A46 road
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- This article is about the road. For information on the aircraft, see Aero A.46.
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| A46 road | |
| Direction | Northeast-southwest |
| Start | Bath |
| Primary destinations1 |
Lincoln Newark-on-Trent Leicester Coventry Warwick Cheltenham |
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| End | Cleethorpes |
| Roads joined |  A1 road A1434 road M1 motorway M40 motorway A617 road |
Notes
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The A46 is a trunk road in England. It largely follows the course of the Roman Fosse Way, from Lincoln to south Devon. However, large portions of the old road have been lost, bypassed, or replaced by motorway development, and the present A46 is no longer a single, unbroken road along its entire route. The A46 terminates at Bath, Somerset, and the remainder of the Fosse route to Exeter is followed by the A37 and A303 roads.
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[edit] Route
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This section is written like a personal reflection or essay and may require cleanup. Please help improve it by rewriting it in an encyclopedic style. (December 2007) |
[edit] Cleethorpes - Lincoln
The A46 starts as Clee Road at Cleethorpes at a roundabout with the A1098 and the start of the A180, near Cleethorpes railway station. It passes Lindsey Lower School on the left, and enters Old Clee. It meets the A1031 at the Lovelane Corner roundabout becoming Weelsby Road and passes the King George V Stadium on the right and enters Weelsby. It meets the B1213 from the right, then crosses the A16 Peaks Parkway and enters Wellow. It heads into Grimsby, meeting the A1243 Bargate (former A16) near the Grimsby Institute at Fryston Corner. There is the Nuns Corner roundabout with the A1243 Scartho Road heading south. It becomes Laceby Road and passes between Nunsthorpe and Grange, passing St Mark's church. It meets the B1444 at the Bradley Crossroads roundabout, where the road becomes a dual carriageway and passes part of Bradley on the right (the rest of Bradley is further south). At the Cottagers Plot roundabout, a Morrisons is on the right just past Laceby Acres. It becomes Grimsby Road and bypasses Laceby to the south. It meets the A18 at a roundabout. This was the old terminus of the A46, and what is now the A46 heading east into Grimsby used to be the A18. The road becomes the single carriageway Caistor Road and crosses the north part of the Lincolnshire Wolds. It bypasses Irby upon Humber and enters Lincolnshire and the district of West Lindsey. It bypasses Swallow to the north. and passes the Swallow Inn. It becomes Grimsby Road and passes Cabourne and St Nicholas' church. It climbs a hill to meet the B1225, A1173, and A1084 just east of Caistor and near a collection of transmitters. It becomes the Caistor Bypass to the south of the town, passing though a large cutting and is crossed by the Viking Way. It resumes the old route and passes through Nettleton where it meets the B1205 becoming Holton Road and passes the Salutation Inn on the left. There is a right turn for Holton le Moor and the road crosses the Nottingham - Grimsby railway at a level crossing near the Hope Tavern. It meets the B1434 (for Moortown) from the right. The road becomes very straight and flat, passing though Middle Rasen Plantation and meets the A1103 from the right. At the junction with the B1202 (the former route), it bypasses Market Rasen, passing through Middle Rasen passing the Nags Head on the right, becoming Gallamore Lane where it overlaps the A631 from the left and becomes Gainsborough Road passing the Total Automania garage. The A631 leaves to the right at a T junction, and the road becomes Lincoln Road. There are sharp right and left turns and the road enters Faldingworth passing the Coach & Horses on the right and All Saints church. There is a right turn for Snarford and for Welton at Welton Hill near the Farmers Arms and the road becomes Market Rasen Road and bypasses Dunholme to the south then it passes close to the former RAF Dunholme Lodge near the Rix Centurion garage. It becomes Welton Road and there are two left turns for Nettleham and it becomes Lincoln Road and passes the headquarters for Lincolnshire Police on the left before the Brown Cow Inn at Nettleham Heath. It meets the A158 (for Skegness) and the B1182 (former route into Lincoln) at a roundabout.
[edit] Lincoln - A606
The eight-mile £19m part-dual-carriageway Lincoln Relief Road opened in December 1985. It overlaps the A15. The A15 leaves to the right at the Riseholme roundabout, with the B1226 heading south into Lincoln. The road becomes dual carriageway and traverses the Lincoln Cliff and enters the borough of Lincoln. It meets the A57 at the Carholme roundabout and enters North Kesteven and crosses the Lincoln - Gainsborough railway. It meets the B1378 (for Swanpool and Birchwood) at the Skellingthorpe roundabout, with a right exit for Skellingthorpe and becomes a single carriageway. Close to Birchwood, the road re-enters the borough of Lincoln, and meets the B1190 at the Doddington roundabout near the BP Doddington Road Filling Station and Damon's Diner, re-entering North Kesteven. The road passes the Pride of Lincoln to the right, and Ibis Hotel and large lakes to the left, crossing the Nottingham to Lincoln Line. After bypassing Lincoln, it starts following the route of the old Fosse Way (bar bypasses) at the Hykeham roundabout with the A1434 (former route through Lincoln and North Hykeham), and the Total Thorpe-on-the-Hill Service Station near a Little Chef, McDonalds and Travelodge. This section to the A1 has always been very busy, as it is the main road to Lincoln. On July 10, 2003, the eight-mile (13 km) £28 million dual-carriageway Newark to Lincoln Improvement was opened by David Jamieson. Although a few junctions are grade-separated, there are roundabouts and side exits, popular with farmers. There is a right turn for Thorpe on the Hill. There is the Halfway House roundabout for Swinderby, Witham St Hughs, Morton and Morton Hall women's prison. On the right is the Dovecote pub, and on the left is the former airfield of RAF Swinderby, the former trade-training centre for the RAF. The village of Swinderby is to the right, and the road becomes the boundary of Lincolnshire and Nottingham for a mile. The road enters Nottinghamshire and the district of Newark and Sherwood, near a turn for Collingham, then the road bypasses Brough. The new section of road finishes at the roundabout with the A1133 (for (Gainsborough) near Winthorpe and the Newark Air Museum and the Newark Showground. The next short section is extremely busy at peak times and needs grade-separating, especially with all of the petrol stations and restaurants using the junction as well. It is a dog's breakfast. The JET Interchange Service Station is on the right. The A17 joins from the left at a roundabout, with the Total Winthorpe Service Station. The national distribution centre for Currys has been built near this roundabout on the former airfield. The road crosses the A1. The six-mile (10 km) £34 million Newark-On-Trent Relief Road, opened in October 1990, and the former route is the B6166. At the roundabout at the start of the bypass there is a KFC, Brewers Fayre and McDonalds. It crosses the East Coast Main Line and Nottingham to Lincoln Line, then meets the B6326, A616 (both former parts of the A1), and A617 (for Mansfield) near a large sugar beet factory for British Sugar. The bypass ends with a roundabout with the B6166. The bypass was built without apparent knowledge that the nearby sections of the A46 would become dual-carriageway. As Fosse Road, it passes a former Roman settlement at Ad Pontem. The next village is East Stoke, then there is a turn to the left for Elston. There is a left turn for Syerston and RAF Syerston airfield is adjacent to the right, where the road enters the district of Rushcliffe. To the left is Flintham and Flintham Hall, and to the right is Kneeton. There are left turns for Screveton and Car Colston, and to the right is East Bridgford. There is a JET Pylon Service Station before the A6097 roundabout, which is also the site of the Roman town called Margidumum. The road continues south-west, meeting the A52 near Bingham and passing many speed cameras. Close by to the right is RAF Newton, and to the left is Bingham. There is the Saxondale Roundabout with the A52, with the Shell Saxondale garage, close to the village of Saxondale. There is a crossroads leading to Cropwell Butler on the left and Upper Saxondale on the right, then it crosses the Grantham Canal. Further on, by the Shell Fosseway Service Station there is a left turn to Cropwell Bishop, then a right turn for Cotgrave, and a left turn for Owthorpe. This section has a high accident rate (as a lot of the single carriage way sections of the A46 have), and the section from here to the A606 has SPECS cameras. There are crossroads for Kinoulton to the left, and Widmerpool to the right.
[edit] A606 - M1
From Widmerpool to the M1, it is dual-carriageway. There is a grade separated junction (GSJ) with the A606, near Widmerpool near to where it goes under a railway line. There is a GSJ for Willoughby-on-the-Wolds As it enters Leicestershire and the district of Charnwood, it is going nearly directly south. The road is only a few feet inside Charnwood district as from the Willoughby junction to Six Hills, the road is the boundary between the districts of Charnwood and Melton. The Newark to Widmerpool Improvement will make this section grade-separated dual-carriageway, closing the gap in the corridor, when funding becomes available in ten years time from the East Midlands Regional Assembly. It meets the A6006 (for Wymeswold) at a GSJ near Old Dalby. The B676 (for Burton on the Wolds) meets the road at a GSJ at Six Hills, near the Six Hills Hotel. There is the Ramada Loughborough Hotel on the left, a left turn for Thrussington near the Total Thrussington Service Station and a Little Chef and Travelodge. There is a right turn for Seagrave and a GSJ near Ratcliffe on the Wreake and Ratcliffe College. The Leicestershire Round crosses here. The road bypasses Syston and overlaps the A607 from Melton Mowbray, crossing the Midland Main Line and River Wreake. At a roundabout, the A607 continues southwards. The eight-mile (13 km) £36 million Leicester Western Bypass opened in November 1995. The road crosses the Grand Union Canal then the River Soar, then the first junction is a GSJ with the A6 near Birstall. It crosses the Great Central Railway and briefly enters the City of Leicester. There is a GSJ with the A5630 near Anstey, where the road briefly re-enters the district of Charnwood then enters the district of Blaby for 200m, and the A50 near Groby, where the road enters the district of Hinckley and Bosworth. The road again enters the district of Blaby and merges into the M1 motorway at Junction 21A near Kirby Muxloe Castle, with a short section of the A46 being motorway which ends at the GSJ with the B5380 (for Kirby Muxloe and Glenfield). This junction is south facing only, with no access to or from the north.
[edit] M6 - Cheltenham
The A46 used to exist between Leicester and Coventry, but it has been replaced by the M69 motorway. Consequently the A46 reappears at Coventry at junction 2 of the M6 close to Ansty in the district of Rugby, Warwickshire. The five-mile (8 km) £21 million Coventry Eastern Bypass opened in May 1989. It follows the boundary between the district of Rugby and the borough of Coventry, always staying inside Warwickshire. There is a roundabout with the B4082 near to Coombe Abbey. It passes the Texaco Binley Woods Service Station next to a Little Chef and a B & Q near the roundabout with the A428 (for Binley) and over the West Coast Main Line. At the southern end of that bypass, it merges with the A45 near the Texaco Ryton Service Station at the Tollbar End roundabout, and enters the borough of Coventry for a short distance near Coventry Airport near Baginton. It follows the boundary with the district of Warwick, crossing the River Sowe, then enters the district of Warwick at the junction with the A444, taking the south exit. The £6.3m Kenilworth Bypass opened in June 1974, and in some stretches is three-lanes. There is an exit for Stoneleigh and Stoneleigh Park. There is a GSJ with the A452 for Kenilworth. It is crossed by a railway and there is a GSJ with the B4115, A429 for Warwick and another exit for Leek Wootton. The next GSJ is for the A4177, with access to the Warwick Parkway railway station. It crosses the Grand Union Canal and passes the BP Budbrooke Services on both sides. It meets the M40 motorway at the Longbridge roundabout, one of the busiest motorway junctions in the United Kingdom. The roundabout could not cope with the A46's through-traffic, as well as the A429, although new traffic light sequencing has greatly improved the situation. South of the M40, the A46 follows its original route for a short distance past Snitterfield to Stratford upon Avon. The seven-mile (11 km) £12 million Stratford Northern Bypass opened in June 1987 as the A422. It meets the B4463 and enters the district of Stratford-on-Avon on the section where the bypass is dual-carriageway, climbing Sherbourne Hill. There is a roundabout with the A439 (for Stratford), where the dual-carriageway ends, then passes close to Snitterfield where it is crossed by the Monarch's Way. There is a roundabout with the A3400, and it crosses the Birmingham to Stratford Line and the Stratford-upon-Avon Canal. It then turns west along the former A422 to Alcester, meeting the A422 from Stratford and overlaps this road as Alcester Road, being a Roman road. It passes near Billesley and the Stag at Red Hill. At Alcester it is crossed by the Arden Way and the Heart of England Way, and meets the A422 and A435 near to the BP garage and Travelodge at the Oversley Mill Service Station. The eight-mile (13 km) £19 million dual-carriageway Norton-Lenchwick Bypass opened in August 1995. This road carries the route south to Evesham. The first section of this follows the River Arrow near to Wixford. At the roundabout with the B439 near Bidford on Avon, it meets the old route from Stratford. To the left is Bidford-on-Avon and to the right is Salford Priors, both on the former route. The road briefly enters Worcestershire and begins to follow the River Avon. Near Harvington, it enters Worcestershire and the district of Wychavon. At Norton, it passes the Esso Evesham Service Station and meets the A44 at a roundabout, which overlaps the road around Evesham, near Evesham Country Park and Travel Inn. The four-mile (6 km) £7 million single-carriageway Evesham Bypass opened in July 1987 as the A435. The road crosses the River Avon and Cotswold Line then meets the B4035 (for Badsey) at a roundabout. The next roundabout is for the A44 (for Wickhamford), then there is a roundabout for the Vale Business Park and a Morrisons store to the right, then it meets the former route through Evesham, the A4184, at a roundabout. From here, the A46, as Cheltenham Road then runs south for a few miles along the former A435 route, before turning west, on the old A438 route, towards the M5 motorway. The one-mile (2 km) £1.3 million Sedgeberrow Bypass opened in May 1989 as the A435. The former route is partly the B4078. To the west is Ashton under Hill, and the road skirts the Worcestershire - Gloucestershire boundary, before passing the Shell Vale Services on the left, with a cafe, and passes through Beckford near the Beckford Inn, entering Gloucestershire near Little Beckford and the Teddington Hands roundabout with the A435 and B4077. The A435 resumes its old course from here southwards. It passes the Esso Teddington Hands Service Station and there are crossroads with the B4079 at Aston Cross near the Queens Head Inn. It passes Ashchurch close to a railway station, and there is the BP Ashchurch Connect service station on the left and meets the M5.
[edit] Cheltenham - Bath
After a gap filled in by the A435, the A46 reappears on its original route on the south side of Cheltenham. It then heads through Stroud, through Nailsworth, to the M4 motorway. From the M4, the A46 heads to Bath, ending at its junction with the A4 in that town. The three-mile (5 km) £45 million dual-carriageway Batheaston/Swainswick Bypass opened in summer 1996. A small section of this strip of the A46 between Painswick and Stroud subsided during the floods on Friday 29th July and was shut for over 6 months, causing quite an impact on the local area. The road re-opened on 15th February 2008.
[edit] Former routes
As the above indicates, the A46 now deviates from its original alignment. There are now two sections where there are gaps of over 10 miles (15 km) where the road simply does not exist at all.
Many of the deviations are bypasses. A46 bypasses Market Rasen, Lincoln, Newark, Syston, Leicester, Coventry, Kenilworth, Warwick, Stratford, Alcester, Evesham and parts of Bath. However, not even all of those towns were originally on the route of the A46. The road never came anywhere near Alcester and Evesham when it was first numbered.
The first major gap in the A46 was created by the opening of the M69 motorway in the late 1970s. This resulted in the original road being downgraded to a mixture of the B4114 and unclassified roads. The second gap was created by the realignment of the road westwards from its original route between Stratford and Cheltenham. What was originally the A46 is now the B4632 and runs through some of the most picturesque parts of the Cotswold Hills. The section of the A46 that ran through Leicester has since redesignated the A5460 (Narborough Road, in the southwest) and A607 (Belgrave Road/Melton Road, in the northeast). The northern part of the A607 deviates from the straight course of the Fosse Way, bypassing the village centres of Thurmaston and Syston.
Original route of the A46:
- A46 from Bath, crossing M4 at Jct 18 and A433, through Nailsworth and Stroud to Cheltenham
- B4632 from Cheltenham, via Winchcombe and Broadway, meeting the A3400 (former A34) just south of Stratford
- A439 and A46 from Stratford to Longbridge
- A429 through Warwick and Kenilworth to Coventry
- A4600 out of Coventry to M69 / M6 Jct 2
- B4065 through the villages of Ansty, Shilton and Wolvey
- unclassified through Wolvey Heath where the B4065 here was the original route of the A447, the A46 met the current B4114 at a modern roundabout NE of Wolvey
- B4114 from Wolvey Heath to A5 where there is a slight dogleg, then through several small villages before picking up the course of the Fosse Way where the A46 met the A5070 (now the B4669) near Sapcote, continuing through Narborough and Enderby before meeting the A563 at an island and the A5460 from M1 Jct 21 at another island.
- A5460 through the SW suburban areas of Leicester to Leicester city centre
- A607 through Belgrave
- unclassified through Thurmaston and Syston where the A607 and prior to that the A46 bypassed (the modern A607 and old A46 cross at a roundabout between the two
- short section of A607 north of Syston to meet the A46
- A46 (Foss Way) dual carriageway through Leicestershire, meeting A606, then continuing single carriageway to Newark
- B6166 through Newark (pre-bypass route)
- A46 from Newark to Lincoln (u/c through Brough)
- A1434 through North Hykeham and the SW of Lincoln to meet the A15
- overlapping A15 through Lincoln to emerge as the B1182 (the prior section from Lincoln city centre to the B1273 is u/c)
- A46 from Lincoln bypass (also A46), meeting the A631 at Middle Rasen, diverging again at Market Rasen (part of this route is now A631 and B1202) crossing the Wolds at Caistor, heading East to end on the A18 at Laceby. The A18 of course now continues South to meet the A16 (along what was B1431), the A46 following the old route of the A18 and A1030 into Cleethorpes.
[edit] History of the road number
The original (1923) route of the A46 was Bath to Laceby. Unusually for such a long road, no changes were made to its route before the Second World War. The central sections of the road have been rerouted and renumbered substantially in recent years (as detailed above). One further change not noted above is that the A46 has been extended into Grimsby and Cleethorpes - the road between Laceby and Grimsby was originally part of the A18.
[edit] External links
- SABRE First 99 - A46
- Workmen dig up Roman treasure when improving A46.
- Red Arrows salute opening of the Newark to Lincoln Improvement.
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