M606 Breakdown
Recovery Service

The M606 is Bradford's only motorway, a 4-mile spur connecting the M62 at Chain Bar to the southern edge of West Yorkshire's fourth largest city. For a city of nearly 350,000 people with a rich industrial heritage and a growing economy, having just one short motorway link to the national network is a significant constraint. The M606 carries virtually all motorway-connected traffic heading to and from Bradford, giving it an importance to the local economy that far exceeds its modest dimensions.

The motorway begins at the Chain Bar interchange on the M62, one of the busiest sections of the trans-Pennine motorway between Leeds and Manchester. The Chain Bar junction itself is a known congestion point — traffic from the M606 merging with M62 through-traffic creates conflicts, and during peak hours the queue to join the M62 from the M606 can stretch back several miles towards Bradford. The topography compounds the problem: Bradford sits in a natural bowl surrounded by hills, and the M606 climbs steadily from the M62's Spen Valley level up towards the city, gaining around 200 feet in elevation over 4 miles. This gradient, while not extreme, means that vehicles are climbing under load when they are already stressed from the stop-start conditions of the Chain Bar junction.

The M606 passes through Cleckheaton and the Euroway Trading Estate area, and the Euroway junction at Junction 3 is the motorway's terminus. From here, local A-roads carry traffic into Bradford city centre and the surrounding areas of Bingley, Shipley, and Keighley. Bradford has undergone significant regeneration in recent decades, with the former wool and textile mills being converted into apartments, cultural venues, and business spaces. The city's growing university and college sector generates substantial student traffic, and the retail developments around the Euroway estate add commercial traffic. The M606 has no service stations, and given the proximity to Bradford's urban facilities, this is rarely a practical issue — but drivers joining the M606 from the M62 who then encounter Chain Bar congestion may wish they had stopped at Hartshead Moor services a few miles earlier.