A45 road
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The A45 is a major road in England. It runs east from Birmingham past the National Exhibition Centre and the M42, then bypasses Coventry and Rugby, where it briefly merges with the M45 until it continues to Daventry. It then heads to Northampton and Wellingborough before running north of Rushden and Higham Ferrers and terminating at its junction with the A14 road near Thrapston.
The road used to run to Felixstowe but most of the route was re-designated as the A14 in the mid-1990s.
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[edit] Birmingham to Coventry
The road begins on the B4100 in central Birmingham, then crosses over the Bordesley Circus roundabout intersecting with the A4540. The Small Heath Highway passes over a roundabout with the B4145 near Small Heath train station, then resumes onto its former route along Coventry Rd at a roundabout near a large Asda supermarket. It passes over the River Cole and meets the A4040 outer ring road at a grade-separated junction ("GSJ") at the Swan Shopping Centre in Yardley. It meets the B425 at Sheldon, then enters the borough of Solihull. The section of the A45 from Birmingham city centre to the M45 is all dual-carriageway.
The £1.2m dual-carriageway Bickenhill Junction opened in late 1978. This intersects with the B4438, a dual-carriageway access road for Birmingham International Airport, the N.E.C. and Birmingham International railway station. There is a grade-separated junction with the M42 at junction 6. On this roundabout is also access to the National Motorcycle Museum. The one-mile £8m dual-carriageway Stonebridge grade-separated junction with the A446 opened in June 1995. This passes over the River Blythe, which is briefly the boundary between Solihull borough and Warwickshire where the road briefly enters Warwickshire. Close by is Meriden, and just north on the B4102 is the main transmitter for BBC CWR. The Heart of England Way passes under the road, and the road enters the borough of Coventry. The A45 used to pass through Meriden, though it is confusingly also now called B4102. The road enters the outskirts of Coventry.
[edit] Coventry to Dunchurch
The former route of the A45 through Coventry exits at a junction as the A4114, in the part of Coventry called Allesley, the western end of the Coventry bypass. At the staggered junction with the B4101, there is the factory of Massey Ferguson, now owned by TRW, and a Sainsburys supermarket in Tile Hill. The road passes over the West Coast Main Line, then enters Canley near a roundabout which is the main exit for the University of Warwick. There is a traffic-light junction with the A429, heading to Kenilworth. There is a roundabout with the B4113, then a GSJ with the A46 and A45. This busy section has many speed cameras and multiplexes with the A46. The next roundabout near Tollbar End, called the Tollbar Island, is one of the busiest in the Midlands. It has exits for the A46 north/Coventry Eastern Bypass, Coventry Airport, and B4110, the former route of the A45. There are plans to build a GSJ here - the A45 will go under the other roads.
Where the road crosses the River Avon, the road re-enters Warwickshire. The A423 exits to the south-east at a GSJ near the UK factory of Peugeot. The main road from Warwick, the A445, meets near Ryton-on-Dunsmore at traffic lights. This section has many speed cameras. Further east, there is a roundabout with the B4455, the Fosse Way. There is a grade separated junction ("GSJ") with the main road for Rugby, the A4071, and the B4453. There is a Texaco garage here. The next roundabout near Thurlaston used to be very busy before 1972, when the M6 opened. It is now the start of the M45. The former A45 passes through Dunchurch as the B4429. A junction was built on the M45 in 1991 to allow traffic to head south-east onto the A45, and to alleviate traffic congestion in Dunchurch.
[edit] Dunchurch to M1 at Northampton
Heading towards Daventry, the road is fairly wide and single-carriageway. The road passes a prison at Rye Hill and a Young Offender Institution next to it at Onley. After Willoughby, the road enters Northamptonshire, where it crosses the Oxford Canal and Grand Union Canal near Braunston. The Jurassic Way crosses the road here. The road enters Daventry, home to large distribution centres for Ford Motor Company, Tesco and Diageo. The road briefly multiplexes with the A425 heading to Leamington Spa, then heads south-east on the Daventry bypass, called the Stefen Way. The road meets the B4038 at a roundabout where the A425 exits. The road heads west to Weedon Bec, where it crosses the West Coast Main Line and Grand Union Canal, then meets the A5 at traffic lights. The road passes through Flore, then meets the M1 at junction 16.
[edit] Northampton to Thrapston
Until 2004, the route of the A45 headed east along the dual-carriageway from junction 16 towards Northampton, but now it has been diverted to follow the M1 south, then to multiplex with the route of the A508 north from junction 15, to join the main flow of traffic on the Northampton bypass. This route although slightly longer does involve fewer roundabouts. From where it meets the old route at the A45/A508 GSJ, near Northampton High School, it crosses the River Nene and Nene Way, then there is a large GSJ with the A428. This section is the Nene Valley Way, and multiplexes with the A43, which exits at a GSJ near Weston Favell. The GSJ with the A5076 is also the exit for Billing Aquadrome. The former route of the A45 to Wellingborough is now the A4500. The road has a GSJ with the B573 near Earls Barton, which has a famous Saxon church. The road meets the Wellingborough bypass (A509) at a roundabout. It multiplexes with the A509 to the GSJ near the bridge over the River Nene, where the A509 exits south near Irchester Country Park.
East of Wellingborough, the road crosses the Midland Main Line. There is a GSJ for the A5001, which heads to Rushden. There is then a roundabout with the A5028. This is the point where the new road (post-A14), heads north-east rather than due east. The old route, now the B645, heads through Higham Ferrers, which is now bypassed by the A45. The bypass runs alongside the River Nene. At the roundabout with the A6 near Irthlingborough, it starts the follow the former route of the A605. The section of dual carriageway from the M1 now ends at the next roundabout. This is the start of the Raunds bypass. The next roundabout is with the B663. The route bypasses Ringstead and the A45 finishes at a GSJ with the A14 near Thrapston.
[edit] Annexed section
A bypass for the village of Eltisley was built in 1972, along with a bypass on the B1040 road. The three-mile £8m St Neots Bypass opened in December 1985 on what was then the A45. When the M6-to-Felixstowe route was moved and upgraded to become the A14, this bypass became redesignated part of the less important Cambridge/Northampton A428 .
[edit] External links
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A roads in Zone 4 of the Great Britain road numbering system |
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|---|---|---|
| A4 | A40 - A41 - A42 - A43 - A44 - A45 - A46 - A47 - A48 - A49 | |
| A403 - A406 - A413 - A414 - A417 - A418 - A419 | ||
| A420 - A421 - A422 - A425 - A426 - A427 - A428 - A429 - A435 - A441 - A442 - A445 - A449 | ||
| A452 - A453 - A454 - A456 - A458 - A461 - A465 - A470 - A472 - A478 - A482 - A483 - A487 - A488 | ||
| A494 - A497 - A498 - A499 | ||
| A4006 - A4012 - A4018 - A4025 - A4040 - A4042 | ||
| A4103 - A4113 - A4117 - A4150 - A4133 - A4142 - A4146 - A4174 | ||
| A4202 - A4212 - A4260 - A4400 - A4536 - A4540 | ||
| List of A roads in Zone 4 | ||
