History
The original (1923) route of the A46 was from Bath to Laceby, passing through Cheltenham, Broadway, Stratford-on-Avon, Coventry, Leicester, Newark and Lincoln. Unusually for such a long road, no changes were made to its route until the 1970s. In recent years the central sections of the road have been rerouted and renumbered substantially, and there are now two sections where there are gaps of over 10 miles (16 km) where the road does not exist at all. The A46 has also been extended from Laceby to Grimsby and Cleethorpes - the road between Laceby and Grimsby was originally part of the A18.
The major realignments have been
- Between Coventry and Leicester the original road was downgraded to the B4065 and the B4114 as a result of the opening of the M69 motorway in 1977.
- Between Cheltenham and Stratford-on-Avon the road was realigned in the 1980s through Evesham on the former route of the A435 and A439. The original route through some of the most picturesque parts of the Cotswold Hills was downgraded to the B4632.
- The route was subsequently cut between Cheltenham and Teddington and that section became the A435 again. The A46 was diverted to connect with the M5 motorway on part of the former route of the A438.
- Between Evesham and north of Stratford the route was again realigned to run by Alcester and by-pass Stratford, partly on the former line of the A422. The previous route through Bidford-on-Avon to Stratford became the B439, and north of Stratford the old route became the A439.
- A new alignment was built from Junction 21a of the M1 to by-pass Leicester to the north. The old route through Leicester was redesignated the A5460 (Narborough Road, in the southwest) and A607 (Belgrave Road/Melton Road, in the northeast). The A607 deviates from the straight course of the Fosse Way, bypassing the village centres of Thurmaston and Syston.
- The A46 was realigned to by-pass Warwick, Kenilworth and Coventry, and the old route was redisignated the A429 and the A4600.
Bypasses were also built around Market Rasen, Lincoln and Newark.
Read more about this topic: A46 Road
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