M62 Junction 32A: Ferrybridge: the North and Wetherby

M62 J32A: Holmfield Interchange is where the M62 meets the A1(M). Like the junctions near Swinton on the M60, it looks like a pile of spaghetti on a plate (though not the official Spaghetti Junction, which is on the M6 in Birmingham): curving roads blending into each other, with no roundabouts or rings to drive around. The M62 and A1(M) also meet at the next junction, J33.

Point of interest: the Ferrybridge power stations. North-east of the junction stood Ferrybridge's power stations for nearly a century. The first, Ferrybridge A, opened in 1927. The coal-fired Ferrybridge C, one of the biggest in the country at about 2,000 megawatts, first connected to the grid in 1966, and its eight huge cooling towers were a landmark beside the motorway. In November 1965, before the station was even finished, three of the eight towers collapsed in 85 mph winds; they were rebuilt by 1968. It stopped generating in March 2016, and its cooling towers came down between 2019 and 2022. Two smaller plants that generate power from waste, Ferrybridge Multifuel 1 and 2, now work on part of the site.

Pontefract is about a mile and a half south-west, and Ferrybridge and Airedale are also beside the junction. Pontefract Monkhill station is about a mile south-west, Moto Ferrybridge Services about a mile and a half south-east, and RSPB Fairburn Ings about two and a half miles north-west. Castleford Interchange (J32) is about a mile and a half west; Ferrybridge Interchange (J33) about a mile and a half south-east.