M62 Motorway

The M62 motorway is a west–east trans-Pennine motorway in Northern England, connecting Liverpool and Hull via Manchester and Leeds. The road also forms part of the unsigned Euroroutes E20 (Shannon to Saint Petersburg) and E22 (Holyhead to Ishim). The road is 107 miles (172 km) long; for 7 miles (11 km), it shares its route with the M60 motorway around Manchester. The motorway, which was first proposed in the 1930s, and originally conceived as two separate routes, was built in stages between 1971 and 1976, with construction beginning at Pole Moor and finishing in Tarbock on the outskirts of Liverpool. The motorway also absorbed the northern end of the Stretford-Eccles bypass, which was built between 1957 and 1960. Adjusted for inflation to 2007, the motorway cost approximately £765 million to build. The motorway is relatively busy, with an average daily traffic flow of 144,000 vehicles in Yorkshire, and has several areas prone to gridlock, in particular, between Leeds and Huddersfield in West Yorkshire.

The motorway's history has included a coach bombing on 4 February 1974, and a rail crash on 28 February 2001. The motorway is also notable for Stott Hall Farm, a farm in the Pennines situated between the carriageways. The farm has since become one of the most well known sights in West Yorkshire. It is notable for having no junctions numbered 1, 2, or 3 (or even an officially numbered 4), due to the fact the motorway was intended to start in Liverpool proper, and not its outskirts.

The road passes the cities of Salford, Manchester, Bradford and Leeds. Between Liverpool and Manchester, and east of Leeds, the terrain of the road is relatively flat, while between Manchester and Leeds, the road crosses the Pennines. Its highest point on Windy Hill near Saddleworth Moor (53°37′47″N 2°01′07″W / 53.62982°N 2.018561°W / 53.62982; -2.018561 (Windy Hill)) is the highest point of any motorway in the United Kingdom, at 1,221 feet (372 m) above sea level.