A45 road

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

This article is about a road in England. For the highway in Spain, see
A45 road (Spain)
.
A45 shield
A45
A14 in Thrapston
Location
Country
Primary
destinations
Birmingham, Birmingham Airport, Coventry, Northampton, Wellingborough
Road network
←
A46

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 in Thrapston.

Prior to the construction of the M6 motorway, it was the main route from the Midlands to Ipswich and to the Haven ports. When the A1-M1 link road section of the current A14 opened in 1994, most of the A45 to the east of Cambridge was re-designated as the A14 and some sections to the west were downgraded to B-roads (including the B645 between Higham Ferrers and St Neots).

History

The original (1923) route of the A45 was Birmingham to Ipswich. The road was extended to Felixstowe in 1935, replacing the A139. Around the same time, the A45 was rerouted around the south of Coventry when the city's southern bypass was completed ).

Initially, the A45 passed through Ipswich to Felixstowe; when the Ipswich bypass was completed in 1985, the road was diverted to pass over the Orwell Bridge which opened in 1982.

A bypass for the village of Eltisley was built in 1972, along with a bypass on the B1040 road. The 3-mile (4.8 km) £8 million St Neots bypass opened in December 1985 on what was then the A45.

Bypasses and realignments

Re-designation

When the new A14 link road between the A1 near

A154.[1]

Route

Birmingham to Dunchurch

The road starts on the

Yardley. It meets the B425 at traffic lights in Sheldon, then enters the borough of Solihull. The section of the A45 from Birmingham city centre to the M45 is all dual carriageway — urban dual carriageway with traffic lights until Birmingham Airport, then rural grade-separated between the airport and Coventry. The Bickenhill Junction (grade-separated) intersects with the B4438, a dual carriageway access road for the airport, N.E.C. and Birmingham International railway station. There is another grade-separated junction with the M42 junction 6 (three level grade separation with roundabout). On this junction, there is also access to the National Motorcycle Museum. The road meets the A452 at Stonebridge at a grade separated junction and passes over the River Blythe where the road briefly enters Warwickshire. Meriden is bypassed to the north. The Heart of England Way
passes under the road, and the road enters the borough of Coventry.

A45 in south Coventry (road works July 2006)

The A45 becomes an urban road and skirts the south side of Coventry, crossing the A4114 near Allesley Park, the B4101 at Tile Hill,

Gallipoli.[2] There is a further grade-separated junction with the A4071 and B4453 towards Rugby. The final roundabout on this section is the start of the M45 and the B4429. For 2 miles (3.2 km), the A45 runs concurrent with the M45 until a fairly new junction beyond Dunchurch
. The B4429 carried the A45 until the new junction was built.

Dunchurch to Thrapston

A45 in south of Northampton.

Heading towards

HMP Rye Hill. 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 and briefly runs concurrent with the A425 heading to Leamington Spa, then heads south-east on the Daventry bypass, here called the Stefen Way. The road meets the B4038 at a roundabout where the A425 exits. The road heads west past Dodford and then bypasses Weedon Bec, crossing the West Coast Main Line and Grand Union Canal and then meets the A5 at a roundabout constructed as part of the Daventry Development Link Road realignment which opened on 15 November 2018.[3]
[4] This road also bypasses Flore, before meeting the grade-separated M1 Junction 16, briefly running concurrent with the M1.

The A45 resumes at M1 Junction 15 as a dual carriageway, heading around the south side of Northampton. It then meets the older route (made of sections of the A5076 and A4500) at the A45 /

Irchester Country Park. East of Wellingborough, the road crosses the Midland Main Line. There is a grade-separated junction for the A5001 into Rushden and the route runs alongside the River Nene, offering a second turning to Rushden at a roundabout with the A5001 again; at this second junction, the original route to the A1 has been reclassified the B645. At the roundabout with the A6 near Higham Ferrers, it starts the follow the former route of the A605. The section of dual carriageway from the M1 now ends at the next roundabout and the route from there is now single carriageway. 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 grade-separated junction with the A14 (roundabout with overpass for the A14) near Thrapston
.

References

  1. ^ "Ordnance Survey via Multimap". Retrieved 15 March 2010.
  2. ^ Nicholson, Jean et al: The Obelisks of Warwickshire, page 58. Brewin Books, 2013
  3. ^ "Roads.Org.Uk Road Schemes". Retrieved 24 November 2018.
  4. ^ "A45 Daventry Development Link Road". Retrieved 24 November 2018.

External links

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