A-road
A6042 traffic and collisions
The A6042 is an A-road of 1.8 miles, in Manchester. This page covers its traffic at 10 DfT count points since 2000 and the collisions police recorded on it.
- Traffic in 2025 14m vehicle miles
- Average daily traffic 21,415 vehicles a day, both directions
- Busiest section 32,797 A6041 to A6/A34
- HGV share 2.0% of vehicle miles
- Traffic since 2019 +1.1% same count points
- Collisions, 2021 to 2025 44 64.9 per 100m vehicle miles
How busy is the A6042?
On an average day in 2025, 21,415 vehicles passed each point on the A6042, counting both directions. The busiest section is A6041 to A6/A34 (Salford), with 32,797 a day; the quietest listed is A6042/A34 intersection (South of Albert Square) to A6042/A34 intersection (North of Albert Square), with 0.
Busiest sections, 2025
A6041 to A6/A34 carries 1.5 times the road’s average flow.
| Section | Vehicles a day |
|---|---|
| A6041 to A6/A34 Salford · 0.3 mi · HGVs 1.7% | 32,797 |
| A56 to A6041 Manchester, Salford · 0.3 mi · HGVs 2.3% | 29,639 |
| A665 to A56 Manchester · 0.2 mi · HGVs 2.0% | 28,442 |
| A57 to A6 Manchester · 0.1 mi · HGVs 2.1% | 27,535 |
| A6 to A57 Salford · 0.4 mi · HGVs 2.3% | 25,267 |
| Fennel Street to A665 Manchester · 0.2 mi · HGVs 1.2% | 4,525 |
| A34 to St Ann Street Manchester · 0.1 mi · HGVs 2.4% | 3,180 |
| A6042/A34 intersection (North of Albert Square) to A6042/A34 intersection (South of Albert Square) Manchester · 0.1 mi · HGVs 2.9% | 445 |
| A6042/A34 intersection (South of Albert Square) to A6042/A34 intersection (North of Albert Square) Manchester · 0.1 mi · HGVs 0.0% | 0 |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
Route
In Manchester · 1.8 miles
A6042 traffic and collisions by section
9 sections between junctions, in route order. Each is the average of its DfT count points, weighted by length.
Sections Tap a column heading to sort
| # | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A6042/A34 intersection (North of Albert Square) to A6042/A34 intersection (South of Albert Square)Manchester | 445 | 0 |
| 2 | A6042/A34 intersection (South of Albert Square) to A6042/A34 intersection (North of Albert Square)Manchester | 0 | fewer than 3 |
| 3 | A34 to St Ann StreetManchester | 3,180 | 4 |
| 4 | Fennel Street to A665Manchester | 4,525 | 5 |
| 5 | A665 to A56Manchester | 28,442 | 3 |
| 6 | A56 to A6041Manchester, Salford | 29,639 | 15 |
| 7 | A6041 to A6/A34Salford | 32,797 | 9 |
| 8 | A6 to A57Salford | 25,267 | 3 |
| 9 | A57 to A6Manchester | 27,535 | 4 |
Vehicles a day is the average daily flow in 2025. “Since 2019” compares the same count points. Collisions are those with the A6042 as the first road, placed on the nearest section by their recorded position; rates (per 100 million vehicle miles) are shown for sections of half a mile or more with 10 or more.
A6042 traffic by vehicle type
Cars and taxis make up 85.9% of the vehicle miles on the A6042. HGVs account for 2.0%.
Vehicle mix, 2025
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
HGV share of traffic
| Year | HGV share |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 3.6% |
| 2001 | 3.6% |
| 2002 | 3.3% |
| 2003 | 3.2% |
| 2004 | 3.4% |
| 2005 | 3.4% |
| 2006 | 3.4% |
| 2007 | 2.9% |
| 2008 | 2.9% |
| 2009 | 2.8% |
| 2010 | 3.0% |
| 2011 | 2.6% |
| 2012 | 2.4% |
| 2013 | 2.3% |
| 2014 | 2.3% |
| 2015 | 2.3% |
| 2016 | 2.3% |
| 2017 | 2.4% |
| 2018 | 2.4% |
| 2019 | 2.3% |
| 2020 | 2.9% |
| 2021 | 2.7% |
| 2022 | 2.6% |
| 2023 | 2.5% |
| 2024 | 2.4% |
| 2025 | 2.0% |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
A6042 traffic trend
Traffic on the A6042 came to 14.1 million vehicle miles in 2025. At the count points present in both years, it is up 1.1% on 2019, before the pandemic, and down 0.9% on 2015.
Vehicle miles a year
Like for like, traffic is up 10.5% on 2000.
| Year | Vehicle miles |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 9.0m |
| 2001 | 9.1m |
| 2002 | 9.4m |
| 2003 | 12m |
| 2004 | 12m |
| 2005 | 12m |
| 2006 | 12m |
| 2007 | 12m |
| 2008 | 12m |
| 2009 | 13m |
| 2010 | 13m |
| 2011 | 14m |
| 2012 | 14m |
| 2013 | 14m |
| 2014 | 14m |
| 2015 | 14m |
| 2016 | 14m |
| 2017 | 14m |
| 2018 | 14m |
| 2019 | 14m |
| 2020 | 11m |
| 2021 | 13m |
| 2022 | 13m |
| 2023 | 14m |
| 2024 | 14m |
| 2025 | 14m |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
Average daily flow
| Year | Vehicles a day |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 18,955 |
| 2001 | 19,160 |
| 2002 | 19,853 |
| 2003 | 18,524 |
| 2004 | 18,446 |
| 2005 | 17,919 |
| 2006 | 18,076 |
| 2007 | 18,900 |
| 2008 | 18,776 |
| 2009 | 19,103 |
| 2010 | 19,475 |
| 2011 | 21,520 |
| 2012 | 21,208 |
| 2013 | 21,052 |
| 2014 | 21,044 |
| 2015 | 21,328 |
| 2016 | 21,818 |
| 2017 | 21,198 |
| 2018 | 21,036 |
| 2019 | 21,205 |
| 2020 | 17,244 |
| 2021 | 19,312 |
| 2022 | 22,745 |
| 2023 | 23,141 |
| 2024 | 21,671 |
| 2025 | 21,415 |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
The chart counts the whole road as it was each year, so new or renumbered stretches move it. The percentage changes compare only count points present in both years (61.1% of today’s road for 2019). In 2025, 4 of the 10 count points were counted; DfT estimated the rest from earlier counts and local trends.
A6042 collisions
Police recorded 44 collisions with the A6042 as the first road from 2021 to 2025, fewer than 3 of them fatal or serious. That is 64.9 per 100 million vehicle miles, higher than the 31.5 for all A-roads in Great Britain. On average there were 4.9 a year for each mile of road.
Reported collisions by year
Up 100.0% from 2021 to 2025.
| Year | Collisions |
|---|---|
| 2021 | 6 |
| 2022 | 10 |
| 2023 | 10 |
| 2024 | 6 |
| 2025 | 12 |
Source:DfT STATS19,UK Motoring analysis 2021 to 2025 Updated
A further 17 collisions were recorded at junctions where the A6042 was the second road; they are not in the figures above. Fatal or serious uses DfT’s adjusted serious figures. How we count collisions
Council areas on the A6042
In route order. Each is the highway authority DfT files the count points under.
- Manchester
- Salford
Data sources and methodology
| Figures | Source | Period | Records | Updated |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Traffic counts and vehicle mix | Road traffic statistics (AADF by count point) Department for Transport Derived statistics UK Motoring | 2000 to 2025 | 10 count points in 2025 | 15 September 2026 |
| Reported collisions | Road safety open data (STATS19) Department for Transport Derived statistics UK Motoring | 2021 to 2025 | 44 reported collisions | 15 September 2026 |
- Annual average daily flow (AADF) is the average number of vehicles passing a point on a typical day of the year, both directions combined.
- Vehicle miles are AADF multiplied by link length and 365, summed over every count point link on the road.
- Sections join count point links between junctions, using the link lines in DfT’s major road database.
- STATS19 covers personal injury collisions reported to the police. Damage-only collisions are not included, and not every injury collision is reported.
- Serious and slight figures are DfT’s adjusted estimates, which allow for police forces moving to injury-based reporting.
- Counts of one or two collisions below Great Britain level are shown as “fewer than 3”.
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.