A500 road

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D road can also apply as a road designation under the Great Britain road numbering scheme

The A500 is a major primary A road in Staffordshire and Cheshire, England. It is dual carriageway for most of its length and connects Nantwich, junctions 16 and 15 of the M6 motorway with the city of Stoke-on-Trent. Because of its shape between the motorway junctions, it is known locally as the D-Road^[1] (D is also the Roman numeral representing the number 500). In 2004 the road was stated as carrying 60,000 vehicles a day through Stoke.^[2]

It was built to provide links between Stoke-on-Trent and the M6, before being extended to Nantwich. Construction has taken place over several stages, beginning in 1962, with the final section of the original route being completed similar to the original plans in 2006. As a trunk road it is maintained by the Highways Agency.^[3]

[edit] History

By the 1960s, traffic congestion was a major problem in Stoke-on-Trent with journeys across the area sometimes taking hours. There was no connection from the newly constructed M6 to the city. Business in the area wanted an easier route to get their goods out of the area.^[4]

The A500 was initially built from the M6 at junction 16 to the A34 road at Talke as part of the motorway construction,^[5] opening in 1962.^[6] At the southern end, a dual carriageway was constructed from junction 15 of the M6 to the A34 near Trentham and this was given the number A5006^[5] which opened at the same time.^[6] The northern section of the road was then subsequently extended from Talke to the A53 road. The final section from the A34 in the south to the A53 junction was built between 1974^[2] and 1977.^[4] The two middle junctions were to be grade separated, but due to financial constraints they were built as roundabouts.^[7] Construction involved the destruction of streets and businesses within the town centre of Stoke as well as the excavation of a mass grave of the victims of a 17th Century cholera epidemic.^[7] This final section was named Queensway^[2] and on completion of this construction, the whole route became the A500.

The route remained unchanged until the 1980s when the Hanford Roundabout junction had a flyover built as this was a major bottleneck for both the A500 and A34. The 1977 section east of this junction had been built with provision for the bridge, but the section built as the A5006 required realignment for the new interchange. In the late 1980s the road was extended from Junction 16 to close to Weston with connections provided to existing roads to Keele and Crewe. The A52, which at that time ran to Nantwich, was renumbered from Newcastle to Weston as a B road and the section from Weston to Nantwich was incorporated into the A500. In 1989 a bypass to the west of Nantwich was opened, extending the A500 from the south of Nantwich to its current northerly terminus with the A51.^[8]

In 1993 a proposal was made to add the missing flyover and underpass close to Stoke-on-Trent railway station, with another plan having already been dropped due to the cost.^[9] However due to a full review of the national roads programme, this scheme was suspended.^[2] In 1997 the A50 was rerouted through Stoke-on-Trent to meet the A500 at Sideway, where a new roundabout was constructed.

On the approach to Hough was a narrow single lane bridge which was added to with a Bailey bridge in 1993.^[10] In September 2003, the Shavington bypass opened to reroute the road away from three villages on the former A52 section.^[11] This was built to dual carriageway standards with provision for further junctions to new development sites.

Traffic continued to rise to the point where major congestion was experienced on the central section.^[1] Work began on February 16 2004 on the A500 Pathfinder Project to replace the final two roundabouts in Stoke with underpasses. The Highways Agency defined the pathfinder project as involving "a new form of contract and co-operative working methods to deliver a better value project, faster."^[1] The project involved alterations to the path of the Trent and Mersey Canal and River Trent, along with new provisions for pedestrians. The work was carried out by Edmund Nuttall Limited and was planned to be completed in Spring 2006. Following a number of delays^[12] the road opened on Tuesday 26th September 2006, with the southbound traffic in the morning and northbound traffic in the afternoon.^[13]

[edit] Route

The road is the primary access route for traffic to and from almost all areas of Stoke-on-Trent. Starting to the north west of Nantwich as the Nantwich bypass it heads to the west of the town crossing the A530 and A534. It then turns east onto the dual carriageway Shavington bypass running north of Hough and Shavington. Returning to the 1980s single carriageway extension route it continues east through a cutting to the M6 at Junction 16 where it becomes a dual carriageway. Continuing through open countryside it passes under the A34 at Talke Pits, turns south before meeting the Tunstall Western Bypass and enters the north of Stoke-on-Trent. Now continuing in an urban setting it runs between Newcastle and Burslem, passing through the middle of the former Wolstanton Colliery before running east of Stoke town centre. Passing through the newest section in a cutting it emerges south of Stoke alongside the site of the Victoria Ground. Turning west it passes the Britannia Stadium before leaving the urban area at Hanford, south of Trent Vale. It then runs through a cutting before meeting the M6 at junction 15.

[edit] Junctions

*The route runs in a semi-circular direction in Stoke-On-Trent. The table has its northern terminus at the top

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• SABRE Roaders Digest - A500
• Road to Nowhere: A500
• Highways Agency – Pathfinder Project Scheme
• a500.co.uk - Contractor's Official Site
• Map sources