A6 road (England)

This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these template messages) This article is missing information about History and significance of the route - in fact any encyclopedic content beyond the detailed route description (which the reader could get from any road atlas). Please expand the article to include this information. Further details may exist on the talk page. (September 2024) This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "A6 road" England – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (August 2015) (Learn how and when to remove this message) This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (September 2024) (Learn how and when to remove this message) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

A6
Route information
Length	282 mi (454 km)
Major junctions
South end	Luton 51°52′42″N 0°24′29″W / 51.8782°N 0.4080°W / 51.8782; -0.4080 (A6 road (southern end))
Major intersections	A421 A45 A14 A46 A50 A38 A53 A57 A58 A49 A59 A65 A66 A69 A7
North end	Carlisle 54°53′43″N 2°55′52″W / 54.8954°N 2.9311°W / 54.8954; -2.9311 (A6 road (northern end))
Location
Country	United Kingdom
Constituent country	England
Primary destinations	Bedford Kettering Market Harborough Leicester Loughborough Derby Matlock Buxton Stockport Manchester Preston Lancaster Kendal Penrith
Road network
Roads in the United Kingdom Motorways A and B road zones
← A5 → A7

The A6 is one of the main north–south roads in England. It runs from Luton in Bedfordshire to Carlisle in Cumbria, although it formerly started at a junction with the A1 at Barnet in north London, and is described as running from London to Carlisle. It is the fourth longest numbered road in Britain; only the A1, A38 and A30 are longer.^{[citation needed]}

Running north-west from Luton, the road passes through Bedford, bypasses Rushden, Kettering and Market Harborough, continues through Leicester, Loughborough, Derby and Matlock before passing through the Peak District to Bakewell, Buxton, Stockport, Manchester, Salford, Pendleton, Irlams o' th' Height, Pendlebury, Swinton, Wardley, Linnyshaw, Walkden, Little Hulton, Westhoughton, Chorley, Preston, Lancaster, Kendal and Penrith before reaching Carlisle.

South of Derby, the road runs approximately parallel to the M1 motorway; between Manchester and Preston, it is close to the M6 and M61 motorways; and from Preston to its northern terminus in Carlisle, it is close to the M6.