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The M62 motorway is a west–east motorway in northern England, connecting the cities of Liverpool and Hull. The road also forms part of the unsigned Euroroutes E20 (Shannon to Saint Petersburg) and E22 (Holyhead to Ishim). The road is 107 miles (172 km) long; however, for seven miles (11 km), it shares its route with the M60 motorway around Manchester. The motorway, which was first proposed in the 1930s, and originally conceived as two separate routes, was built in stages between 1971 and 1976, with construction beginning at Pole Moor and finishing in Tarbock. The motorway also absorbed the northern end of the Stretford-Eccles bypass, which was built between 1957 and 1960. Adjusted for inflation to 2007, the motorway cost approximately £765 million to build. The motorway is relatively busy, with an average daily traffic flow of 100,000 cars in Yorkshire, and has several areas prone to gridlock, in particular, between Leeds and Huddersfield in West Yorkshire.

Since the Stretford-Eccles bypass was opened, the motorway's history beyond construction has included a coach bombing on 4 February 1974, and a rail crash on 28 February 2001. The motorway is additionally memorable for Stott Hall Farm, a farm in the Pennines situated between the carriageways, existing due to the geology of the surrounding area and has since become one of the most known sights in West Yorkshire.

The road passes the cities of Salford, Manchester, Bradford and Leeds. Between Liverpool and Manchester, and east of Leeds, the terrain of the road is relatively flat, while between Manchester and Leeds, the road crosses the hilly Pennines to its highest point on Saddleworth Moor (53°37′47″N 2°01′07″W / 53.62982, -2.018561 (Saddleworth Moor)), which is also the highest point of any motorway in the United Kingdom, at 1,221 feet (372 m) above sea level.

The origins of the M62 date back to the 1930s, where the need for a route between Lancashire and Yorkshire had been agreed after discussion by the respective highway authorities of the counties. At the same time, it was envisaged that a route between Liverpool and Hull was also needed, connecting the two ports to industrial Yorkshire.

Some years later, after World War II, the Minister of Transport appointed engineers to inspect road standards between the A580 road in Swinton and the A1 road near Selby. In 1949, that year's Road Plan for South Lancashire specified the need for the dualling and grade separation of the A580 road, and bypasses of both Huyton and Cadishead. In 1952, the route for a trans-Pennine motorway, known as The Lancashire-Yorkshire Motorway, was laid down, with Ferrybridge chosen as the eastern terminus rather than Selby. By the 1960s, however, the proposed dualling of the A580 in Lancashire was considered inadequate, and there was "an urgent need" to link Liverpool to the motorway network. The route of the Lancashire-Yorkshire motorway was also considered inadequate as it failed to cater for several industrial towns in Yorkshire. When James Drake visited the United States in 1962, his experience with the Interstate Highway system led him to conclude that the Merseyside Expressway, planned only to run between Liverpool and the M6, would need extending to the Stretford-Eccles Bypass, thus creating a continuous motorway between Liverpool and Ferrybridge (a link between Ferrybridge and Hull was not considered until 1964). Initially these plans were unpopular and unsupported by the Ministry of Transport, but nevertheless the scheme was added to the Road Plan in 1963.

Originally, the section of the M62 west of Manchester was intended to be a separate motorway linking Liverpool with Salford, but a continuous motorway between Leeds and Liverpool was deemed to be more feasible, known as the M52. Construction of the motorway between Liverpool and Manchester started in 1971, with the construction of a link between the M57 and the M6 motorway. Concurrently, a contract to link the M6 with Manchester was under way, which required the removal of unsuitable material and drainage of the land. This section was completed in August 1974, creating a continuous link between Ferrybridge and Tarbock.

The section between Tarbock and Liverpool was the last section of the motorway to be completed, in 1976, due to the difficulties of building an urban motorway. In total, two viaducts, ten bridges and seven underpasses had to be constructed to secure the structural integrity of the surrounding residential area. The motorway, however, reached only as far as Queen's Drive (Junction 4), leaving the first three junctions unbuilt.

The M62 motorway is mentioned in a number of songs. One of the earliest songs is "Driving Away From Home (Jim's Tune)" by It's Immaterial, a 1986 song which described the motorway as a way of getting to Manchester from the band's hometown of Liverpool. "The Snake", a song from the album Secrets by The Human League, discusses the road as an alternative route to Hyde from the Snake Pass, the main subject of the song, and suggests the A628 as another alternative.

More generally, "It's Grim Up North", by The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu, released in 1991, consisted of a list of towns and cities in the "grim North", in addition to the motorway itself. Doves named a song after the M62 on their 2002 album The Last Broadcast, which is stated to have been recorded "under the M62 flyover at Northenden", although the M62 is several miles to the north. "The Man Who Lives On The M62" by John Shuttleworth and "Tradition" by Kathryn Williams refer not to the motorway itself, but to Stott Hall Farm. Shuttleworth compares his emotions of sorrow to those of the inhabitants of the farm, while Williams uses the urban legend of the owner's refusal to sell the farm as an example of tradition.

Rugby league is a popular sport in northern England — so much so that a 1994 survey revealed that sixty percent of people regularly attending rugby league matches lived in only four postal districts along the M62. Only two teams in the Super League, Catalans Dragons and Harlequins Rugby League, play outside northern England, and thus the phrase "M62 corridor" is sometimes used as a synonym for the rugby league heartlands.

In addition to passing Warrington, Manchester, Huddersfield, Halifax, Bradford, Leeds and Wakefield, the towns of Huyton, St Helens, Widnes, Bury, Rochdale, Dewsbury, Pontefract, Selby and Goole are designated as primary destinations along the road. The road is a terminus to two motorways: the M57 motorway near Prescot and the M18 motorway near Rawcliffe; and has four spur routes: the M602 motorway, which serves Manchester, the A627(M) motorway, which serves Oldham and Rochdale, the M606 motorway, which serves Bradford, and the M621 motorway, which serves Leeds. Despite Hull being listed as a primary destination, the motorway downgrades near North Cave, sixteen miles west.

The motorway starts on Queen's Drive, on Liverpool's middle ring road. From there it runs eastward to Liverpool's outer ring road, the M57. The route has four exits for Warrington: Junction 7, an interchange with the A57 road, Junction 8, which also houses Ikea, Junction 9, which interchanges with the A49 road, originally intended to be a motorway itself, and Junction 11. Between these is Junction 10, which is a cloverstack interchange with the M6 motorway. The M62 then crosses Chat Moss before interchanging with the M60 motorway. Due to original plans being to extend the section of the motorway into Manchester, motorists must turn off to stay on the route into Yorkshire.