A500 road - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

D road can also apply as a road designation under the Great Britain road numbering scheme
Great Britain road numbering scheme
The Great Britain road numbering scheme is a numbering scheme used to classify and identify all roads in Great Britain. Each road is given a single letter, which represents the road's category, and a subsequent number, with a length of between 1 and 4 digits. Originally introduced to arrange...

The A500 is a major primary A road in Staffordshire

Staffordshire

Staffordshire is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. Part of the National Forest lies within its borders...

and Cheshire

Cheshire

Cheshire is a ceremonial county in North West England. Cheshire's county town is the city of Chester, although its largest town is Warrington. Other major towns include Widnes, Congleton, Crewe, Ellesmere Port, Runcorn, Macclesfield, Winsford, Northwich, and Wilmslow...

, England. It is dual carriageway

Dual carriageway

A dual carriageway is a class of highway with two carriageways for traffic travelling in opposite directions separated by a central reservation...

for most of its length and connects Nantwich

Nantwich

Nantwich is a market town and civil parish in the Borough of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. The town gives its name to the parliamentary constituency of Crewe and Nantwich...

, junctions 16 and 15 of the M6 motorway

M6 motorway

The M6 motorway runs from junction 19 of the M1 at the Catthorpe Interchange, near Rugby via Birmingham then heads north, passing Stoke-on-Trent, Manchester, Preston, Carlisle and terminating at the Gretna junction . Here, just short of the Scottish border it becomes the A74 which continues to...

with the city of Stoke-on-Trent

Stoke-on-Trent

Stoke-on-Trent , also called The Potteries is a city in Staffordshire, England, which forms a linear conurbation almost 12 miles long, with an area of . Together with the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme Stoke forms The Potteries Urban Area...

. Because its shape between the motorway junctions resembles that of a capital D, it is known locally as the D-Road (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.

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

Trunk road

A trunk road, trunk highway, or strategic road is a major road—usually connecting two or more cities, ports, airports, and other things.—which is the recommended route for long-distance and freight traffic...

it is maintained by the Highways Agency

Highways Agency

The Highways Agency is an executive agency, part of the Department for Transport in England. It has responsibility for managing the core road network in England...

History

By the 1960s, traffic congestion was a major problem in Stoke-on-Trent

Stoke-on-Trent

, and journeys across the area sometimes took hours. There was no connection from the newly constructed M6 to the city. Businesses in the area wanted an easier route to get their goods out of the area.

The A500 was initially built from the M6 at junction 16 to the A34 road at Talke

Talke

Talke is a village in the English county of Staffordshire, four miles northwest of Newcastle-under-Lyme.-Etymology:Its unusual name is derived from the even more unusual "Talk o' th' Hill" which means 'bush on top of the hill'...

as part of the motorway construction, opening in 1962. At the southern end, a dual carriageway was constructed from junction 15 of the M6 to the A34 near Trentham

Trentham, Staffordshire

Trentham is a suburb of Stoke-on-Trent, located to the south-west of the city centre and to the south of the neighbouring town of Newcastle-under-Lyme. Although the majority of Trentham is within the city limits, it is mostly separated from the main urban area by surrounding open space and the...

, given the number A5006, and opened at the same time. The northern section of the road was then subsequently extended from Talke to the A53 road

A53 road

The A53 is a primary route in northern England, that runs from Buxton in Derbyshire to Shrewsbury in Shropshire.-Route of Road:The A53 begins in the centre of Buxton off the A6 road, before meeting the A515 road at a roundabout. Out of the town, it has a junction with the A54 road before...

. The final section from the A34 in the south to the A53 junction was built between 1974 and 1977. The two middle junctions were to be grade separated

Grade separation

Grade separation is the method of aligning a junction of two or more transport axes at different heights so that they will not disrupt the traffic flow on other transit routes when they cross each other. The composition of such transport axes does not have to be uniform; it can consist of a...

, but due to financial constraints they were built as roundabout

Roundabout

A roundabout is the name for a road junction in which traffic moves in one direction around a central island. The word dates from the early 20th century. Roundabouts are common in many countries around the world...

s. Construction involved the destruction of streets and businesses within Stoke's town centre, as well as the excavation of a mass grave

Mass grave

A mass grave is a grave containing multiple number of human corpses, which may or may not be identified prior to burial. There is no strict definition of the minimum number of bodies required to constitute a mass grave, although the United Nations defines a mass grave as a burial site which...

of the victims of a 17th-century cholera

Cholera

Cholera is an infection of the small intestine that is caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. The main symptoms are profuse watery diarrhea and vomiting. Transmission occurs primarily by drinking or eating water or food that has been contaminated by the diarrhea of an infected person or the feces...

epidemic

Epidemic

In epidemiology, an epidemic , occurs when new cases of a certain disease, in a given human population, and during a given period, substantially exceed what is expected based on recent experience...

. This final section was named Queensway, and on its completion the whole route became the A500.
The route remained unchanged until the 1980s when the Hanford Roundabout junction had a flyover

Overpass

An overpass is a bridge, road, railway or similar structure that crosses over another road or railway...

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

Weston, Cheshire

Weston is a village and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. The village lies 3 miles to the south east of Crewe. The parish also includes the small settlements of Carters Green, Gorsthill, Rose Hill, Snape, Stowford and part of...

with connections provided to existing roads to Keele

Keele

Keele is a village and civil parish in northern Staffordshire, England. It is approximately three miles west of Newcastle-under-Lyme, and is close to the village of Silverdale...

and Crewe

Crewe

Crewe is a railway town within the unitary authority area of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. According to the 2001 census the urban area had a population of 67,683...

. 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

A51 road

The A51 is a road in England running from Kingsbury in Warwickshire to Chester. The road follows the following route:*Kingsbury*Tamworth*Lichfield*Rugeley *Little Haywood*Great Haywood*Weston*Sandon...

.

In 1993 a proposal was made to add the missing flyover and underpass close to Stoke-on-Trent railway station

Stoke-on-Trent railway station

Stoke-on-Trent Railway Station is a main-line railway station in central England. It is located on the Stafford to Manchester branch of the West Coast Main Line and serves the Staffordshire city of Stoke-on-Trent...

, after an alternative plan had been rejected because of its cost. A full review of the national roads programme resulted in the suspension of that scheme however. In 1997 the A50

A50 road

The A50 is a major trunk road in England. It runs from Warrington to Leicester; however, it was once a much longer route.-Current route:...

was rerouted through Stoke-on-Trent to meet the A500 at Sideway, where a new roundabout was constructed.

On the approach to Hough

Hough, Cheshire

Hough is a village and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. The village is located 3 miles to the south of Crewe and 4 miles to the east of Nantwich. The parish also includes part of the settlement of Goodalls Corner. The total...

was a narrow single lane bridge which was added to with a Bailey bridge

Bailey bridge

The Bailey bridge is a type of portable, pre-fabricated, truss bridge. It was developed by the British during World War II for military use and saw extensive use by both British and the American military engineering units....

in 1993. In September 2003, the Shavington bypass opened to reroute the road away from three villages on the former A52 section. 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. Work began on 16 February 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." The project involved alterations to the path of the Trent and Mersey Canal

Trent and Mersey Canal

The Trent and Mersey Canal is a in the East Midlands, West Midlands, and North West of England. It is a "narrow canal" for the vast majority of its length, but at the extremities—east of Burton upon Trent and west of Middlewich—it is a wide canal....

and River Trent

River Trent

The River Trent is one of the major rivers of England. Its source is in Staffordshire on the southern edge of Biddulph Moor. It flows through the Midlands until it joins the River Ouse at Trent Falls to form the Humber Estuary, which empties into the North Sea below Hull and Immingham.The Trent...

, along with new provisions for pedestrians. The work was carried out by Edmund Nuttall

Edmund Nuttall

BAM Nuttall Limited is a construction and civil engineering company headquartered in Camberley, United Kingdom. It has been involved in a portfolio of road, rail, nuclear, and other major projects worldwide...

Limited and was planned to be completed in spring 2006. Following a number of delays for which it was rumoured the construction company was being fined up to £100,000 a day for not keeping to schedule, the road opened on Tuesday 26 September 2006, with the southbound traffic in the morning and northbound traffic in the afternoon. Several months of additional work was needed to finalise traffic light operations, gardens, and other miscellaneous tasks.

In February 2009, it was announced that the single carriageway Nantwich bypass would be re-numbered as the A51

A51 road

in a bid to relieve the town centre of traffic.

Route

The road is the primary access route for traffic to and from almost all areas of Stoke-on-Trent. Starting to the east of Nantwich on the Nantwich bypass the dual carriageway Shavington bypass running north of Hough

Hough, Cheshire

and Shavington

Shavington cum Gresty

Shavington cum Gresty is a civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. It lies to the south of Crewe. It includes the large village of Shavington , which lies 2½ miles south of Crewe, as well as the smaller settlements of Dodds Bank, Park...

. 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

Talke Pits

Talke Pits is a village in the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme in Staffordshire. It is located close to the Cheshire border. The history of Talke Pits includes the mining of coal at Talke O' the Hill. The top of Talke has two pubs and St Martins Church on Audley Road...

, turns south before meeting the Tunstall Western Bypass and enters the north of Stoke-on-Trent. Now continuing in an urban

Urban area

An urban area is characterized by higher population density and vast human features in comparison to areas surrounding it. Urban areas may be cities, towns or conurbations, but the term is not commonly extended to rural settlements such as villages and hamlets.Urban areas are created and further...

setting it runs between Newcastle and Burslem, passing through the middle of the former Wolstanton Colliery before running east of Stoke's town centre. Passing through the newest section in a cutting it emerges south of Stoke alongside the site of the Victoria Ground

Victoria Ground (Stoke)

The Victoria Ground was the home ground of Stoke City F.C. from 1878. The club played there for an unbroken period of 119 years until it moved to its new ground at the Britannia Stadium in 1997...

. Turning west it passes the Britannia Stadium

Britannia Stadium

The Britannia Stadium is an all-seater football stadium in Stoke-on-Trent, England and the home of Premier League club Stoke City Football Club. With space for 27,598 spectators . The name is taken from the sponsors of the Stadium the Britannia Co-operative Bank...

before leaving the urban area at Hanford, south of Trent Vale. It then runs through a cutting before meeting the M6 at junction 15.

Junctions

{| class=wikitable
|- align="center" bgcolor=#00703c style="color: #ffd200;font-size:120%;"
| colspan="3" | A500 Road
|-
!scope="col"| Northbound* exits
!scope="col"| Junction
!scope="col"| Southbound* exits
|- align="center"
| Nantwich, Stone A51
End of dual carriageway
| Cheerbrook Roundabout
| Start of dual carriageway
|- align="center"
| Crewe, Shavington B5071
|
| Crewe, Shavington B5071
|- align="center"
| No exits
|
| No exits
|- align="center"
| Start of dual carriageway
|
| Crewe, Weston A5020
Keele

Keele

Keele is a village and civil parish in northern Staffordshire, England. It is approximately three miles west of Newcastle-under-Lyme, and is close to the village of Silverdale...

A531

A531 road

The A531 is non-primary route in England that runs from Madeley Heath in Staffordshire to join the A500 close to Weston near Crewe, Cheshire....

The South

-Geography:* Southern United States* South of England* South of France* South Italy* South Korea* Republic of Ireland* South Province * Global South, the developing nations of the world-Other uses:* The South , by Victor Erice...

, Birmingham

Birmingham

Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...

M6 motorway

Audley, Staffordshire

Audley is a rural village approximately four miles north west of the town of Newcastle-under-Lyme in Staffordshire, England. It is the centre of Audley Rural parish....

, Alsager

Alsager

Alsager is a town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, to the north-west of the city of Stoke-on-Trent, and east of the railway town of Crewe...

|
| Audley, Alsager
|- align="center"
| Newcastle-under-Lyme

Newcastle-under-Lyme

Newcastle-under-Lyme is a market town in Staffordshire, England, and is the principal town of the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme. It is part of The Potteries Urban Area and North Staffordshire. In the 2001 census the town had a population of 73,944...

Talke

, Congleton

Congleton

Congleton is a town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, on the banks of the River Dane, to the west of the Macclesfield Canal and 21 miles south of Manchester. It has a population of 25,750.-History:The first settlements in...

A34
|
| Newcastle-under-Lyme
Talke, Kidsgrove

Kidsgrove

Kidsgrove is a town in the borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, England, near the border with Cheshire. It forms part of The Potteries Urban Area in North Staffordshire, along with Stoke-on-Trent and Newcastle-under-Lyme. It has a population of 24,112...

, Congleton A34
|- align="center"
| Kidsgrove A527

A527 road

The A527 is a road in England that runs from the town centre of Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire to Congleton, Cheshire, by way of Wolstanton, Longport, Tunstall and Biddulph. Along its route it crosses the A52, A53, A500 and briefly merges with the A50....

(A50

A50 road

The A50 is a major trunk road in England. It runs from Warrington to Leicester; however, it was once a much longer route.-Current route:...

)
|
| Tunstall

Tunstall, Staffordshire

Tunstall is an area in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England. It was one of the original six towns that federated to form the city. Tunstall is the most northern town of the city of Stoke-on-Trent....

A527
|- align="center"
| Wolstanton

Wolstanton

Wolstanton is a suburban area on the outskirts of Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire.-History:Historically, Wolstanton was a place in its own right. It is mentioned in the Domesday book where it is listed amongst the lands belonging to the King. The land consisted of work for 2 ploughs, 14...

A527
Longport

Longport, Staffordshire

Longport is an area of Stoke-on-Trent, England. It is the location for Longbridge Hayes industrial estate.Longport railway station, opened by the North Staffordshire Railway on October 9, 1848, is on the Crewe to Derby and Stafford to Manchester Lines....

, Tunstall, Burslem

Burslem

The town of Burslem, known as the Mother Town, is one of the six towns that amalgamated to form the current city of Stoke-on-Trent, in the ceremonial county of Staffordshire, in the Midlands of England.-Topography:...

Leek, Staffordshire

Leek is a market town in the county of Staffordshire, England, on the River Churnet. It is an ancient borough and was granted its royal charter in 1214.It is the administrative centre for the Staffordshire Moorlands District Council...

A53

A53 road

A52 road

The A52 is a major road in the East Midlands, England. It runs east from the junction with the A53 at Newcastle-under-Lyme near Stoke-on-Trent via Ashbourne, Derby, Stapleford, Nottingham, West Bridgford, Bingham, Grantham, Boston and Skegness before terminating on the east Lincolnshire coast at...

Fenton

Fenton, Staffordshire

Fenton is one of the six towns of the Stoke-on-Trent conurbation which were federated in 1910. It is situated in the south-east of the city. Arnold Bennett called his fictionalised version of Stoke on Trent the "Five Towns", and Fenton has been dubbed the town Arnold Bennett...

, Longton

Longton, Staffordshire

Longton is a southern district of Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, and is known locally as the "Neck End" of the city. Longton is one of the six towns of "the Potteries" which formed the City of Stoke-on-Trent in 1925.-History:...

Heron Cross

Heron Cross is a town situated between Blurton and Fenton, in Stoke on Trent. It has a pharmacy, a photo shop, a park, a church, two pubs, three newsagents, a school and a pot bank. It has two main streets, Grove Road and Heron Street....

|- align="center"
| Longton, Uttoxeter

Uttoxeter

Uttoxeter is a historic market town in Staffordshire, in the West Midlands region of England. The current population is approximately 13,711, though new developments in the town will increase this figure. Uttoxeter lies close to the River Dove and is near the cities of Stoke-on-Trent, Derby and...

, Derby

Derby

Derby , is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands region of England. It lies upon the banks of the River Derwent and is located in the south of the ceremonial county of Derbyshire. In the 2001 census, the population of the city was 233,700, whilst that of the Derby Urban Area was 229,407...

A50
|
| Uttoxeter, Derby A50
Sideway

Sideway

Sideway is an area of Stoke-on-Trent, approximately one mile south west of Stoke-upon-Trent. It is located on the junction of the A500 and the A50 adjacent to the Britannia Stadium....

Trentham, Staffordshire

The South

, Birmingham M6
Eccleshall

Eccleshall

Eccleshall is a town in Staffordshire, England. It is located seven miles north west of Stafford, and six miles west of Stone. Eccleshall is twinned with Sancerre in France.-History:...

Newcastle-Under-Lyme A519

A519 road

The A519 is a road in the United Kingdom that runs between Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire and Newport, Shropshire.At Newport it meets the A518 and A41...

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

External links

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