Snake Pass

The Snake Pass is the name given to the remote, higher reaches of the A57 road where it crosses the Peak District between Manchester and Sheffield in Northern England. More specifically, the name usually refers to the section between the town of Glossop and the Ladybower Reservoir, where the road passes over the Pennines watershed between the moorland plateaux of Kinder Scout and Bleaklow (the highest point is 1,680 feet (510 m) above sea level). The Woodhead Pass (A628) is an alternative road route to the Snake Pass linking Manchester and Sheffield.

Like many other A-roads in the North of England that traverse undulating terrain such as the Peak District or other parts of the Pennines, the road has a poor accident record. In winter, the road is often the first of the available routes between Sheffield and Manchester to be closed due to snow in the area. There are areas where the road surface has very poor skid resistance and a number of bends have adverse camber.

Despite Sheffield and Manchester being the fifth and seventh largest UK cities by population respectively, no motorway directly links both cities. The Manchester to Sheffield motorway was partly built, but linking both cities would have meant constructing numerous tunnels and viaducts across the Peak District at a great cost. Consequently, the scheme was shelved.