 lanes
Westgate Tunnel								Westgate Tunnel
								0.75 miles, 2 lanes
Leeds/Bradford M/S Car Park Skipton A660		A660				A660		Headingley University Leeds/Bradford Skipton A660
0.5 miles, 2 lanes								0.25 miles, 2 lanes
		A61				A61		Sheepscar Chapel Allerton A61
								0.25 miles, 2 lanes
N/A				A64(M) EAST		A58		Inner Ring Road Motorways (M1 , M62 , M621 ) A64(M)
								Eastgate Kirkgate City Centre Loop A58