M621

The M621 is unusual because it forms a loop, diving into a city centre and then coming back out at the other side. It links the M1 and M62 to Leeds city centre.

It wasn't always this way. When it was first built, it was called the South West Urban Motorway, connecting the M62 at Gildersome to central Leeds, where it terminated at what is now junction 3. The M1 entered Leeds as the South East Urban Motorway and terminated at the same junction.

There, both routes collided, dumping all their traffic - five lanes of it - onto what was basically a big roundabout. The M1 did so by narrowing from three lanes to one (the way forward blocked by a row of permanent cones) and then travelling around a very tight one-lane loop. The original plan had been for the motorways to merge, to form the never-built North East Urban Motorway, and that would have crossed the river to distribute traffic across the city.

In 1999, with those plans long dead, the M1 was diverted onto a new course away to the east of Leeds to terminate on the A1(M), vacating the South East Urban Motorway. Some new connections were built at junction 3 in the middle of Leeds, connecting up the South East and South West Urban Motorways, and some renumbering work was done. The M621 now enters from the M62 as it always has done, swerves sharply to avoid the city centre, and heads out again to the south on what was once the M1.

The result is that the M621 forms not just one of the highest-capacity and most important approaches to Leeds city centre, but two of them. Both its south-eastern and south-western legs offer high capacity, effective ways in, and new connections provided since 1999 mean that not only is junction 3 better at handling the traffic deposited there, but there are now other ways into the centre as well.

One of the most unusual things about this road - and perhaps the reason that some people will have ended up on it without meaning to - is its junction with the M1 at Belle Isle. M1 junction 43 sees the M621 take priority through the junction, flowing directly into the M1 to the south - so if you travel north on the M1 and don't watch the road signs, you'll find yourself on the M621 through central Leeds instead of continuing north. As with any urban motorway, keeping an eye on the signs is always advisable!

Start

Morley

End

Belle Isle

Passes

Leeds

Connects to

M1, M62

Length

8 miles

Click a section name to see its full details, or click a map symbol on the right to see all motorways opened in that year.

Completed Name Start End Original number
Ardsley - Stourton J7 Stourton M1 J43 Belle Isle M1 Chronology map for 1967
Leeds South East Urban Motorway J3 Holbeck J7 Stourton M1 Chronology map for 1972
Gildersome - Beeston M62 J27 Gildersome J1 Beeston Chronology map for 1973
Leeds South West Urban Motorway J1 Beeston J3 Holbeck Chronology map for 1976

Exit list

Symbols and conventions are explained in the key to exit lists. You can click any junction to see its full details.

NB: For the purposes of this exit list, the M621 is assumed to run east-west. In reality its termini face west and south respectively.

Junction   Westbound               Eastbound  
M62 J27
0.0 km
Manchester
Bradford
M62 Link
Batley
Dewsbury
A62






A62


M62
WEST
M62



A650

A62
A650
N/A
LanesLanesLanesLanesLanesLanesLanes
LanesLanesLanesLanes
LanesLanesLanesLanes
3 miles, 2 lanes 3 miles, 2 lanes
1
6 km
Ring Road
Farnley
White Rose Centre
A6110
A6110 A6110 Ring Road
Farnley
White Rose Centre
A6110
LanesLanesLanesLanes LanesLanesLanesLanes
1 mile, 2 lanes 1 mile, 2 lanes
2
7 km
Armley
A643
Elland Road Stadium
A643 A643 Armley
A643
Elland Road Stadium
LanesLanesLanesLanes LanesLanesLanesLanes
1 mile, 2 lanes 1 mile, 2 lanes
2A
8 km
Holbeck
LanesLanesLanesLanesLanes Signs Signs
0.5 miles, 3 lanes 0.5 miles, 2 lanes
3
8.5 km
City Centre
A653



A653
A653



City Centre
A653
LanesLanesLanesLanesLanesLanesLanes LanesLanesLanesLanes
LanesLanesLanesLanesLanes
0.5 miles, 3 lanes 0.5 miles, 3 lanes
4
9 km
Inner Ring Road
Hunslet
A61
A61


Inner Ring Road
Hunslet
A61
LanesLanesLanesLanesLanes
0.5 miles, 3 lanes  
5
10 km
Beeston
LanesLanesLanesLanesLanes
1 mile, 3 lanes 1.5 miles, 3 lanes
6
11 km
Belle Isle
Middleton
Signs LanesLanesLanesLanesLanes Signs
1 mile, 3 lanes 1 mile, 3 lanes
7
12 km
Stourton
A639
A639

A639
(M1)

A61
Stourton
Leeds (E)
(M1 North Link)
A639
LanesLanesLanesLanesLanes LanesLanesLanesLanesLanes
1 mile, 3 lanes 1 mile, 3 lanes
M1 J43
13.5 km
N/A
M1
EAST
M1



The SOUTH
Wakefield
M1 Link
LanesLanesLanesLanesLanesLanesLanes LanesLanesLanesLanesLanesLanesLanes
Routes

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