Faced with the problem of very high volumes of through traffic in its town centre, and with the impending construction of the M62 too far to the south to provide relief for the town, Halifax needed a bypass. The steep sided valley that the town centre inhabits prevented a conventional road from being built around the town, and so in the early 1970's construction began on Burdock Way - one of the most adventurous relief road schemes built in Britain, certainly by a town the size of Halifax.
Only one phase of the futuristic road was ever built, but what exists is a partially grade-separated dual carriageway that runs through deep trenches and over tall viaducts close to the heart of the town. At its eastern end is a truly byzantine piece of traffic engineering that stretches the definition of a roundabout to its limit.
These pages explore the road as it stands today, look into the history, and try to find out what it might have looked like if it had been completed.
See the road as it exists today from beside, along, over, under and around.
Read up on the where, they why and the how of Burdock Way.
Many thanks to the staff of Halifax Central Library and the Halifax Evening Courier, without whom this page wouldn't have been possible.
